Revised owner's manual

[Bob Bath]

Hey all,
Based on 15K EV miles in CivicWithACord, and a new solution
regarding heating that I'll be trying this winter, I've revised the
owner's manual. I know an attachment makes sense, but in this format,
I don't know how to do it, so see below:
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CivicWithACord owner’s manual
v.2.0, Sept. 5, 2009

The following is a comprehensive list of systems affected in
converting this process to electric. Systems unaffected are discussed
in the _regular_ owners manual, currently located in the glove box.

Driving
Turn the key and the dash light for the battery will turn on
immediately, but there will be a one-second lag before the green LED
on the controller indicator says that the car is ready to drive. If
the circuit breaker is in the forward/on position (see under the
handbrake), and the car is in the proper gear, simply depress the
accelerator and you’ll move.
If the car is not in the proper gear, depress the clutch, shift,
release the clutch, depress the accelerator.

The car can be driven from either first, or second gear, but it is
best to keep the car in 2nd gear until 50 mph. This will avoid
unnecessary motor and transmission wear.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL DOWNSHIFTING HELP TO BRING THE CAR TO A
STOP. TO THE CONTRARY, DOWNSHIFTING AT A SPEED ABOVE WHAT IS
INDICATED ABOVE WILL DAMAGE THE WINDINGS OF THE MOTOR.

When you come to a stop, you may leave the car in gear. The car will
not “stall”, as with a combustion vehicle. On the other hand, IF you
take it out of gear as you come to a stop, the motor and flywheel will
still be moving. As a result, you will want to engage the clutch
slowly to avoid a jerky start.

You should try to accelerate in such a way as to keep your amp draw
lets the voltage on the e-meter stay higher than 126 volts. “Battery
voltage sag” is normal, and going below 126 volts won’t immediately
destroy the batteries, but when done hard and often (ie, racing) will
cause irreparable battery damage. Similarly, don’t let the pack
voltage drop lower than this on normal commutes, or up hills, when amp
draw increases.

The E-meter, located on the front windshield pillar, is a powerful
computer. (There is a small book on this unit alone). For now,
realize that the bars at the top will show a blinking green on the
right side if the pack is full. 3 bars means 75% charge. 2 orange
bars mean 50% charge. 1 red bar is 25% charge. Blinking red is a 10%
charge.
The first status the E-meter shows is pack voltage. Press the left
button, and it will show the second function, the amperes you are
pulling from the pack. Press a 3rd time, and it can show ampere
hours, (although I have set it to show kilowatt-hours instead). Press
a 4th time, and you will show the approximate time that you can drive
at your current rate before the batteries are totally dead.

Driving Distance: The car is loaded at maximum gross vehicle weight
rating. Ie, the brakes will work fine, but to protect your
investment, leave plenty of stopping distance, especially if on a wet
road.

Pedestrians: In a parking lot, they will not be able to hear you.
Either keep the stereo playing fairly loud, or be extra cautious of
conditions around you.

Parking: Make sure the emergency brake is engaged. The gears and
electric motor simply will not provide any additional inertia for the
vehicle, such as if it is parked on a slope.
Power steering: There is none; it has been removed for battery
space. I consider it unneeded, given the leverage of the manual
steering rack. EV builders have ways of re-installing it.

Air conditioning has been removed for the same reason. It too, can be
re-installed by professionals, though I find that the sunroof largely
eliminates the need for it. I did save all of the components, and
will include them to the buyer.

Using the heater: (Must be done in this order). Press the “re-
circulate” button. (You’ll get a warmer temperature by heating air
from the inside, than the outside), but this will also trap water
vapor from breath, damp shoes, etc. So crack the window slightly to
let water vapor out of the vehicle. Close the side vents, to maximize
air to the windshield. Put the cover on over the center passenger
vents. (The floor vents have been taped over).
Turn the vehicle fan blower on. NOW turn on the heater (red lighted
switch on dash) It will add roughly 27-40 amperes to the load of the
high voltage pack, depending on the blower speed. At some point, the
price of lithium batteries will go down, yielding more range and less
room will be needed for batteries. The air conditioning unit will be
included with this car, and can be re-added.

Using the stereo: The controller’s throttle is “inductive”. That is,
it uses a coil to adjust the amount of battery current produced by the
controller. This method unfortunately may induce controller noise on
certain frequencies in the stereo. Though entertaining in its own
way, some frequencies play much better than others; mp3 performance
though the cassette converter isn’t affected by the inductive throttle
at all. If this is annoying and you don’t use mp3 players, or don’t
want to change to a CD player, a good EV converter can switch you to a
resistive element “potbox” throttle, and the controller manufacturer,
Peter Senkowski, can change your controller to accept this type of
throttle input.


Maintenance
Tires: They are rated to be inflated to 32 PSI. Keeping them
inflated at 35-40 yields less rolling resistance, and more range.
During summer, tire pressure will increase. Check to make sure that
they read 40 PSI.
During the winter, tire pressure will decrease. Check to make sure
that they read 40 PSI.

Brakes may tend to wear faster, though I’ve not noticed this in 13,000
mi. of use. Listen for the audible brake wear indicators of course.

Motor brushes: Need to be changed every 80,000 miles or so. (The
vehicle became electric at 97,000 miles). They are black blocks
with a copper braid coming out of them, visible in the tailshaft end
of the motor. Monitor the height that the block sticks out, so you’ll
know when replacement is needed. There is a special stone that you
purchase to shape them, when the time comes. Many companies can
repair electric motors, ie, tell you how to install and “seat” the
brushes; it’s not difficult.


