EV COOL CAPRI

Post up a thread for your EV. Progress pics, description and assorted alliteration
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ev cool capri
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Post by ev cool capri »

Hi Guys
I have just started an EV conversion here in Brisbane, QLD on a Ford Capri and have posted 2video installments on youtube, I have also got a website on the progress of the EV http://www.gowda.com.au .

Richard Gowda
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Post by tassie_tiger »

Well done Richard...

Last edited by tassie_tiger on Sun, 26 Oct 2008, 16:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by ev cool capri »

Hi Guys
I have now installed the Netgain 8 inch motor in, I have also installed the battery box. There are also 2 more video installments of the capri on www.gowda.com.au.

I am now in the process of installing the heater/demister as sujjested by Goombi Image, due to the fact it is a straight forward 12V plug in type although I am wondering if I should dismantle it and try fitting it into the heater radiator and glue it instead.

Image Image
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Post by EV2Go »

Hey Richard, looks like you are making a bit of progress there. Just an FYI when welding large areas like the battery box don’t weld in one straight line as it tends to cause pulling and distortion if you not careful. You are far better off welding diagonally much like doing up a 5 stud wheel nut. Do shortish sections then move to another section allowing the metal chance to cool down, also by doing it alternately it reduces the chance of it pulling the job out of square.

The heater may be a little more tricky than your expecting, but you can pull the “heater element” out without removing the dash if you access it from the passenger side. Drain all the water out first... small hose in and suck... go inside the car passenger side remove the cables and plastic bits carefully until you have access to the two heater pipes. Cut the pipes nice and close to the heater element and remove the excess pipes from engine bay side, and you should be able to pull the heater core out then.

After doing majority of Kearon’s heater I might be inclined to do it differently. You can’t get the actually heater box out without pulling the whole dash out and that is more than a few hours work for even someone like myself that has done that sort of thing a number of times before.

I pulled Kearon’s dash out because he had cracks in it and it was a good time to change it over. I spent quite a number of hours grinding / hand filing and custom fitting that alloy plate which Kearon’s heater elements is sitting on and that would be very difficult trying to do that in the car.

So the way I would do it if I was you...
Chop the pipes nice and close inside to tidy up the engine bay
Leave the original heater element in the car
The fan is located on the passenger side up high and feeds into air box up high
The fan end has a roundish tube and the airbox has a triangle end, remove the 2 round black plastic pins (one both end) and that pipe comes out easy
If you chop a section out of that tube in the middle (where both parts are round) and make up a metal box and fit the heater elements in it, you will save yourself more effort than you can imagine.
You can leave the air duct on cold bypassing the heater section altogether, all that happens when you put it on hot is it moves a flap inside so it goes through the heater core, but since you will be supplying the hot air externally it makes no difference what position you leave it in. The only difference would be that the air is slowed down marginally going through the heater core. When you have the electric heater element turned off you will receive cold air like usual.
Last edited by EV2Go on Tue, 03 Feb 2009, 13:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by ev cool capri »

Hi EV2go

Thanks for your reply,unfortunately I had already pulled the dash apart before I received your reply. Now I have decided to put a 12 volt heater/demister that I have purchased yesterday from the sunshine coast from jamie's. Now I have the big task of putting the dash back in the way I removed it.
I was wondering what do I do with the vehicle computer look box below, should I remove it as I do not need it in there.

Thank you for reply
Much appreciated
Richard
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Post by ev cool capri »

Update

I have just made up a vacuum reservoir from PVC bought from Bunnings. To find the Male/Female Brass Nipple go to the tools section at Bunnings and look under where they display air compressor accessories, I have also used a female nipple inside the end cap for good grip. Also I decided on the PVC pipe that is wider than the downpipes the end cap on it says 100mm if that makes any sense, as for the size of the pipe I have measured the width of the front in the previously called engine bay so I do not know the capacity, let me know the size and capacity when you guys see the video,also I used the green coloured PVC cement as it is used for pressure. I also wanted to video how I made it but I forgot to have the camera by my side and by then I had already glued the end caps.

