Tag Archives: Broken

J1772 Inlet

October 16, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

The J1772 inlet has been installed onto the tail end of the CitiCar. I no longer need to unlock the trunk and drag out a socket on the end of a long cord to plug in.

The body of the car only offers a few places to put the socket. My original goal was to install it next to the exiting inlet for power from the house. The area surrounding it was obstructed by the door hinges on the inside, or had “electric” written in vinyl on the outside of the car.

I settled for a ridged area by the passenger tail light in the back. There are holes by the contactors that were originally used for the battery and motor cables. I can thread the cable from the adapter to the charger.

CitiCar J1772 Installation

Removing Wires

A fuel gauge from a CitiCar reads from 14 to 19 volts

I removed the three wires from the battery compartment all the way to the dashboard. One was already identified as being for the volt meter. The thicker wires were discovered to lead up to the charger.

While I was at it, I removed the volt meter and found that it had a round hole in the dashboard behind it as opposed to a square hole to match its shape. The hole is too small for the AiLi volt meter. I would prefer to keep the original volt meter and try to control the voltage fed to it with an Arduino to represent the capacity rather than the voltage.

Wiring Harness

Wires brought back to the battery box through a split loom

Wires were thread from the font of the car to the battery compartment through a split loom zip-tied to the aluminum frame. I drilled a hole slightly behind and to the left of the throttle to pass all of the wires through. They connect up to the motor controller and the reversing switch. Short extensions were setup for each connection so that I don’t need to reach into tight spaces to disconnect the wires.

Fix spliced wire with a network keystone jack

When I was trimming the excess split loom tube within the CitiCars battery box, I cut through one of the cables still inside. It was the AiLi battery monitor cable. The cable contains 4 tiny wires, surrounded by strands of what appears to be another line acting as a shield. I had some left over networking Cat6 connectors and keystones and wires up each side to make a solid connection.

Battery monitor still works after fixing wire with network connectors

I was able to hook one of the Chevy volt batteries up with a dc-to-dc converter and a light to confirm that the AiLi meter was reading the correct voltage and change in current as I flipped the switch on and off.

This wasn’t so bad after all. I would have probably ended up doing this anyway. The wire was too short to reach the shunt to begin with. Now that everything has a network connector, I can create an extension cord to reach the shunt in its final position.

Racing Use Only

One of my favorite pieces of flair is the racing switch panel for a car that can’t go faster than 35 mph. I got out my old label maker and labeled the different switches. Each switch is a project on its own.

AMPS

The “AMPS” is the “User Mode” wire on the motor controller to let it switch driving profiles. A driving profile can change the maximum amps the motor is allowed to draw.

START

I’m considering how to approach this. I have the CitiCar play a sound of an engine revving up to race, or play a random list of custom sounds.

RUN

The run switch is to turn on the 12 volt DC-to-DC 12 volt converter to use the lights, fans, horn, etc. The car will not operate without this being flipped up.

3SPD

The is going to setup the car so that the motor controller only sees three different positions when the throttle is pressed. It will also allow the original contactors to activate. It will mimic the speed and sound of the original motor controller in the CitiCar.

RDO

This is the power to turn on the radio and amp.

In other news

I ordered some battery side terminals that another C-Car owner has proposed.

I purchased another SW202 switch, but with 48 volt coils. I will no longer need to use relays to provide 12 volt power to the coils.

I’ve composed a document asking the community for help setting up a maker space and talked to a couple people about it.

Hello,
I need help setting up a “Maker Space” within, or near the town of Front Royal, Virginia.
A maker space is a collaborative workspace with a wide variety of equipment available to use that would otherwise be inaccessible to the general public due to costs, electrical requirements, zoning, noise, ventilation, and space. A maker space may consist of a wood shop, machine shop, electronics workstation, 3D printers, computers, embroidery machines, and even Lego building blocks. This educational building’s purpose will be to have fun making stuff, and learn from others making stuff.
I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1994, majoring in Industrial Design Technology on a scholarship. I long for the days having access again to a large workshop with a very wide range of industrial equipment. I also went to Mineral County Technical Center in West Virginia for Carpentry, and loved the computer lab along with the art, shop, and mechanical drafting classes throughout middle and high school. My profession took off with the information technology (IT) industry programming software, but I have always retained my creativity making things at home.
Like many others, I often find myself justifying the need to purchase a new tool, machine, or a large surplus of supplies that may have limited use to me. Afterwards, these products collect dust in the garage until someone “borrows” it, to then collect dust in their own garage. As tools, materials, and past projects accumulate, it becomes difficult to find space to store them while keeping my workspace clear of debris.
Some maker spaces not only provide a workshop, but also rent out storage and artist spaces for your own personal work area or show room within the building, providing members 24/7 access. In addition, many offer classes and training, including STEM educational programs.
I can not do this alone. I have a goal, but this is bigger than me. My intent is to set this up as a non-profit organization. Because a maker space can expand and offer such a wide range of equipment and materials to adults and children, I am looking for help from the community.
● Form a board of directors and a mission
● Draw out makers already within the community
● Identify community needs & interests
● Provide ideas & imagination
● Find funding & sponsorship
● Consolidate and acquire equipment, tools, and materials
● Find a location for light industrial use
Please contact me if you can help,
Lewis Moten
(###) ###-####
********@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/lewis.moten
Lewis Moten, October 15, 2020, Maker Space Proposal

