[ausev] Siemens-Ford-Ballard AC motors?

[Christopher Robison]

They've been trying to get rid of these motors for years. They purchased
the motors in a large lot as I recall, apparently without knowing what
they were buying. After figuring out that they're worthless without the
controllers, they attempted for a while to sell them all together as a
single lot. 

Giving up on that, they've been trying to sell them individually for
some time now, apparently not meeting with much more success. 

I agree with Ian. Stay away from these motors. If you want to use a
Siemens AC motor like these, buy one from Victor at metricmind.com.
They're nearly identical, but come with a controller and a shaft that's
easier to integrate into your conversion.

  --chris


On Sun, 2007-09-30 at 16:49 -0500, Ian Ward wrote:
> Marty,
> 
> I drive a Ranger that has one of these motors.  In fact, that is one of the
> primary reasons I bought it - it's a very cool setup.  There are several
> difficulties with using the Mavin motors in a conversion:
> 
> 1) The output shaft is splined and hollow; meant to interface with a
> planetary reduction/differential that passes half of the drive back through
> the center of the motor to the opposing half-shaft.  This part isn't
> available anymore, as far as I or anyone else that I have heard of can find.
> This integrated drive was built by Ecostar for it's run in the Rangers and
> then sold to Ballard, who sold this division to Siemens VDO, who is in the
> process of selling it to Continental.  If you could find one of the
> diff/reducers, the controller that was meant for it can be had, but only
> works with all of the other components of the Ranger.  It talks on the bus
> to all the other modules it expects to be there and if they are not, it
> won't work.  I haven't heard of anyone trying to make that work.
> 
> 2) Victor won't sell you a controller without a motor.  He has tired of
> answering questions regarding these Mavin motors.  Search the EVDL archive
> and you'll find plenty of discussion.
> 
> 3) The controllers are very solid and hard to find a surplus or salvage unit
> that *might* work with it.
> 
> 4) If you are able to find a controller, the shaft isn't easily replaced.
> There was a thread on the EVDL recently discussing someone that apparently
> bought one of the Mavin motors to try that out.
> 
> Harold, the guy that sells these at Mavin, has referred me to several people
> who he believes that can provide a working traction inverter, but none of
> these people I talked to ever returned my messages.
> 
> Unfortunately, my advice is to keep looking.  I would have bought one of
> these when they first popped up, but never could overcome the above hurdles.
> Several other companies sell AC drives, but most don't like to talk to
> individuals.  The lead times for AC kits from ElectroAuto are horrific
> according to the traffic on the 914-ev mailing list.
> 
> I would be interested in hearing about whatever AC system you end up
> settling on.
> 
> Cheers,
> ian
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ausev-bounces at austinev.org [mailto:ausev-bounces at austinev.org] On
> Behalf Of Marty Swartz
> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 3:18 PM
> To: ausev at austinev.org
> Subject: [ausev] Siemens-Ford-Ballard AC motors?
> 
> Hello, all. Greetings from the far north - Pittsburgh, PA. I've been
> lurking for quite a while: learning, planning, saving, trying to
> muster the critical mass needed to dive in.
> 
> My current "stake in the sand" is to convert a small pickup using an
> AC drive system. It's hilly around here, which makes regeneration
> almost mandatory. I've browsed through Metric Mind's catalog, and
> suffered severe sticker shock.
> 
> Right now on eBay Motors I see some Siemens-Ford-Ballard AC motors,
> new in the box, purportedly as used in the OEM EV Ford Rangers, from
> one "Electro Mavin" for what seems to be a modest $2,000 shipped.
> 
> Have any of you had direct experience with this motor or seller? If
> all is as it appears, this looks like a good way to lower my project
> cost appreciably, helping me buy the OTHER stuff from Victor. :)  Any
> advice on- or off-line would be most appreciated.
> _______________________________________________
> AusEV mailing list
> AusEV at austinev.org
> http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev
> 
> _______________________________________________
> AusEV mailing list
> AusEV at austinev.org
> http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev
-- 
Christopher Robison
chris at ohmbre.org
http://ohmbre.org          <-- 1999 Isuzu Hombre + Z2K + Warp13!