As mentioned before I have made a video of the finished product soon to be posted and I have spent some time explaing how I made it, hope it helps some of you guys trying to brain storm like I did.

Coming soon: Lookout for the 5th Episode of EV Cool Capri video on http://www.gowda.com.au

I am doing this project as and when I make the time between work and other things.
I am getting close
Image Image
Last edited by ev cool capri on Wed, 04 Feb 2009, 07:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by EV2Go »

ev cool capri wrote: Hi EV2go

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately I had already pulled the dash apart before I received your reply. Now I have decided to put a 12 volt heater/demister that I have purchased yesterday from the sunshine coast from jamie's. Now I have the big task of putting the dash back in the way I removed it.
I was wondering what do I do with the vehicle computer look box below, should I remove it as I do not need it in there.

Thank you for reply
Much appreciated
Richard
“I was wondering what do I do with the vehicle computer look box below” Was there meant to be a picture? Not sure what you mean by vehicle computer look box... I am guessing you are referring to the ECU (Electronic Control Unit) does it sit below the heater box and up against the firewall inside the cabin?

If so I took Kearon’s one out and removed probably 95% of the wiring that went through the firewall. I wouldn’t recommend removing anything unless you know exactly what it is going to effect. We had the benefit of Kearon on one end of the wire and me on the other, together with a good understanding of vehicle electrics we were able to pull out a lot of the wiring. There are some components like the voltage stabiliser that need to be kept. If in doubt leave it alone.

Word of wisdom regarding the heater element... Originally we were planning to use a single element heater like some of the conversions that had been done before, but 1 element isn’t enough. They may work fine when you have a small low flow fan sitting behind an element and pushing out heat and being powered by 240V, but put it behind the fan motor in the car which has far more volume and force and it kicks the crap out of the heat coming of that one element. We had to modify my original design to take a second element to get any sort of heat happening.

The other thing you need to consider is that you only have 144v to heat the element not the 240v it was designed for. I cant in my wildest dreams imagine a 12v heater putting out anywhere near enough heat.
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Post by evric »

There is a guy (Kyle)(YouTube- kylehondarider)who is taking the 120V ceramic elements out of heaters in the US and selling them on his website. The details are on the AEVA)Adelaide) website on the links page. The best price around....Ric
Prius Plug-in Conversion: http://www.evplus.com.au ...Holden Barina EV: http://www.evric.kestar.com.au
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Post by EV2Go »

There not really that cheap when you are paying $30 USD + $10-15 USD Shipping.

When Kearon and I pulled apart the new heater he bought the other day (second one), the element was identical to the first. The only difference was the seconds one had the manufactures URL printed on the side.

I can't remember the full URL but it finished in –e.com. Would be good if you could do a group buy from them.
Last edited by EV2Go on Wed, 04 Feb 2009, 12:57, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Johny »

I notice that these heaters appear to have a few elements and they are paralleled on the US ones with one end not being used at all.
How many elements are on Kearon's heater and what voltage is each element? Is his paralleled or are the individual elements in series?
(Or have I got it totally wrong?)
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Post by evric »

The US ones for $US30 + shipping are 120V not 240V like the local ones. They (both types) can be wired so that only half or full element is in use. This price is under half what other US suppliers charge.
Prius Plug-in Conversion: http://www.evplus.com.au ...Holden Barina EV: http://www.evric.kestar.com.au
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Post by EV2Go »

Johny I get the sneaking suspicion that they may in fact be the same element wired differently. I know Kearon has taken some pictures of the element wiring of his, and there is a wiring picture on the website of the guy who is selling them in the US. It would be interesting to compare the two...

Evric, if as I suspect they are the same element but wired differently to achieve the voltage, then there is a massive price difference between here and there (30+15) / .63 = $71.42 the first heater Kearon bought was like $30 from Bunnings.