Auxiliary battery (needs more attention in the winter): I’ve found
that if I drive with the wipers, defroster, blower, lights, and stereo
on, that load really taxes the DCDC converter and auxiliary battery,
especially in the winter, when lead-acid batteries lose capacity
anyway.
-Turn on the car while at a dead-stop and take your foot off the
brake. (ie, parking brake holding it).
- Toggle the e-meter to show the ampere-draw.
- If it reads above 1.1, the battery is not getting fully charged. So
sit there for a few minutes, with the car turned on, foot off the
brakes, and you’ll notice the reading drop. That is due to the DCDC
converter bringing the auxiliary battery back up to full charge. Do
this as often as needed in the winter.

Lead Acid Battery/High Voltage Pack Care:
This is a broad enough concept to write an entire manual on, but here
is the condensed version that works for me:
Discharge the batteries below 3 kWh. Then charge the batteries up
until the green LED on the right side of the e-meter blinks. This is
the easiest method to follow for charging batteries. (Then refer to
equalizing).

NOTES: A) Charge as often as you use the vehicle, to a voltage that
depends on the ambient temperature and the age of the pack. Ie,
during winter, the voltage needs to be set to finish off at 193 V for
a 144V pack) if it is new. Charge until the current falls to below 5A
or so on a daily basis, but each weekend, take the current below
2A. See “water,” below.
B) During summer, the voltage needs to be set to 186V. This is done
by turning a tiny, gold screwdriver-adjusted control on the right side
of the charger (as mine is mounted upside down; see separate CHARGER
INSTRUCTIONS). Use a voltmeter on the left terminal of the main
contactor, (look for the huge bolts), and the battery terminal marked
(-) that is closest to it. But the difficult part is that you need to
know when the current is dropping, and the voltage is rising. That
means a bit of babysitting the car. See charger for additional
settings, but I like to give the car two hours at a time.
C) You’ll notice that when you first plug in to a 220 volt outlet,
the amps shown on the E-meter will start off at up to 33 amps. The
black knob controls that. (Best to give as many amps as you can,
given the outlet type. 11-15 amps will likely be the maximum you can
pull without tripping your breaker at 120V). As your batteries get
closer to a full charge, the amperes going into them will go down to
about _two_ or less.
Over time, say at 2 years, you may be at 186V over the winter, and
173V over summer.
D) EQUALIZING means two things: Bringing up the lower batteries on a
long, slow (8 ampere) charge, and de-sulfating.
During equalizing, you’ll need to add some distilled water; (more as
the batteries age). There is a special filler bottle that helps make
certain the cells aren’t overloaded. The batteries should be
equalized about every 4-6 weeks.

E) As the batteries age, their plates will become thinner, and the
internal resistance will rise. So instead of the charger tapering down
to 1.5A, it will taper to 2, 4, and eventually 10A. At this point,
it's time to think about a new set of batteries. The harder you drain
the batteries (ie, the longer your commute) the harder it is on them,
and the faster you’ll get to that 10A stage.

FINALLY: Keep the battery terminals tight. Over time, the lead
terminal will deform. You want to keep a good, solid connection!
Also, keep corrosion off by washing them with water & baking soda, and
finally, keep the tops of the batteries clean. Over time, dust will
accumulate, and conduct enough electricity that it will affect vehicle
performance. And if electrolyte leaks around the battery caps, that
can prevent the current from increasing, and the amps from dropping as
the should.

Alternate way of checking the batteries: Use the turkey-baster-like
device called a hygrometer. Squeeze the bulb to get electrolyte into
it. If the level of the electrolyte reads .1265 specific gravity, the
cell of that battery is fully charged. Sampling several cells will
tell you if the full pack is charged.



Other General notes you should know

Notice how the firewall battery rack is close to the master brake
cylinder reservoir, (where the fluid gets added)? Well, to be extra
careful that in going around a curve the batteries would not squish
the reservoir, I offset the lugs on the battery rack. In other words,
when you tighten the rack down, this will help keep the force _away_
from the reservoir. Make sure you put the battery rack back the same
way. (;-p


Procedure if you shut off the circuit breaker (important):
The Belktronix DCDC converter has what is called a “pre-charge”
circuit. That means that inside the hood fuse box, you will see a
big, 60A fuse. If you’ve shut down the circuit breaker, pull out the
fuse, and connect the resistor (included) between the two fuse
terminals. Turn on the circuit breaker, pull it apart removing the pre-
charge resistor, then quickly re-insert the fuse within 30-60 sec.
Doing so will prevent damage to the DCDC converter, (per Belktronix,
manufacturer of the DCDC converter).


This car’s battery pack is “floating”, like all DC conversions. That
is, the negative side is not grounded to the chassis as is the car’s
auxiliary 12V system. If you touch bare metal: transmission, under
the seat, etc. of the chassis while the car is charging and you are
barefoot (connected to the ground) you will get a decent jolt. Same
as if you touch any of the battery terminals barefoot. I find it
helpful to wear latex dishwashing gloves while performing routine
maintenance. The blue goggles (included) will shield eyes from the
tiniest accidental acid splash as you add water, or sample battery
cells with the hygrometer.