Search found 683 matches
- Mon, 05 Aug 2013, 14:32
- Forum: The Lounge
- Topic: Solar (thermal) HWS vs PVs
- Replies: 31
- Views: 4594
Solar (thermal) HWS vs PVs
The PV might achieve 18% efficiency, and a heat pump HWS might have a COP of 3.5 (ie pumps 3.5kW of heat into the water for 1kW of electricity use) so overall the PV + heat pump is probably less efficient at heating water than direct solar is. But it's sure a lot more flexible! If you don't need the...
- Wed, 24 Jul 2013, 20:35
- Forum: Electric motors and controllers
- Topic: Liquid cooling an industrial AC motor
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2910
Liquid cooling an industrial AC motor
Woody, Hammering aluminium tubes in between the fins works from a mechanical point of view (no cracks or leaks) - I tried it on a motor we have here. What I don't know is to what extent it helps cool the motor! I only tried a couple of tubes we had floating around, and didn't do the whole motor. But...
- Wed, 24 Jul 2013, 20:24
- Forum: Mitsubishi
- Topic: New to the forum & new I-miev
- Replies: 448
- Views: 59157
New to the forum & new I-miev
Kurt, Another reference point for you: I've driven our Leaf from Tennyson to Toowoomba, which was 116km of nearly all highway driving, with a ~700m altitude gain. It *just* made it, hit 0 on the "indicated distance to go" about 400m before getting to the top of the climb up the range into Toowoomba,...
- Mon, 01 Jul 2013, 21:06
- Forum: Batteries, charging, management and monitoring
- Topic: cable curling
- Replies: 40
- Views: 6935
cable curling
Weird, the 'lunch box' EVSE that came with our Leaf hasn't had the cable curl, and it's been used pretty heavily. I wonder if they had a couple of suppliers, and one is better than the other?
- Mon, 01 Jul 2013, 21:02
- Forum: Mitsubishi
- Topic: Buying a I-miev
- Replies: 153
- Views: 32549
Buying a I-miev
Good man ! Do we take that as a vote of confidence in CHAdeMO ? Heh, sort of... our charger does Combo SAE too - we're covering both bases. Any other locations in Oz ? Not yet, although we've got a lot of interest. Re the DC connection circuit. It can be seen that, apart from the 280A fuse in the c...
- Mon, 01 Jul 2013, 16:31
- Forum: Mitsubishi
- Topic: Buying a I-miev
- Replies: 153
- Views: 32549
Buying a I-miev
There's one at our office, too!acmotor wrote:There is (at least) one CHAdeMO DC fast charger in Oz at MMAL Adelaide. Not much good to most of us.

- Sat, 22 Jun 2013, 17:44
- Forum: For Sale/Wanted
- Topic: A few Tri-win DC40D-1250 water pumps, $30ea
- Replies: 4
- Views: 562
A few Tri-win DC40D-1250 water pumps, $30ea
Ian, what temperature is the pump rated for?
- Thu, 20 Jun 2013, 00:01
- Forum: EV Motoring
- Topic: Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Specs.
- Replies: 28
- Views: 6219
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Specs.
For DC fast charging, the vehicle controls the charger. So no dramas with cooking anything, if the vehicle detects the pack heating up it tells the charger to back off. Standard Chademo spec is 50-500V, 0-125A, 50kW max (ie you get less than 125A current for voltages above 400V) But the Outlanders t...
- Tue, 18 Jun 2013, 20:48
- Forum: Electric motors and controllers
- Topic: Torque Vectoring or Traction Control - Twin motors
- Replies: 32
- Views: 5039
Torque Vectoring or Traction Control - Twin motors
That's true to an extent - the inner wheel is less torque in hard driving, since it begins to lift off the road during cornering. But unlike a normal diff, where lifting a wheel means that the one still on the road gets no torque (or less torque, if you have a limited-slip diff), this doesn't happen...
- Tue, 18 Jun 2013, 15:48
- Forum: Electric motors and controllers
- Topic: Torque Vectoring or Traction Control - Twin motors
- Replies: 32
- Views: 5039
Torque Vectoring or Traction Control - Twin motors
Yes, it's quite common in solarcars (one of the areas we sell into) and we have plenty of customers doing electronic differential and traction control. Not sure on the torque vectoring. If you have a decent motor controller, it's quite simple - for an electronic diff you just command both motor cont...
- Mon, 17 Jun 2013, 17:24
- Forum: Technical and conversion discussion
- Topic: Required qualifications for EV installation work
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2007
Required qualifications for EV installation work
In Queensland (which is the only state in Australia with a professional engineering registration body) the electrical safety act says that to do electrical work you must be a licensed electrician, or "a professional engineer in the performance of their duties". A "professional engineer" means you're...
- Thu, 13 Jun 2013, 15:39
- Forum: Technical and conversion discussion
- Topic: Pedal box as an alternative to brake vacuum pump.
- Replies: 17
- Views: 2993
Pedal box as an alternative to brake vacuum pump.
You'll have to meet NCOP5 (or whichever one it is) that deals with brake system modifications.
- Mon, 03 Jun 2013, 20:38
- Forum: Members Machines
- Topic: Renard's BMW
- Replies: 237
- Views: 35370
Renard's BMW
Johny: the magnetising current won't be there unless you're 'driving'. Renard: the motor mass parameter affects only the PID constants for the velocity control loop. I doubt having it incorrect will make much of a difference to anything like this, unless maybe it's continually hunting between drive/...
- Mon, 03 Jun 2013, 16:08
- Forum: Members Machines
- Topic: Renard's BMW
- Replies: 237
- Views: 35370
Renard's BMW
The gate drive supplies in the WS200 begin switching as soon as 12V is applied to the controller. There won't be any noise from them making out back outside of the controller either on the 12V on on the DC bus connections. The high power switches begins switching only when a non-zero command is sent...
- Thu, 21 Mar 2013, 18:17
- Forum: For Sale/Wanted
- Topic: Any EV's for sale in WA??
- Replies: 7
- Views: 907
Any EV's for sale in WA??
Just had a mate buy a nice silver one here in Qld for $30k... sounds like they're trying to get them all off the yard.
- Fri, 15 Mar 2013, 20:50
- Forum: Electric motors and controllers
- Topic: adaptive magnetic flux array motor
- Replies: 26
- Views: 7907
adaptive magnetic flux array motor
I don't see how 'shutting down parts of the motor' really improves the part-load efficiency. The iron losses and eddy-current losses are still there in the windings no matter what. You don't save anything in the inverter part either, since the bulk of the switching losses are proportional to current...
- Wed, 13 Mar 2013, 22:11
- Forum: Batteries, charging, management and monitoring
- Topic: Low cost BMS
- Replies: 443
- Views: 73704
Low cost BMS
I'd avoid using screw terminals in a car - they tend to vibrate loose after a while.
- Wed, 13 Mar 2013, 22:09
- Forum: Electric motors and controllers
- Topic: EP-1000 controllers: scam!
- Replies: 6
- Views: 2396
EP-1000 controllers: scam!
Canberra32 wrote: See this is why I was using a clutch!
So now you step on the clutch and have motor guts flying out everywhere as it rapidly spools up to 50k rpm