Battery, Charger, Contactor Switch, Motor Controller

Wires

October 8, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten 5 Comments

Dragging Wire

Someone warned me that the wires were hanging from the bottom of the CitiCar when I drove up to a car show (that was canceled) on the weekend. They offered a zip-tie, but I thought I had fixed it by pulling up the wires and rearranging the batteries by time they came back with it. Unfortunately, I should have taken them up on their offer. I noticed the wire had been dragging against the pavement. It’s time to get serious on changing over the powertrain.

Wire exposed within 2/0 battery cables from dragging on asphalt

There are a few reasons why this is happening now. The first is that the speedometer cable had been removed, which prevented the wire from going below the motor. However, the latest change was the most impactful. I had installed the motor controller and contact switches. In doing so, I moved the batteries and their wires out of the way so I could get into the area easier. I have the wrong batteries, so there is plenty of room. I think they are moving around while driving, and the motor cables just move along with them.

This is a serious issue. The cables need to be repaired immediately before I drive the car again. It’s questionable on how much of an impact this will have on the amount of amps that the wire can handle now that it’s lost some copper. There is another concern that when driving in parallel, one set of batteries will have less resistance because it has a bigger “pipe” for electrons to flow through.

The new power train is going to be a tight fit, so this will not be a problem afterwards.

Custom Cables

Now that the motor controller and contact switches are installed in the CitiCar, I started moving onto wiring them together. The wires I had were either too short or a bit too long.

I started creating a custom cable. I’m not sure how good my crimp is, so I kept crimping the lug multiple times until the whole length of it seemed to have been crimped. Luckily, I realized that I needed to get some heat shrink before crimping the next lug.

A battery lug that has been crimped one too many times

Teddy and I took the SUV over to the local hardware store tonight. A pack of 5/8″ heat shrink has two tubes that are six inches long. The instructions said to add two inches to the measurement to handle the 4:1 shrinking ratio, so I picked up four packages.

The heat shrink didn’t really shrink that much in terms of length. It seems like I could have gotten away with much less slack. My custom wire looks a bit more professional – to me.

A custom 2/0 battery cable with right-angled terminals and heat-shrink tubing

After the battery cable cooled down, I installed it into the CitiCar to connect the motor negative terminals between the motor controller and the reverse contactor switches.

Custom cable connected to motor controller motor negative (M-) terminal

Custom cable connected to SW202 motor reversing switch motor negative terminal M-

Installing my first cable

Charging Cycle

I got a charge cycle that stopped due to an over-voltage fault. The high voltages at the end of the charging cycles are fairly concerning. After exhausting the CitiCar batteries on a long trip, I kept a fairly close eye on a full charge cycle, recorded the data, and made a few charts:

Time	Min Remaining	Amps	Amp-Hours	Volts	SoC	Phase
9:34	798	20.9	0	51.0	20%	Phase 1
9:45	803	20.6	4	51.7	20%	Phase 1
9:59	789	20.4	9	52.2	21%	Phase 1
10:13	775	20.2	14	52.7	23%	Phase 1
10:26	762	20.1	18	53.2	25%	Phase 1
10:35	754	20.0	21	53.5	25%	Phase 1
10:45	746	19.8	24	53.8	26%	Phase 1
10:49	740	19.8	26	54.1	27%	Phase 1
10:56	732	19.6	28	54.6	28%	Phase 1
11:02	727	19.4	30	55.0	29%	Phase 1
11:10	719	19.1	32	55.8	29%	Phase 1
11:17	712	18.7	35	57.3	30%	Phase 1
11:24	357	11.9	37	57.4	73%	Phase 2
11:27	355	10.2	37	57.4	73%	Phase 2
11:31	200	9.0	38	58.2	89%	Phase 3
11:34	198	9.0	38	60.9	89%	Phase 3
11:37	194	9.0	39	64.7	90%	Phase 3
11:41	190	9.0	39	66.1	90%	Phase 3
11:45	186	9.0	40	66.9	90%	Phase 3
11:50	182	9.0	41	67.3	90%	Phase 3
11:54	177	9.0	41	67.6	90%	Phase 3
11:59	172	9.0	42	67.9	91%	Phase 3
12:05	167	9.0	43	68.0	91%	Phase 3
12:09	162	9.0	43	68.0	91%	Phase 3
12:14	158	9.0	44	68.1	91%	Phase 3
12:19	152	9.0	45	68.1	92%	Phase 3
12:24	14	9.0	46	68.1	92%	Phase 3
12:32	7	9.0	47	68.0	92%	Phase 3
12:40	0	0.0	48	55.8	100%	Not Charging
12:54	0	0.0	48	54.1	100%	Not Charging
1:03	0	0.0	48	53.9	100%	Not Charging
1:10	0	0.0	48	53.8	100%	Not Charging
1:27	0	0.0	48	53.7	100%	Not Charging
1:36	0	0.0	48	53.6	100%	Not Charging
2:04	0	0.0	48	53.4	100%	Not Charging

