Tag Archives: Mounting

Contactor Switch, Motor Controller

Bend Over Backwards

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Fabricating Mounts

The A311 angle brackets are in the way of the cable in between them

Yesterday I was about to work on running a cable from the main contactor to the Alltrax motor controller B+ terminal. I was using one of the short wires that I received from a local enthusiast of CitiCars. The A311 angles were in the way when trying to bend the wire.

A311 angle brackets bent over to allow cable to pass over them

I spent a great deal of time bending the tops down backwards over the SW202 motor reversing switch. Part of the problem was bending the brackets while they were still in the car. The other part was that I just didn’t have the tools available to do it properly. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t clean, but I got the job done.

Now that the brackets are bent over, they provide an additional surface to mount things to. They seem a bit high in where they are bent. The cable itself is under too much stress. I’m reconsidering how to attach it in the most beneficial way.

Bending the mounting brackets

PlugShare

I’ve been using PlugShare to find charging stations. They let you pick your car from a list, but I had to choose “Other”, which just showed a tarp over a sedan. I sent customer support (Ticket #70359) a request a couple weeks ago to let me choose a custom name other than “Other”, along with my own image of the car.

They got back today and added a “Sebring Vanguard Citicar” option, and asked if it was compatible with J1772 connections, to which I replied:

Stock model from the 70s is only compatible with level 1 chargers. A lot of us CitiCar/Comuta Car owners have been modifying them with J-1772 adapters, lithium battery, and chargers that support up to 240v.

PlugShare app displying Sebring Vanguard CitiCar recognized as a type of electric vehicle

A few others on the C-Car Facebook group confirmed that they too were able to add their CitiCars and got a kick out of it with plenty of excitement. It feels like these little cars are getting a little bit of validation in their place in history.

Fuming Mad

TLDR; gas smells bad

Ramble

I haven’t been to a gas station since February. Partly due to the fact that my primary vehicles were inoperable for awhile. A dead battery due to just not driving the car, and the SUV had problems trying to shift it out of park. Both vehicles are up and running now.

I had an in-person doctors appointment and decided to take the hour-long trip in my car since it gets 45 miles to the gallon compared to my gas guzzling SUV. I only drive the SUV occasionally to keep the battery charged and to pull my RV – but camping is canceled during the pandemic.

Anyhow, I’m running on, getting off topic.

Fumes

So my car had maybe 70 miles left, so I stopped to get some gas. I could smell the gas station! I hadn’t smelled anything like that since I was a kid. I thought the smell went away when everyone switched to unleaded gasoline. And the smell was stuck on my hands afterwards.

So yea… I just found it curious.

Rant

Don’t sit behind a Ford Mustang GT at a drive through. The fumes and loud noises are unbearable. I just kept imagining how much money the driver was spending to get me high. Every drive-through has cars just idling, wasting gasoline. One of the largest parts of a car is dedicated specifically to making the engine quieter. The mustang had two tail pipes and it was still very loud when idling. It makes me wonder how much louder the engine could get without it.

Big Rebuild

Seeing the bare copper in the wire that rubbed against the asphalt has made me rethink things quite a bit. I haven’t driven the CitiCar since then. Given my other vehicles are working now, I’m considering taking that giant leap and start replacing everything, starting with the motor.

The weather is still good for working outside. I also believe that I have everything that I need now. Wire, switches, monitors, batteries, charger, adapter, motor, controller, contactors, etc. I need to push this project forward.

Other news

My racing switches arrived today along with another tiny radio head unit for Bluetooth and microSD cards. The switches mounting plate looks like it is too high to put it where the stock radio is usually installed.

Switch mounting plate is too tall to put into the area for the radio

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Charger, Door, Front Royal Town Square, Motor Controller

Late Night Pizza

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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.

Door windows with panes separated

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

The Colonel is first in line to test out the new 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 penny for your thoughts

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

Fabricating mount for motor controller in CitiCar

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
Chimney Field, Contactor Switch, Door, Motor Controller, Speedometer

Police Department

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National Night Out is next Tuesday. After picking up lunch at Popeyes, Teddy and I headed over to the new Front Royal police department in our CitiCar to pick up a little “Thin Blue Line” flag and a 3 watt blue light. Afterwards, we headed over to Chimney Field park.

The Blue Line flag and a blue light

I need to pick up a little inverter so I can use my bedside lamp with my car to power the light during their cruise for the event. I tried to see how to affix the flag to the car, or just put the flag itself on the radio antenna, but I wasn’t having much luck.

Red Button

Trip odometer button

In the movie, Spaceballs, Barf switched the Eagle 5 to use Secret Hyperjets on the Eagle 5 to go into hyperactive. Men in Black had a hyperdrive on their car. Hyperdrive mode was activated by a red button that allows you to drive on the ceiling of a tunnel to bypass traffic.

With a recommendation from the C-Car owners group, I swapped out the trip odometer button for a red one. It’s already been catching peoples attention quicker.

Little red trip odometer button for secret hyperjets

Door Windows

I talked a bit with my neighbor regarding the various windows on the vehicle. He repairs automotive glass, but nothing like what the CitiCar has. He had some insight regarding the blue tint on most vehicles, having a company get measurements in case the back window breaks, and what could be done about the side windows.

I called up a company he recommended. Their first response was that they don’t do curved auto-glass. They seemed pleased that I am able to pop out the side windows and bring them in. I’ll take them over later in the week. Hopefully they can pop out the acrylic panels from the frames.

