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/

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Pack #2 BMS Monitor board

Well I'm not sure why the LED blows up but the board definitely has some issues. The low voltage side of the opto-coupled circuit (left side) appears fine but the higher voltage side has clear indications of electrolysis or corrosion of some kind.

When the car is off there is 50 VDC across two of the tracks that run side by side (third and fourth tracks up on the right hand side of the big gap).
Perhaps they had moisture on them when I heatshrunk the board.
Anyway - I have built a brand new one and I will clean and apply a conformal coating to it before heatshinking it.

It looks like I'll be looking at failures down the track but over the next couple of years I should have the packs out and I'll build replacements when required.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Pack #2 LED cooked again

Another minor issue has crept into the Vogue to-do list.
In this post and again in this post I note that the blue LED on Pack #2 in the boot had cooked. When I disassembled the pack and checked the LED was a dead short - both times.

Well it's happened again. It's probably no coincidence that the optically isolated connection to the five packs in the boot feed to the controller input that I blew up about a year ago (this post) - and at roughly the same time as the LED expired the second time. (The controller input fault was a surface mount 1nF ceramic capacitor that started believing that it was part 9V Zener diode - weird.)

So I will build another BMS Monitor Board and totally change out the one that appears to be blowing LEDs (and controller inputs).
I'll try to get that done this week after work.
I'll carefully visually inspect and test the one I remove and post the results.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Issues to Resolve - not quite finished

A number of people have congratulated me on finished the Vogue. Getting Vic Roads approval was a goal but unfortunately isn't the end of the project.
Back at the end of 2012 this ended one of my posts:
"My target for the moment is VicRoads approval so everything else can wait. I pick up the polycarbonate partition for the boot tomorrow and I'll be preparing the car for inspection over the Christmas to new Year break."

So now it's approved but not quite finished.
Known issues:
  1. Tailshaft speed vibration - I suspect differential pinion angle. This is the big one and stops me driving it too much until it's sorted.
  2. Brake master cylinder. Pedal is not returning fully. Not a big issue but indicative of a problem. I have a spare (I think) so I'll restore that and do a changeover. We caused this when we flushed through new brake fluid - a common problem in cars that haven't been driven in a while.
  3. Winding window outside weatherstrips. I need to dis-assemble all doors and replace the clips - they're falling off inside the doors. Getting the correct clips is a pain as the originals don't fit due to a difference in the weatherstrip. (I kind of knew I had a problem when I fitted them then warned the family not to wind the windows all the way down.)
  4. Slight "thump" when starting from stationary. This is a controller programming issue. It's fine going on and off regen when actually moving - it's just when starting. Annoying.
  5. Front end work. Knox Tyrepower noted that while most of the front end was fine, there are a couple of bushes that need replacing. While at it, I'd like to get prices on lowering the front about 20 to 25mm.
  6. Remove and modify all 12 chargers. I am not at all happy with how they balance the packs at the end of charge. I have modified one of my spares and it worked well so I now need to remove, modify and replace all chargers. The rear ones are easy - the front not so. While I am at it I am going to replace all M4 nuts and bolts on the front controller tray with rivnuts so I can get individual items off the tray without having to remove the tray as I have to now.
  7. Front parcel shelf (below the dash). Laurel wants it back in. It doesn't really exist anymore as it was a total wreck. I kept the metal front though.
  8. Car Radio and speakers. Also mounting for the little Lenze (motor controller) keypad and display.
  9. The "other" controller - the 75kW version. I have all the parts for the upgrade but it's pretty low down on the priority list. Unfortunate, as more power would be nice.
There is other stuff but they are the main issues.
We are renovating my daughter's bedroom while she is away for the next two weeks so the Vogue fixups will wait until that's done.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Vogue is Insured

I rang Shannons Insurance this morning. They were toally accommodating. We changed the Vogue to a daily driver and upped the insurance considerably. I'm very happy with them.

The Electric Vogue is Legal

I went to Vic Roads this morning (state road authority) and handed over the Change of Vehicle Details form and the Engineers form. The counter person asked me to bring it over to the inspection bay and after a few minutes appeared and just wanted to know where some indication might be on the car that it was a 1965 model. This despite the fact that the Vogue has been continuously registered in Victoria for the past 47 years. The sole comment on the car was "these are really quiet aren't they?". I assume she meant electric and not Humber Vogue's in general!

Anyway, she was happy and there was no charge. The Vogue is now legal to drive on the road.
Now let's see what Shannon's say (insurance)....

Monday, February 4, 2013

Engineer Final Inspection - Passed

We are in the middle of tearing my daughter's bedroom apart for redecoration this weekend as she is away for another 3 weeks. So in the middle of taking delivery of new furniture, dashing out to hire a wallpaper steamer and packing all her stuff away in boxes (our loungeroom is FULL), I took time off to meet the engineer at our place on Saturday afternoon. He was happy with the car and went over the NCOP14 checkboxes with me. He checked out the stuff I had done since he first saw the car then we went for a brief drive. Satisfied, he took away the Electric Vogue manual (written on the preceeding two days), the NCOP14 document and some pictures that he took.

Before leaving though, he stuck a nice new sticker to the engine bay side of the firewall indicating the the Vogue now had Electric Drive (pictures to come).

He will mail (or has already mailed) out the complience document to me which I then take to VicRoads for the fuel type change on the registration. He was concerned that the Vogue has the Chassis number on an aluminiun plate pop-riveted to the front of the engine bay and wants me the take along supporting documentation.

Since the Vogue is already registered I can't see that being an issue but we'll see.

Note smaller aluminiun plate to the right of the bonnet latch.