The state of charge always jumps by 50% in a short period of a few minutes during phase 2

Estimated time remaining is always off by about 400%

Phase 2 appears to be a very abrupt cross-over compared to charging profiles for lead acid batteries around the internet

Over Charging

The charging voltage maxed out at 68.1, each 12 volt battery got up to 17 volts. I hadn’t gone up past 14.5 with regular car chargers in the past. It seems as if the batteries are being overcharged. If they were being equalized/balanced, it would make a bit more sense. This is during the final phase after it reaches 90% charge.

Exaggerated Estimates

The initial estimate was 13 hours and 18 minutes, where the actual charging duration was three hours and six minutes. As the charger progressed through each phase of the cycle, it was getting better, but still highly exaggerated. The device is not learning from its previous charges.

Huge SoC Gains

The state of charge is sometimes abrupt. The state of charge increases gradually until it is at 30% charge at 57.3 volts. Seven minutes later, the battery state of charge jumps to 73% at 57.4 volts. Another seven minutes and we are at 89% charge at 58.2 volts. We then grow gradually up to 92% over an hour, and then jump directly to 100%.

Short Phase 2

Phase 2 is a very short cycle, that is 20 minutes at most. The cross over between dropping amps and increasing reported SoC by 50% is very sharp.

Charger Conclusion

It seems like the Lester Summit Series II charger may be defective or had the wrong battery profile. The CitiCar has four 12v Interstate 31-ECL in series. The battery profile (22001) description seems fine other than the amp hour rating. When I called up the manufacturer, the amp hours (190 RC@25 amps) wasn’t a problem and I was told that the default profile was fine.

Single-voltage mode: 48V flooded/wet lead-acid battery packs with a 20-hr rating of 225-260 Ah
Auto-voltage mode: 48V, 36V, or 24V flooded/wet lead-acid battery packs with a 20-hr rating of 225-260 Ah
Profile parameters: 22A bulk (48V), 25A bulk (36V), 25A bulk (24V), 2.39 VPC absorption, 9A finish, Progressive DV/DT termination, equalize active

I wish the charging status was more descriptive rather than saying “Phase 1”, “Phase 2”, and “Phase 3”. The phases do not convey any information. It would be more useful to see something like Desulfation, Bulk, Absorption, Float, and Equalize.

Capacity Monitor

The capacity monitor arrived. This was one of the last major components of the new system that I had been waiting for. It was fairly simple to setup and I started getting feedback immediately on the amount of amps the CitiCar motor uses when initially starting or going up hills and cruising.

It seems to go around 250 at most, but occasionally has small spikes at 350. Cruising appears to be around 125 amps. I’ll need to put a camera on it while driving to look back later to get a more accurate reading of data.

One special thing of note is that I’m now aware of how much phantom power is being drained. The battery charger and capacity monitor both consume a small amount of amps.

The capacity is not useful for driving at this point because the detected voltage keep swapping between 24 and 48 volts. Once I upgrade the CitiCar to always use 48 volts, the capacity should become useful. However, it does appear to be fairly accurate reporting the same number of amp hours that the battery charger reported.

The capacity monitor is more precise on the number of amp hours supplied by the charger

AiLi Voltmeter in CitiCar

Charger, Door, Front Royal Town Square, Motor Controller

Late Night Pizza

October 4, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

Teddy and I hopped into the CitiCar for some night driving on a pizza run Friday night. With 30 minutes to spare, we headed to the town square to kill some time, only to find it was packed for a major event. Apparently we stumbled upon a political rally. I decided to execute operation “Outlaw of the Squeeze”.

The little CitiCar can fit in most places where other cars can not

The two spots in front of the portable toilets where open. I was able to park the car far enough away so that everyone still had plenty of room.

Door Windows

I took the door windows to Dixie Plate Glass & Mirror. They recommended popping out the panes. They had 50 contract orders, and wouldn’t be able to get to it until after Christmas. I went home and popped out the window panes. Unfortunately the aluminum frames cracked. There was a lot of glue on the panes, and it was difficult removing them.

