This week’s video is a might portly, at three hours and twelve minutes, after the fashion of the editor and producer.
But it covers a bit of ground. Damien, Anne, and the EVTV crew here all seemed to land on the topic of connecting your motor to your transmission this week, with various strategies and levels of success.
I’ve always thought this was an unnecessarily difficult part of a custom electric car. Mating the motor to the transmission. It doesn’t appear to be improving as the simple “eight inch ADC” format now has expanded to include the splined format of the Siemens and UQM Powerphase motors. This always seems to involve some custom machine work. But it is somewhat unavoidable. Not only are there a variety of motors, but of course there has always been a variety of transmissions.
At first glance, something like the eGearDrive would appear to make this all easier. But that is somewhat limited then in choice and there are a suspicious number of our eGearDrive sales going to fix Azure Dynamics eTransit Connects. As there were only 286 sold, and none are over about 3 years old, I find that surprising. We’ve yet to do an actual build with an eGearDrive.
As most of you well know, I favor using the transmission that came with the car. Why is that?
First, I view the transmission as the most highly evolved piece of equipment on a car. They have been a problem since the 1880’s. And they are improved continously. Today’s transmissions are nothing short of marvels. I’m particularly fond of Getrag manual transmissions.
We actually try to keep cars as “stock” as possible. That is an astounding assertion from a guy dedicated to eviscerating all gasoline driven cars worldwide to make them electric. But the problem is that with each “unique” item we put on the vehicle, we have a future potential maintenance problem obtaining the parts. If I put an eGearDrive in a vehicle, I have to have some assurance that in the future I can get parts for eGearDrives or at least a replacement for the entire eGearDrive.
At this point, most eGearDrives have gone into the cars of bankrupt car manufacturers, Azure Dynamics and Coda spring to mind. Borg Warner has moved manufacturing to Beijing just recently. And I’m not seeing a lot of them snapped up by other OEM’s. Borg Warner’s devotion to continuing the product at all I would rate questionable.
But if I convert a 1962 Metropolitan to electric drive, and keep the stock transmission, I’m actually assured of an almost limitless supply of repair or replacement parts. This is kind of astounding in that no one on earth actually makes that transmission and hasn’t for fifty years. But the 95,000 Metropolitans out there, along with a strong cult following and a company that actually specializes in procuring or refurbishing parts for the Metropolitan would imply that I can get that transmission for the next 100 years.
Never mind the venerable VW bug tranny. Literally millions of them and such a cult following market that there are several companies out there that rebuild them to such an extent, that they are essentially manufacturing them from available parts. In the year 2355, when we are all driving maglev air cars, you will STILL be able to order a VW tranny and have it arrive in a week.
Another example is the Cadillac Escalade. We had a custom motor made by splicing two 11 inch Netgain motors onto a single shaft. If it goes bad, we’ll have to replace it of course. I have no fear. There will be some version of a Warfield 11 inch available forever. And putting two of them on the same shaft is not precisely an act of magic.
But I freaked OUT over the serpentine belt on our custom front plate that drives the steering and brake hydraulic pump and the air conditioner compressor. Why? It is a totally stock belt. But if it went bad, how would I know what belt to replace it with? I actually had the part number ENGRAVED on the aluminum plate so I would have it handy. And the FIRST time we had to replace it, guess what? Total chaos and confusion. We STILL couldn’t figure it out.
So one precept I would offer to anyone converting a vehicle is to MINIMIZE the number of unique parts in teh build. You can get motors and if you have to replace the existing motor with something else, who cares? It’s nothing. Same with controllers, chargers, and batteries. The adapter and coupler actually rarely fail. They were custom machined the first time and would likely be so the second.
But if you put one little fuse in that is rare or unusual or no longer made, you can disable your car for the lack of a fuse. Or a belt. Or whatever.
So we like STOCK transmissions and running gear on our cars because they are easy to identify and procure into the future.
And therein lies a tale.
When I was somewhat younger and prettier, television was a big deal. We had a 21 inch Admiral black and white set and all five of us kids fought bitterly over which of the two available channels we were going to watch. Imagine my deep and utter disappointment each year when the announcer at the beginning of the “Wizard of Oz” assured us that there was NOTHING wrong with our tv set. The first half of the Wizard of Oz was black and white on purpose. But during the second half, we could see it in glorious technicolor. Each year, I waited hopefully and expectantly for that second half. And each year, I was crushed with disappointment and blinded with rage when the show ended entirely and I had not seen even a single second of glorious technicolor. It was black and white all through the movie. And it was still black and white after the movie was over. It seems I was just destined to live in a black and white world all my life. And this may have been when the first seeds of distrust in large corporations and entities began. They had LIED to me. I sat glued to the set, but there was no color. He had promised. And he had ASSURED me that it was NOT my tv set that was the problem.
