What are they looking at as far as the way we build these cars? I understand that the battery box must be painted with acid free paint or lined with plastic, as well the lid must be made from non conductive material, what about the ground for the main pack do you chassis ground it or do both the positve and negative go directly to the controller? What about shunts do ya need one at the front and to the rear ? or every time a battery is more than X feet from the one before it. I am gearing up to do a conversion but cannot seem to find this out other than falling upon the info as I read more and more. Where is the rule list? Is there a link? What about strapping the cells down? I know these are simple and for the most part obvious but I would like to review a document or something to give me a basic guide line to follow
Any help will be apprieciated.
Unfortunately our communities just aren’t set up to deal with alternative power vehicles at this time, so each area has different guidelines. For the requirements for your municipality (if any) you will need to contact your Department of Motor Vehicles or county tax collector’s office. You will want to ask for the name and phone number for the person or persons who will be doing the inspection. Call them early on in the process and ask about any requirements and about good and bad practices.
Sometimes the person you speak with will take an interest in what you are doing and come by your home or shop to take an informal peek. If that is the case, welcome him or her openly and encourage them to make suggestions.
Even if they are not required in your area here a re a few tips;
- If the donor car has functional airbags, keep them functional and try to avoid deploying them when working on the car.
- Install an inertia disconnect
- Add a second return spring to the throttle control (Potentiometer)
- Separate the batteries from the passengers with a fireproof/gas proof wall.
- Make the battery hold downs strong enough to restrain the weight of the batteries in a roll over accident.
- Install positive ventilation that turns on automatically during charging.
- Place a splash guard under motor.
I’m sure I am missing a few things here, but I hope it helps.
that does help the inertia disconnect I am not familiar with, can you eleborate how to build one or buy.
Brian
Of course; here is a link to just one.
http://www.everything-ev.com/1016g-inertia-cutoff-switch-12v-p-243.html?zenid=892cc713a1d0ddb099cad67ff7897276
If you check some of the other quality suppliers of EV parts you can find others. Cost varies from $40.00 to $120.00. Ten G’s sounds like a lot but you don’t want it to activate every time you go over a speed bump. The idea being if you are involved in an accident, the impact switch can shut down the 12V power supply to the main contactor which in turn will cut-off the power from the main battery pack. Thus preventing a fire should the battery pack short out from the impact.
The battery pack holds a lot of potential energy, similar to the ICE’s fuel tank. Uncontrolled release of that energy can be catastrophic.
It can be mounted under the hood or in the passenger compartment, for a quick reset if needed. In one of Gav’s great videos, on Youtube you can see him testing his by hitting it with a wrench, but I can’t remember the episode number.
If anyone else knows what episode it is in, please post it.