It was finally time to build the control box. We received our controller (finally), which ended up being a Kelly controller, instead of the LogiSystems we originally ordered from GrasrootsEV. They got us this one so we could get the car running for Green Art Fair.We stayed up till 4 am wiring the box and making it look as nice as we could (it’s a showpiece, remember)…. of course, we also tested it.

This controller was a little different in terms of wiring than the one we originally designed the control box for, it needed one more signal wire coming from the pot box, so we had to open it and solder the wire. Also, the signals from the potbox and the power for the controller go in a special 14 pin connector, which you also have to solder… so this took some time. Once we were done, we had a very nice looking box.

So the following they we took the car to Nico’s to install it and finish wiring the car…. the wiring diagram we originally came up with had a couple of minor details, so we modified it. We’ll upload the new version soon. We installed the box and got ready to test it…

First test, not so good, we had an error in the controller (see flashing LED). The error code was 1,3, which meant, that not the whole battery pack voltage was going into the controller. It made sense since the main contactor that provides battery back power to the controller does not close until you step on the accelerator. This cleared after 20 seconds of holding the throttle half way in.

We lifted the car off the ground checked again for errors and stepped on the accelerator and we heard the winding sound of our motor!!! this was a great moment… then we put the transmission on first gear and gave the ex-gas pedal another squeeze and we got some wheel spin!

After seeing this Nico insisted on taking it for a spin around the block right away…. so we did, with the help of little Nico…

The driving experience was not as we expected it for two reasons:

1.- not enough power: the car seemed very slow, getting only up to 25mph.
2.- the car stopped running after a block and a half: not fun.

We opened the hood and saw that we had a new error on the controlled LED: 4,3. We waited for a bit, reset the controller and the car ran again, enough to get back to the shop. Once there, we looked at the manual and found no 4,3 error code, so we called Kelly’s tech support line. They told us that 4,3 means “send us the controller back for an exchange”, pretty much.

So after effectively burning the controller that we waited 3 months for we needed to make a decision…. stay tuned

WE got a lot of work done in Signature Auto Body, thanks to the help of our friend Shimon and his team.  They got slammed with work, so we had to go in and help over the weekend! We learned a lot.

The first thing we did was to straighten the body up. Shimon got the hammer and dent puller out and got this done in no time… this was the easy part:

We learned that restoring the body on a car is really hard. It requires a lot of patience,a lot of talent and a lot of sanding! we got our share of bondo-ing and blocking (block it!) until we went almost crazy.

Now the car is primed, sanded and ready for the wrap the our friend. Lebo, is designing specially for the Green Art Fair.

Now the car is back at Nico’s for the final stage of installing all the EV parts and wiring… this next two weeks will bea lot of work. The countdown to the Fair is on, only 12 days to go!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, as we were installing the batteries, we met with Mauricio Suazo, the owner of Florida Leather Supply, in Little Havana. They are suppliers of all kinds of fabrics and they make custom interios for boats and cars. Mauricio saw us working at Nico’s and offered t make the interior of the car for us, so we accepted.

We dropped off the seats, headliner and doorpanels, and the fabric, given to us by Valey Forge Fabrics, as they are one of the sponsors of Green Art Fair Miami 2008. The interior is going to look real funky with the orange and very earthy green. This fabric color combnination was done by Luis Valenzuela, from GreenArtUSA and Barbie Alfonzo from Bebecito Organic. They are now our fabric consultants HA!

We also took all the interior plastics to Danny’s house and cleaned them. Even though they did not sponsor us, we want to let you know that OxiClean works like a charm for cleaning plastic… wow. Looking good now. Hopefully next week we will be able to put the car all together.

A lot of things happening today. When I got to my office, we had received our Manzanita PFC20 charger our IOTA 12Vc charger (to be used as 144VDC-12VDC converter) from our friends at Grassroots EV (thanks Audrey and Steve for all the support!), the charger plug and cord plug from Pass and Seymour (Thanks Tim Scheerer from United Electrical Sales), and the relays for the rear battery box fan and for the contact switch from KTA.

Also, Danny finally fullfilled his dream of having a MOMO sterring wheel in the Golf. This has nothing to do with Electric Vehicles, but he likes it, so that’s that! hahaha

Also, we went back to see the car in Signature Auto Body. Shimon is already getting the job done great! the car was fully sanded and all the rust was gone and primed!

So we just got busy taking the interior of the car out to get it reupholstered…. details on that coming soon. We have something really cool planned.

Eric, from Dockside gave us his car interior expert advise and we took the whole interior out in less than two hours without loosing a screw or braking a clip! incredible.

Also, we want to congratulate the new president elect, Barack Obama. Hopefully the new administration will provide incentives for EVs!