ELECTRIC CARS FOR EVERYONE

A human powered car hits the road running. Appears somewhat light-on but could be just the thing for meat-head drivers heading for the local Hog’s Breath Cafe – they can exercise all those calories off on their way home!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1304120/The-human-powered-car-reach-speeds-60mph.html#ixzz0wzn2Wrxh

Plans are underway for mass production with added features such as, ahem, a cabin, traction batteries, air bags, ABS etc (and with all that added weight, good exercise will become a way of life!). Of course depending on what one eats, an exhaust pipe may also become a necessity.

{ 0 comments }

I knew Curtis was becoming more of a jerk lately. Someone suggested a failing section in the row of driving MOSFETS as a common controller issue. The old MOSFETS certainly get a punishing and as I read somewhere it’s like an old train driver giving instructions to the coal loaders for more power and the time delay for passing the instructions down the chain of command thus causes the jerky acceleration. Well, very basically so. I really didn’t want to open her up again so I thought I’d check everything else out first. Battery connections were fine, so I fiddled with connections to the pot box and hit the pedal. Whammo, much smoother! So out with the air-jet can and CRC electrical spray all around the pot and problem solved.

Spray a little kindness to your accelerator pot box. Your controller and battery pack will thank you.

That spray has been handy for all sorts of reasons, even lubricating the door hinges. I rang a friend to confirm this and he said it can be a common issue with the standard pot box. They can fail eventually, by which time I may replace with a hall effect throttle when I get around to upgrading the speed controller.

Anyway, between 0 and 5K ohms resistance drops fixed easily. I wonder if a more sealed unit is available, in the mean time may consider a perspex lid to reduce dust ingress.

{ 1 comment }