Saturday, January 4, 2014

Batteries!

At the start of November I drove to Germany and picked up the batteries at Rimo, the dealer from Elite Power Solutions in Europe. 24 Li-ion GBS cells to make a 72v 100ah pack. The cells came in sets of four that make a 12 volt pack with purple caps for protection. Below a photo of on set of four and a cut-away of one battery. 

Cutaway of one cell

The pack came with a Battery Management System that included 24 chips for each cell, a LCD screen, a shunt for measuring amps and a 'computer'. Photo of the battery pack without and with the chips.



After testing the batteries and checking that everything works we started building the case for the batteries and mounting them in the chassis. Starting with a sheet of plate steel and ending up with a welded box in the chassis. I rust proved the box used old seat belts to make sure that the batteries can't move. The big hole in the last photo is in the trunk of the car for access to the batteries after the body gets put back on the chassis. I'll make a plexiglas lid to seal it off.

















I made the smaller box (left bottom photo) for all the electronics needed near the batteries. It needs some wiring and installment of a couple last instruments but is almost done. More on that later.
For now everything is done and the body can be put back on the chassis. That's the job for next week and then its all about wiring. I also have to decide on a charger and a 72v to 12v converter for the auxiliary power.
More soon!

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