My little Piaggio-EV is back up and running. I made the following mods:
- My replacement HV-110 is now installed in an external plexiglass box with (much) better airflow and forced as well as passive air cooling. The forced cooling is on full all the time rather than the temperature variable fan that I used to have.
- Extra caps (470 uF x 6) soldered in parallel with input leads
- (Slightly) beefier wiring used -- 8 gauge rather than 12 ga
- 75 amp Andersen PowerPoles used instead of 30A
- Wiring shortened a bit
- Thermometer probe directly on caps to monitor heat
So far, it seemed ok. After my ride to work this morning, the caps heated up a bit -- from 17°C ambient at the beginning to 37°C ambient at the end of the 5 kilometer ride. I'm working on getting even more cooling in there.
6 amps used. 30 watts/kilometer average energy expenditure.
I'll post pix when I get a chance.
Hi,
First of all congratulations for all your work, both EV conversion of your Piaggio and all the time you spend explaining how it goes,
I hope that all beginners like me fully appreciate your commitment !
BTW just a question (from a beginner) :
Which calculations have given you the right size chosen for the added capacitors ?
(that's something I might have to do if it helps not frying any valuable ESC)
Thanks in advance & best regards,
Patrick (Cherbourg, France)
I just used the biggest caps that I had. I also have an external cap on it, I'll post pix. I'd like to add as many as I can.