Recent content by Ecky

Lately I've been considering getting another G1 Honda Insight. The team over at Insight Central have built a very robust system that supports complete manual hybrid system control and comes pre-programmed to work with a few commonly found batteries, ranging from a like-for-like lithium...

Hi all, I'd like to begin educating myself on battery management systems, particularly how LiPo packs are monitored and balanced. Can anyone recommend some resources? Looking at a few preassembled packs, it appears they typically have a single monitoring wire from each cell in series. From...

Any suggestions on a source for LTO cells?

Advantage of the system as I have it set up: Anyone can sit in the car, turn the key and drive away without having to know anything about the car. I also don't lose my radio presets if I leave the car sitting for more than a few days. If I were the only person who ever used my car I might...

I measured the parasitic draw in my car and figured that with the caps' natural self-discharge and the small current to keep the radio presets and other little bits going in the car, 6x3000F caps (which are equal to one higher voltage 500F cap when in series) will not quite last a weekend. That...

Been a while since I looked at this post, but somewhat unrelated to my original question, I decided to ditch my car's 12v battery when it passed away early this winter, and instead moved to a bank of supercapacitors and a LiFePO4 battery to extend standby time. Setup is this...

I'm mostly concerned about charging during these temps. Will check out A123's though.

This is an automotive application. Non-removable, otherwise temperature wouldn't concern me.

Thanks. I understand most EVs have heating elements in the batteries which turn on in northern climates? What do those EVs do that don't have heating elements? Do you just not get any regen until the battery warms up? Can you not charge them at all?

Hi all, I'm trying to determine which battery chemistries would be safe for year-round use in Vermont. We get temperatures here as low as -40c occasionally, and there are typically several weeks each year where the daily high temperature is below -20c (approx 0f). My understanding is that most...

Going to subscribe to this thread, since I'm an Insight owner as well and have been playing for BEV conversion ideas for years. I'm waiting on something major to go out in it to have the excuse, but 250k miles later it still has had only oil changes, tires, one 12v battery and some balancing...

To rephrase what others have said, your grille + pinwheels + generator will add drag to your low-cd vehicle. Windmills generate energy by creating drag. You will always have more drag added than the energy created.

I built a full velomobile "fairing" around my recumbent trike with brake lights, turn signals and (not in the picture below) running lights and a great headlight. It tops out around 45mph and will go 50-60 miles on a charge in good weather without pedaling. Some thoughts: The velo shell keeps...

I'd get the size that fits your bike. With a given motor winding, a smaller wheel will have a lower top speed but better acceleration. Most direct drive motors I believe will be more efficient with a smaller wheel, because they can run at higher RPM, but it's not like you can run a 20 inch...

I'm far from an expert, but here are some thing's I've gathered: Geared hub motors have moving parts which can fail, and no regenerative braking unless the clutch seizes up. They tend to be more powerful for their size and weight, or lighter and smaller for the same power. If you're frequently...