Planning to Replace the EV Components

In a month or so, I'll be getting a beta-test motor controller from Synkromotive which will have a variety of programmable features as well as more power. Since I'm replacing the controller, I looked into replacing the other components with off-the-shelf items that might work better than the current Belktronix system I have.

Here's the plan:
- replace the controller with the programmable Synkromotive unit
- replace the optical potbox with the original Civic TPS (throttle position sensor)
- replace the charging system with a bunch of individual chargers (Joule or Soneil)
- replace the integrated DC-DC converter with an IOTA DLS-45 unit


Here's a picture of the IOTA DLS-45 DC-DC converter on the right that I purchased at Northern Arizona Wind & Sun for about $150.

On the left is a jj12060 Joule individual battery charger from ElectricRider, supposedly modelled after the popular Soneil chargers. I purchased 13 of them, 12 for the batteries and one extra in case something dies or I need to charge an external 12V battery. They were out of Soneil chargers and said that the Joule was a drop-in replacement with the same specification (right!).

As is typical, things didn't go as planned. I saved this weekend for removing the old charging system and installing the Joule chargers. As a safety check, I clipped a Joule charger to one battery to observe its behavior. When I attached the charger, I heard a click (like a relay) from inside the charger. Hmm, if the battery is always powering an internal relay, then there's a constant current drain (that's bad).

I checked the current draw with an ammeter and found that the Joule charger pulls 35ma out of the battery when it's just sitting there! The Soneil chargers have the feature of not pulling ANY current out of the battery when attached but not plugged into the AC source.

In short, the Joule chargers are NOT a drop-in replacement for the Soneils and I'm going to return them and get Soneils instead.

Argh, more delays. At least the weather outside is beautiful and I can go for a hike.

Have a great weekend everyone.