Photo-Op with a turbine on the seventh (1/14/2012)

Here are a few of the better pictures taken last weekend when we drove down to the nearest wind-farm about forty miles away. Sadly the car was not driven but instead put on a car dolly for the ride (I really wish I could afford those LIFEPO4 batteries... Could've done the journey without external help. Oh well, some other year I guess.

And of course some humor, if you don't get the reference you should watch the movie "Wind".

Thoughts (1/2/2012)

Update from yesterday, I got a few makeshift blades on the wind turbine gen, works well, getting 8 volts with really really crappy blades.

So, I think I'm going to reconnect the motor differently to be parallel wound rather than series wound. no idea how well the idea will work, but in theory it should double the RPM of the motor and double the possible amp draw (not an issue at this point seeing as I've never seen it get past 125 amps on the meter).

No idea when I will be able to get to the lugs to change things around, hopefully soonish.

Up and runng, sort of. (1/1/2012)

Hello again.

The car is in running condition, however it still has some more work to be done to it still. Firstly I have recently painted it for the most part, some more work still to be done there, but it's close. Secondly I officially hate regular lead acid batteries, the four in the front are calling ti quites on me and I've had several others die for no reason I could find. Thirdly I am going to start another smaller side project, a small electric assist recumbent bicycle, just because I like the simplicity and the looks.

I have had the car running on 144 volts before but my battery situation prevented that from lasting.

Here is a video of the car on 120 volts and some pics of the paint:

Long time no posts!

I'm still here, if it matters to anyone or not yet I do not know.

The car is up and running mostly, everything on the previous list is accounted for and installed, pretty much...

The main pack voltage is 108 volts right now however one of the main batteries is iffy to say the least. I am getting the car painted next week or the week after, a bright metal flake blue, should be fun.

It is street legal and currently (Pun intended) draws 40-60 amps at its top speed of 50 MPH. With another three batteries and some modification to the speed controller programming to give me a little more control, I should be able to hit 60 MPH and be drawing 50 amps on the flats. hills like to pull a bit more than that...

I sold the old Geo engine for $150, a rather nice chap who also shares my last name car to pick up up in what else... A 1990 Geo Metro with 500,000 miles on it. Very interesting encounter.

The alternator for the wind turbine is operational, I just need to have the tower I bought last year hauled up here and make some blades and a hub, shouldn't be too much trouble.

Well, it's probably about time I get some sleep, lots to do tomorrow.

-Donovan Gibson

Things to buy... August 20th, 2011.

There's now just a small list of things to buy.

Vacuum reservoir.

Vacuum switch.

Vacuum tubing.

Hubcaps.

0-150 volt meter.

8 15 volt 6 amp power supplies to use as chargers (tested one, works like a charm).

And last but probably not least would be the paint and paint-job for the whole car, I'm thinking about a blue and silver pattern...

July 31st update: It moves!

A short youtube video of myself and my mom in the car driving it down the road at 36 volts.

Update: July 29. Lots new, lots of work...

Well, after a few days of unbearable weather my family finally got an AC unit, however, we pushed on and continued working outside on the car. After a week of dodging heat strokes the progress has been amazing. Here are the pics.The motor and transmission fully mounted in the engine bay. This was probably the most labor intensive aspect of the entire project so far. Burned up or shattered about four drill bits. Man I hate drilling through steel.
This is a Curtis 1205-117, it's not powerful enough for road driving but it made a nice test controller for the motor, it runs smoothly but 36 volts and 400 amps just won't be enough for this project I don't think.
Here is the engine wiring harness dangling from the side of the car, I'm kind of tempted to find someone to airbrush a slightly larger series of wires coming from the hood of the car, kind of a roundabout symbol of "Hey! I don't even need all this extra crap connected, I'm electric!" for the car.
Here's just a picture of the front of the car, quite sad looking right now, but it will be better soon.

Just two days ago we rolled the car to the bottom of the hill in our driveway and then hooked it to 24 volts and had it pull itself back up the hill. Fun fun.

I am not certain that I will be making the controller, I'm looking at Paul and Sabrina's open source controller, it seems like it would be a nice setup for what I'm doing.

I sure hope this weather quits being so radical, it's raining here for the first time in a long time, so it's better than the 105 degrees all day long that we were having just yesterday.