I continued on and traced everything. I took a few measurements and brought everything back. Unfortunately they don’t carry anything that is 3/16″ thick. They order the materials in bulk for large contracts. If I could find the material myself, they could cut the parts for me. I’m having a tough time finding acrylic with safety glazing.

CitiCar sliding pane templates laid out on 22″ x 28″ white poster board

CitiCar fixed pane templates laid out on 28″ x 22″ white poster board

The car is much quieter driving without windows. It feels like I’m driving slower. All of the noise seemed to have been amplified with those windows.

I’ll need windows soon. It’s getting colder and I can’t drive in the rain anymore. Locking the vehicle while parked is pointless.

Cup Holder

Drive-through restaurants weren’t really that big in the 70’s. McDonald’s opened it’s first drive-through in the year prior to my CitiCar being built. That’s why the creature comforts in my car are an ash tray and a cigarette lighter.

I went ahead and ordered some cup holders. I didn’t’ realize how oversized they were. They hang perfectly onto the defroster vents, but I’m often tilting the drink against the window to slide it down into the holder.

Charging Stations

Jack Evans Chevrolet

A CitiCar tucked next to the service center while charging

I went back to Jack Evans Chevrolet while it was staffed during my lunch break. I talked with one of the service men by the other charger to see what the guidelines were on using the charger. They just said pull up and charge.

Being in front of the garage door, it feels like the car is in the way. The charging station is in a fairly odd spot. I pushed the car as close to the wall as I could to keep it out of the way.

A CitiCar packed at a public charging station

TownePlace Suites

A hotel was just built outside of the city this year. It has a public charging station – but it has a fee. I was curious to walk through the process. I tried it out and was able to test charging. In my four minute experiment, I was charged a penny. I thought it would bill me for the full hour. For now, I’ll stick to the free charging station across the street from it.

I liked how the charger had a screen giving you the current status and statistics during the charging processes.

Being charged by time, rather than the amount of energy consumed seems a bit off. I’m consuming about 20% of the rate that other vehicles can consume – which means I’m paying five times more than everyone else.

100~240 Car Battery Charger

A 12v battery charger arrived that can run on between 100 and 240 volts. At this point, all of my CitiCar onboard chargers now support both standard house power and the voltages found at public chargers. Using the ST-3000 EV charger power converter, I was able to confirm that both chargers were able to charge the car when supplied with 240 volts. At this point, only the J1772 adapter is needed on the converter.

Motor Controller

Most of the day was spent installing the motor controller and switches. I continued to evaluate multiple aspects of where everything would be located once the powertrain was fully replaced.

Fabricating the mounting hardware was fairly simple. A while back, I picked up four strong-tie A311 A Angles that are usually meant for fastening posts down to concrete. Part of the fun was tracing parts and drilling a mirror image by clamping two fasteners opposing each other.

The contactor switches and motor controller were fairly heavy, and caused the angles to wobble. I settled on having two separate mounts.

Forward/Reverse contactors on separate A Angles from motor controller and main contactor.

Charging CitiCar at a paid charging station

Radio

8-Track Radio Tapes

August 8, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

A carrying case for 8 track tapes arrived in the mail today. I picked it up because it had a nice look to it, would carry a small set of 8-Track tapes perfectly. It also came with an 8-Track head cleaning cartridge and a few tapes – perfect for testing. For just under $20, it was a steal. I still can’t get over how nice the case looks.

Lot of 8 Track Tapes Vintage Cartridges Various Artists With Nice Case

The pulley tries to move the 8-track tape forward

I found one of the tapes by the musical artist, Engelbert Humperdinck. I chuckled as his name reminded me of Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride. I hooked up the 8-track AM/FM car radio to the power supply and speaker. The tape slid in, a bit hesitant.

It was horrible. Sound would fade in and out as the radio tried to move the tape. I turned the belt inside-out and it was able to play the music much better.

It was hard to make out what was being sung. It could have been the speaker with the poor audio distortions. I was having fun switching between all four programs. I would watch the solenoid retract while the head moved between tracks. I noticed my power supply would jump from a quarter amp up to two amps to hold the solenoid in place.

When the tape reached the end, the radio got stuck trying to switch the track. It would no longer play tapes. I wasn’t too happy. After a bit, I noticed the tape itself had broken at the metal tab. My guess is that after breaking, the metal tab bent out and kept contact with a switch, thus keeping the solenoid energized. Popping in another tape revealed a fully operational car stereo.

I may need to learn how to repair 8-Track tapes.

A few 8-Track cassettes arrived in the mail, providing me with an opportunity to test the car radios 8-Track feature. This little radio is going into my 1976 1/2 CitiCar. The manufacturer and dealer didn’t install a radio.

The Chez