[ausev] AusEV Digest, Vol 38, Issue 16
red scott
redscott77092 at yahoo.com
Sun Mar 22 21:46:26 GMT 2009
Is there such a thing as a manual tranny for an Acura? I know there are some modern passenger cars that are only available w/ auto -- don't know if this one.
If a manual gear grinder was available as an option or std equipment for that make then a good tranny shop might be able to get you a rebuilt trans to swap in.
Randy
--- On Sun, 3/22/09, Dan Lewis <mediabeing at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Dan Lewis <mediabeing at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ausev] AusEV Digest, Vol 38, Issue 16
To: ausev at austinev.org
Date: Sunday, March 22, 2009, 7:24 AM
I'm thanking Kevin Douglass for his thoughts on the matter of converting my
old 1988 Acura to electric.
I'd heard that converting cars with automatic transmissions presented extra difficulty, still, it seems to me that some bright folks need to come up with ways of getting around the problem because there are so many automatic transmission'd cars out there that need converting.
Maybe the answer is to get rid of the automatic transmission too, or come up with some clever adapter.
As a public relations type a' critter, I'd like to encourage all associated in the various EV/alternate power associations to not use acronyms. They tend to turn off/alienate those who are not in the know. We need more and more folks to enter into the process.
Acronyms/initialism tend to make newcomers feel pretty left out; not a good idea in this day and age.
It looks like it's going to be a partial rebuild for the old Acura. Oh well....maybe next lifetime.
Thanks again,
Dan Lewis
Houston,TX
On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 7:00 AM, <ausev-request at austinev.org> wrote:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Series hybrid musings (John Penry at TransTexasTrucks)
2. Up for a project?? Zap my Acura! (Dan Lewis)
3. Re: Up for a project?? Zap my Acura! (Kevin Douglass)
4. charger help (Marc Kohler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 09:36:53 -0500
From: "John Penry at TransTexasTrucks" <jpenry at transtexastrucks.com>
Subject: Re: [ausev] Series hybrid musings
To: "AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion"
<ausev at austinev.org>
Message-ID: <120418F7F6E24F10A890F61184E74AA5 at TexrocksGX280>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
You just have to make sure that you have a system that will pass the car
inspection, when the time comes. You can't just take a home style generator
and put it in a moving vehicle. I've seen photos of people who use campsite
generators in the bed of a pickup, and I think that would be worse than
leaving the original ICE engine.
The genset used in "The Zero Carbon Car" used a three cylinder diesel,
running biodiesel.
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Allen" <johntallen55 at gmail.com>
To: "'AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion'"
<ausev at austinev.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: [ausev] Series hybrid musings
> Why not use LPG? Most RV gensets can run on gas, LPG or propane and are
> relatively cheap.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ausev-bounces at austinev.org [mailto:ausev-bounces at austinev.org] On
> Behalf Of Lant Colburn
> Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 5:52 PM
> To: AusEV at austinev.org
> Subject: [ausev] Series hybrid musings
>
> List Members;
>
> I have been researching a good way to implement an electric/biodiesel
> series hybrid in a small pickup. It seems to me that a genset capable of
> providing 100amps continous at 120volts should be able to keep up with
> the power requirements to keep a small pickup truck traveling straight
> and level at constant highway speeds. Obviously a battery pack would
> still be required for acceleration, when much higher amperage is
> required. The problem I have run into is that good quality, high
> amperage DC gensets that are rare and expensive, while AC gensets of
> equivalent output and quality are relatively cheap.
>
> This may be a stupid question, but I am going to ask it anyway: Would it
> be possible to use a quality 120v AC 17kw genset powered by a diesel
> engine running biodiesel to supply power to an AC electric vehicle
> conversion? If so what could be used as a load manager to control DC
> power coming from the batteries to the inverter and the AC coming
> directly from the genset? Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can
> provide.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Lant Colburn
> Cleburne, TX
> lant at cdibb.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> AusEV mailing list
> AusEV at austinev.org
> http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev
>
>
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:58:54 -0500
From: Dan Lewis <mediabeing at gmail.com>
Subject: [ausev] Up for a project?? Zap my Acura!
