Archive for May, 2011

…with Girlventures!

The Elithion Lithiumate BMS uses a serial cable to talk to the computer. That’s kind of a pain to see additional information that the SOC display doesn’t tell me. It is also nice to see how the batteries are doing “on the fly”, or when I’m charging at work. I bought a WiSnap and made a little case for it: The red/black cord is for a 9v power supply, but it doesn’t need it as it can get its power from the RS-232 input. I can now connect to an adhoc Wifi network with my iPhone (dubbed “PlugBugBMS”) and see... [read more]

I got my charger back from Manzanita last thursday and put it in the car Friday night. They weren’t sure why it busted, but the bridge rectifier had to be replaced, and they did some general tune ups. Unfortunately, it was out of warranty, so I had to pay out of pocket for it. But oh well…I’m still saving money on gas! Here’s a picture of my charger’s bracket to allow me to mount it horizontally: I also got my Belktronix DC-DC converter to replace my ailing IOTA DLS-55. Good news from IOTA is that they are taking the issues... [read more]

A cool picture from my trip to Madagascar in 2009. Lemur Eating

I now have over 3000 miles on my car. Up till today, the only problems I have had have been with the IOTA DC-DC Converter. I’m supposed to have a replacement soon, as my IOTA may fail again at any moment. Now that I have some driving experience, I have a better idea of the range. It’s not good to say that an electric car gets X mile range, since X various by many factors. Those factors are: how heavy you are with the pedal to accelerate, how hard and often you brake, how many hills you drive up and... [read more]

Today when I went to grab my car at lunch I discovered that the Manzanita Micro PFC-30 charger wasn’t charging. I looked at it, and the BMS (Battery Management System) also wasn’t on. The BMS is turned on along with the charger when I plug it into an outlet. So, I realized the 50 amp / 240VAC circuit breaker must have tripped. I plugged the car into another nearby 50 amp circuit, since I couldn’t reset the breaker and there was another charging station right next to where I was. The BMS came on, but the charger wasn’t charging. It... [read more]

Yesterday I drove a 6 hour round trip drive to do a unicycle criterium (crit) race in Auburn, CA. It was the first time I’ve had to pump gas in several months, but it was worth it! The Auburn Journal did a nice write up and took this cool picture of us starting: From left to right: me (Corbin Dunn), Stephen, Tom Holub, Nathan Hoover, John Foss, Robert, Wiley, Jim and Austin (the last three are sort of hidden in the back). There is also a thread on the unicyclist forums about it. I got first, which was cool, but... [read more]