Sliding windows popped out of CitiCar doors

Contactor Mounting Bracket

Mounting bracket screws are too long

The wrong mounting hardware came with the Albright SW180 main contactor switch. The bolts were too long and could not tighten any further once they pressed against the solenoid. I found a bracket kit from Arc Components Limited located in West Yorkshire, England and had the parts imported.

Albright Bracket Kit Part No 2159-047

Main contactor switch secured onto Alltrax motor controller

The mounting hardware was perfect and looked fairly similar to the hardware used on the SW202 Forward/Reverse contactor switch.

Now that the contactor switch is secured, I can start modifying some steel brackets to affix the motor controller and FNR switches onto.

As a bonus, I got a little magnet from the company to put on my refrigerator.

Refrigerator magnet from Arc Components Limited, West Yorkshire, England

Lester Charger

I’ve been talking with tech support for the Lester Summit Series II charger regarding the egg smell, high voltage, large jump in SoC, and odd estimates being off by hours.

So far, things seem like it might be normal. Problems may be due to the age of the batteries, and that the batteries should wear in after a few charge cycles. I think the estimates being off by a factor of four may be due to the low number of amp hours the batteries have. The range that I have on the CitiCar also seems to be about a quarter of what it should have if it came with the proper batteries.

Here is the data from a charging cycle along with some visual graphs.

TimeEst MinAmpsAHVoltsSoCEstimatedActual
1:1383421.1050.615%13:5403:33
1:3082720.7651.516%13:4703:16
1:4681120.41252.218%13:3103:00
2:0279520.21752.820%13:1502:44
2:2077718.32353.422%12:5702:26
2:3775918.02854.323%12:3902:09
3:0936215.83757.373%06:0201:37
3:401829.04365.290%03:0201:06
3:541699.04565.891%02:4900:52
4:041599.04665.991%02:3900:42
4:3279.05066.193%00:0700:14
4:4600.05154.6100%00:0000:00
A high voltage applied to the 48v battery bank, and an odd 50% jump in SoC within a half hour
Graph indicating estimates are four times longer than actual charging time
Trips

Teddys Day

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Eastham Park

Trail behind dog park at Eastham park in Front Royal, VA

A large part of Sunday was spent walking throughout Eastham park. Although they have a large dog park, the one for large dogs is currently closed. It was a clear day and very enjoyable to walk along the Shenandoah River. With a large number of squirrels darting around, Teddy was alert and ready for the chase.

The next stop was at McDonald’s. Meals are eaten outside, often setting on the curve next to the CitiCar. Teddy is learning not to beg during meals, but he earns a nice reward at the end.

Setting in front of a CitiCar, Teddy is tempted to eat a Big Mac

The trip home from the dog park on Sunday was a bit of a fright. Although there was power, the CitiCar would not supply power to the motor. In town, it’s fairly easy to find a spot to pull over and park to diagnose the issue. It was suspected that the contactor fuse may have blown.

Upon inspection, the main fuse looked fine. The wires from the 12 volt battery were made more secure the other day after a loss of power disconnecting wires from a hard turn. The main power wires from the 12 volt accessory battery looked fine as well. The repairs were holding it in place.

A quick hop into the car to confirm the issue was still present revealed that it went away on its own. As the key turned, the main contactor click could be heard. It is thought that maybe the switch on the brake was stuck in position, preventing the main contactor to be activated when braking.

Shorter Trips

It’s now known that the CitiCar starts to get exhausted around ten miles. Rather than setting destinations to push the limits, rides have become more casual. It’s great knowing that certain destinations are within range. There are many parks, restaurants, and events on main street accessible within just a few miles. Having success at a charging station adds to the freedom to go anywhere… within an extra mile.

The battery chargers have been left connected to the batteries while driving around in the CitiCar. The time to setup for charging has been simplified to connecting the power strip to the main power in a house, or to the J1772 power converter.

Steering Wheel Adjustments

There have been a few problems with the steering wheel alignment since the turn signal switch has been replaced. Each time that it appears to have been fixed, the next trip reveals a little more fine tuning is required. It’s now to the point that the steering wheel is rotated by one or two splines after each trip.

Misaligned steering wheel
Still misaligned steering wheel

In the middle of adjusting the steering wheel, Teddy finally caught a squirrel in his own yard at home. It was difficult to break his concentration. He finally had to be pulled off and go inside to calm down with a treat and let the squirrel get away.

Controller Mounting

The next goal is to get the contactor switch, motor controller, and forward/reverse switches installed under the seat. They don’t need to be wired up just yet. A mounting bracket arrived this morning, and there were a few metal angles purchased at the hardware store to help fasten things into an area in front of the motor. Each step is being worked through and planned out. One of the problems that has popped up is that the bolts with the solenoid mounting hardware are too long.

Layout of motor controller and contact switches on both sides of angle brackets
Angle brackets to bolt down to the battery box floor
Layout of motor controller and contact switches on both sides of angle brackets
Mounting screws are too long to secure solenoid to the mounting bracket

Other News

Tomorrow is Battery Investor Day for Tesla. It was an excuse to take the day off of work. An extra $500 was invested into the company this morning. The unrealized value is roughly half of what is needed for a Cybertruck reservation.

After two repairs by a tow truck driver and a neighbor, the SUV shifter cable has been replaced by the professionals. It was noticed that the rear passenger window is unable to be opened from the front driver-side buttons.

The buttons arrived for the GPS speedometer. Installation continues tomorrow.

There is an issue arising from a battery monitor that I purchased in China at the beginning of August that hasn’t arrived yet. The seller claims it has already been delivered, but the post office claims they haven’t received the package yet.