Just so I dont loose the link to that guys website again... http://kylemeier.efoliomn1.com/index.as ... C70D57D338}

fairly sure it is wired different to Kearons.
Last edited by EV2Go on Thu, 05 Feb 2009, 07:05, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by evric »

EV2Go, The 120V and the 240V units have different characteristis but have the same wiring. I have had both (I have a 240V one for sale! it wasn't hot enough on 120V - great above 180V). One is actually marked 240V and the other 120V. Connections are: pins 1,3&5 go to positive and 2&4 go to negative. The polarity really does not matter. This is what everyone does.
The picture on Kyles site shows one wire disconnected. This would of happenned when he took it out of the heater.
EVSOURCE has them (3 types) for sale in different voltages

.http://www.evsource.com/tls_heaters.php

and information on wiring

http://www.evsource.com/datasheets/heat ... iagram.pdf

If you disconnect the centre connection it will be half power.
I hope this clears it up...
Ric

Edit: Links fixed...
Last edited by evric on Thu, 05 Feb 2009, 07:39, edited 1 time in total.
Prius Plug-in Conversion: http://www.evplus.com.au ...Holden Barina EV: http://www.evric.kestar.com.au
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Post by EV2Go »

links didn't work... since we now have two elements if we wire them in parallel or series (have to think which way it goes) would that halve the voltage?
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Post by evric »

Links are now fixed on original post.
You will have to wire them in parallel. The voltage will be the same. You should have more heat output... Ric
Prius Plug-in Conversion: http://www.evplus.com.au ...Holden Barina EV: http://www.evric.kestar.com.au
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Post by EV2Go »

Thanks for that, fairly sure we have it wired the same as the pdf.
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Post by ev cool capri »

Hi again people

I have got another video of the progress on the EV Cool Capri 7 on www.gowda.com.au I have just spoken to Rod Dilkes of evpower about the batteries and I will be ordering the batteries in a few days. I have now completed most the work front of the firewall except cabling and installing the DC/DC converter. I have also just ordered another Circuit Breaker for the front of the firewall, I have already installed one in the cabin with which I can disconnect both the positive and negative with a manual switch. I will be putting up a video of this information soon on youtube for viewing.   

Also If any one has any sujjestions in regards to my EV conversion, I welcome them and also thank you to all those who have posted sujjestions in past.
Last edited by ev cool capri on Mon, 23 Feb 2009, 14:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by ev cool capri »

Hi EV2GO
Image Image

Can you tell me a little bit more about the voltage stabilizer, I have removed nearly everything on the passenger side including the ECU and unplugged the couple of relays or whatever they call them that are directly behind the ECU. I hope I have not messed up anything. I have just 3 to 4 cables coming in through the passenger side of the firewall.

The rest all removed. Image Image

Rich
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Post by EV2Go »

I removed literally dozens of wires (left about 4 wires in total), relays, ECU, plugs etc that went through the firewall into the engine bay, basically anything remotely connected to the ICE. A couple of wires that I wasn’t 100% sure off I got Kearon to help out at the other end of the wire with a meter, so we knew exactly what it was connected to.

We (as in I) made one tiny mistake I cut a wire that made the headlights go up and down (which we promptly diagnosed and fixed), other than that, none of the wiring was required. The voltage stabilizer was one of the units that was on the firewall under the dash behind the ECU.
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Post by ev cool capri »

Hi people

The EV has come alive, I have posted 2 videos of the EV GRIN. My engineer came around yesterday and wanted a bar put in place where I had cut the battery box under the back seat.

Apparently in QLD they are a more stricter that other states. Today I made up the bar and I will be posting a video shortly on the changes I had to make. He also told me to stay away for the time being from atempting to convert any ICE car with airbags fitted in them, the arguement being " proving whether they work" I know what you guys are thinking, I put the same question to my engineer and he laughed.

Richard Gowda

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