To: ausev at austinev.org
Message-ID:
<60dad78c0903211358n2296ecc8wc093291bea8eceda at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I'm at a cross roads point here - I can either have my beloved old Acura
(1988 Legend coupe, auto, 6 cyl) rebuilt or I can have it put through an EV
conversion. I put an ad in the 'EV Tradin' Post' to see if I could get any
takers in my neck of the woods. No responses.
I'm told that Austin has a bunch of folks who dig converting fossil munchers
into amp eaters.
Is there anybody in Austin or Houston who is ready and willing to convert
my Acura to an electric Acura? Please speak up soonly!
Thanks,
Dan Lewis
Houston,TX
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Message: 3
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:49:13 -0500
From: "Kevin Douglass" <k.douglass at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [ausev] Up for a project?? Zap my Acura!
To: "'AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion'"
<ausev at austinev.org>
Message-ID: <5814E163F00E48F7B896D48470CC8FEC at smallDell>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Dan,
The Houston area has a chapter of the EAA called HEAA. You can get info on
the website www.heaa.org <http://www.heaa.org/> .
There are some folks at HEAA that have conversions and experience doing
them. If you are interested in asking the group let me know at
k.douglass at earthlink.net.
As far as converting your car, there is one problem. The fact that it is
automatic does not lend itself to making a good conversion. Unfortunately
the automatic transmission is set up to run with your gas engine. It uses
the engines computer and/or vacuum to decide when to shift. From what I
have researched and spoken with folks that have converted vehicles, an
automatic transmission does not lend itself to a good conversion. You want
a car that has a manual transmission.
This is just my knowledge level to this point.
Good luck,
Kevin Douglass
_____
From: ausev-bounces at austinev.org [mailto:ausev-bounces at austinev.org] On
Behalf Of Dan Lewis
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 3:59 PM
To: ausev at austinev.org
Subject: [ausev] Up for a project?? Zap my Acura!
I'm at a cross roads point here - I can either have my beloved old Acura
(1988 Legend coupe, auto, 6 cyl) rebuilt or I can have it put through an EV
conversion. I put an ad in the 'EV Tradin' Post' to see if I could get any
takers in my neck of the woods. No responses.
I'm told that Austin has a bunch of folks who dig converting fossil munchers
into amp eaters.
Is there anybody in Austin or Houston who is ready and willing to convert
my Acura to an electric Acura? Please speak up soonly!
Thanks,
Dan Lewis
Houston,TX
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Message: 4
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:14:42 -0500
From: "Marc Kohler" <mkohler at austin.rr.com>
Subject: [ausev] charger help
To: "'AustinEV News Announcements and General Discussion'"
<ausev at austinev.org>
Message-ID: <C6FE6A78916542959168032EF740440F at KohlerPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi Guys,
I've been slowly getting my ElectraVan road worthy. Now that it is, I'm
having problems with my chargers.
Background: I have two chargers that came with the van, a K&W BC-20 and a
Lester (transformer version).
Both supposedly worked last time the previous owner used the van (1998).
The K&W BC-20 works on 120VAC input. Its fuse is good, the breaker switch
is not thrown, and the GFI tests out. When plugged in the Green ON light
comes on and the fan spins, but no current seems to flow (it has an
ammeter). At first I thought that it did not allow current to flow because
my open circuit voltage was too high. But I've dragged the battery voltage
down enough that it should have come on.
The Lester is a dual output version (108V and 12V) and can accept 120V or
240VAC. When I plug it in, the Charger ON light does not come on, nor does
anything change when I push the Press To Reset button. The 3 fuses appear
to be good. The thing shows no signs of life. There is no fan. I took the
cover off to see if there was anything obvious, but everything looks normal
(no burns or broken wires). I suppose the printed circuit board could be
bad after sitting for so long, but I don't know how to troubleshoot it.
It's killing me to finally have an operational vehicle but I can't drive it
until I get a charger working (using my 12V charger takes me 8 days to
charge the batteries up individually).
Does anyone have any experience with either of these types of chargers? I'm
thinking that the problem with the K&W is something simple. I have no
desire to send the Lester off to get fixed as it weighs over 60 lbs and
shipping alone wouldn't be worth it, so I hope to be able to repair it
locally (or at least determine the problem locally).
I like it for its dual input voltage capability.
Any advice would be appreciated. My only other option is to purchase a new
charger.
Thanks,
Marc Kohler
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