- Fri, 25 Jan 2013, 14:31
- Forum: General EV Discussion
- Topic: Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2230
Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
That 1000 miles wasn't in one charge!
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-fr ... 5B808DF1D3
The 2.5hp motor would have kept the speeds low and the efficiency high, too
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-fr ... 5B808DF1D3
The 2.5hp motor would have kept the speeds low and the efficiency high, too

- Thu, 24 Jan 2013, 14:04
- Forum: Batteries, charging, management and monitoring
- Topic: Wanted - an amp hour meter
- Replies: 69
- Views: 13761
Wanted - an amp hour meter
Nevilleh, is that showing instantaneous *motor* amps, or *battery* amps. Integrating (coulomb counting) your motor current won't give you the right answer!
- Thu, 17 Jan 2013, 19:24
- Forum: General EV Discussion
- Topic: Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2230
Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
Yes, the aircon kicks in when fast charging an iMiEV. You're right on the 'kettle', it's so the heating can still work in north america etc. I was reading something interesting about it the other day actually, they reckon adding heated seats and heated steering wheel (as they do in the US) makes a p...
- Thu, 17 Jan 2013, 17:12
- Forum: General EV Discussion
- Topic: Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2230
Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
Yes, reading it again I wasn't very clear - there's no way a Leaf will go 1000km!
But put a Leaf pack in that 1907 vehicle and it probably would go that far. It's hard to beat light weight, solid tyres, no power anything, no accessories, and cruising at 10mph to give decent efficiency
But put a Leaf pack in that 1907 vehicle and it probably would go that far. It's hard to beat light weight, solid tyres, no power anything, no accessories, and cruising at 10mph to give decent efficiency

- Wed, 16 Jan 2013, 23:50
- Forum: General EV Discussion
- Topic: Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
- Replies: 14
- Views: 2230
Old EV got 340 km on 1 charge [once]
Power consumption goes up approximately proportional to the square of speed. So for a modern example, EPA testing on the Nissan Leaf shows 110km range on the 90km/h highway test cycle. Cruising steadily at 1/3rd this speed (~20mph, same as the Edison car) would use 1/9th the power, so the range woul...
- Thu, 10 Jan 2013, 19:47
- Forum: For Sale/Wanted
- Topic: Group Buy - Gigavac high voltage relays
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1316
Group Buy - Gigavac high voltage relays
Make sure you get the variant with the aux contacts, they're not much more as far as I can remember, and they're good for those with a BMS that can use it - it means you can detect welded shut or failed open contactors. You also want the "dual-coil" type, they have dramatically reduced power consump...
- Tue, 08 Jan 2013, 19:57
- Forum: Members Machines
- Topic: Nevilleh's BMW
- Replies: 337
- Views: 65721
Nevilleh's BMW
Well, the faster you use it up, the more incentive there will be for people to transition to EVs. So go for it!