This blog documents the restoration, and conversion, of a 1965 Humber (Singer) Vogue to a fully electric vehicle. The Vogue will be powered by an 11kW(modified), 3 phase industrial AC motor, controlled by an industry standard Variable Speed Drive (VSD) or Inverter. To be able to produce the 400 volts phase to phase the VSD will need about 600 VDC of batteries. A big thanks to the contributors on the AEVA forum: http://forums.aeva.asn.au/forums/

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

I Have Regenerative Braking

Some help from AEVA members and regen. braking is now working (emoticon with red face). The Vogue is still on axle stands but a quick test this morning showed power going back into the batteries and the rear wheels coming to a pretty quick stop when I lifted my foot off the accelerator pedal - no thump either. I had to allow torque to go negative for regen. I went to a lot of trouble to NOT let that happen - picturing a ride on lawnmover with forward/reverse control on the one pedal.

I have kind of come to the conclusion that the differential probably has no oil in it. I don't mean low - I mean none. The car sat in the back yard for about 6 years, then 3 years getting restored and electrofied - and I know the diff leaks, and not just the seals, I think it leaks out a faulty seal in the drain plug as well....
The rumble of gears running in a hollow diff housing is unmistakable (this only became obvious when running the car in the garage on axle stands). Fortunately I haven't driven the car very far in the last decade - since I checked the diff oil. I won't be running it again until I fill it. I have to pull the rear axles at some stage in the next year so I won't go overboard at this stage - I'll just fill it.

2 comments:

Matt said...

When you fill the diff with oil, make sure that the breather is clear, and that the two holes 'at the bottom at the back' of each hub assembly are clear. This will prevent the diff building up pressure and blowing the oil out.

Johny said...

Thanks Matt. Yes I cleared the breather about a year ago. The gunk was so solid that I had to use a handle on the twist drill to get through it - definitely clogged! I'll check the hub assemblies next time I have the drums off.