Finally, one day WHILE I was watching, the entire picture collapsed to a shiny blue dot in the center of the screen. Heretofore it was true that I had to constantly adjust the verticle hold or the picture would slide up the screen faster and faster. And it was true that we had a small pair of vice grips used to change the channel, which we did every few minutes swapping back and forth between channel 12 (KFVS here in Cape Girardeau) and channel 6 (Paducah – 60 miles to the east).
But this was it. NO TV.
Fortunately, within a day a TV “repair man” came to our door with a whole belt full of tools. He clambered in behind the TV and pulled off the rear panel. He probed and prodded and finally announced that we would indeed need a new flyback. He went out to his truck and brought one in. Changed it and fired up the set. It was back. I guess I was hoping for some color finally, but it was not to be. He adjusted a few things, and departed.
Yes, in those days, we had appliance “repair men” who actually came to your house and fixed such things.
A decade later, they were gone. You had to pretty much take your TV to the shop to get anyone to work on them.
And a few years later, they were gone entirely.
Today, you can buy televisions. You can watch televisions. But if they break, a little bit or a total failure, you pretty much buy another. There are a handful of TV repair shops left in the entire nation, which is odd because they can’t get that part for your model anyway. So I’m not sure what they fix. But it isn’t TV.
Oddly you CAN mostly fix personal computers. The parts making up a PC are essentially a commodity with ever lower prices. I’m currently ordering some USB Flash Drives to include with the GEVCU so the new owners will have the Arduino software and some update software and some other stuff to do future upgrades on their GEVCU hardware. In the last blog I expressed amazement that you could buy an SD microcard that would hold 128GB of data for just $112. One of our viewers immediately noted that I was behind the times as they had 256 GB cards available as well.
So I don’t know what’s happened in two weeks, but apparently not only is the 128GB card no longer CHEAP at $112, but it’s starting to look like a SCAM. I’m talking with the Chinese about purchasing 100 of these little USB thumb drives for $9.88 each.
How much do THEY hold? Well, apparently 1 TERABYTE. Is that a misprint. Some Chinglish translation problem? No. You can get thumb drives with the latest USB 3.0 that does a couple hundred megabytes a second transfer at capacities up to and now including 1 TERABYTE.
In 1991, consumer grade, 1 gigabyte (1/1000 TB) disk drives were available for US$2699 and two years later prices for this capacity had dropped to US$1499. By 1995, 1 GB drives could be purchased for US$849.
2007: 1 terabyte hard disk costs US$370
2010: 2 terabyte hard disk costs US$200
2012: 4 terabyte hard disk US$450 (Hitachi, largest available in consumer market), 1 terabyte hard disk US$100
2013: 4 terabyte hard disk US$179, 3 terabyte hard disk $129, 2 terabyte hard disk $100, 1 terabyte hard disk US$80
2013: 4 terabyte hard disk US$150, 3 terabyte hard disk $129, 2 terabyte hard disk $90, 1 terabyte hard disk US$60
And yes, this week and apparently for about 1 week only, you can buy 1 terabyte thumb drives on a keychain for $9.88. BUT YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY. If you wait more than a week or two the price could fall further yet.
CPUs? Memory? Optical drives? Power supplies? Cases? Get on Egghead. You can build an entire computer from piece parts OR replace any part in any personal computer, PC, Mac, Linux, whatever with a generic that works essentially identically. And the prices for all these are in free fall.
But a good TV is $2000. And you can’t buy ANY part for it. PERHAPS the remote on the grey market. Each design is proprietary. Under warranty they simply swap em out. And there is no such thing as repair.
And that’s a good thing – for TV makers. Otherwise, they would be as cheap as computers. Wait a minute. Future rush. What just happened. How can you buy a COMPUTER for less than a TV????? In 1960, computers were a million dollars and a TV was $125. Today the TV is $2000 and the computer is $600.
The TV is “proprietary” and non-repairable. People who don’t even know anything about personal computers can easily add a hard drive or even replace a memory stick. And those parts are trivially available.
For the vast majority of Americans, who cannot afford airplanes and/or boats, the automobile is the second largest purchase they will ever make after their house.
And traditionally, automobiles have always been repairable with not only a cornucopia of parts eagerly sold by the automobile manufacturers, but literally hundreds if not thousands of companies making “third party” parts for the same cars. And the deep knowledge needed to repair those vehicles actually went beyond the dealership with hundreds of thousands of independent garages and gas stations (yes they used to FIX cars there – not just Big Gulps). You could learn how to fix automobiles by purchasing repair manuals – both from the manufacturers and/or from other publishers and there were a dozen publishers who specialized in automobile repair manuals.
As I recall, country western singer Johnny Cash actually built a car one piece at a time, using pieces he took home in his lunch box from his job at an autombile plant.
For over a century, hundreds of thousands of car owners simply chose not to face the expense at the auto dealers and changed their own oil, filters, belts, and along the way became more knowledgeable about how to repair their car. Brakes actually got easier with the disk brakes and pads. But many people did all the repair work on their cars after the warranty expired.
But in the last few years, a number of car manufacturers have begun treating their “technology” as “their intellectual property” and guarding it against being common knowledge among the great unwashed. And you will find that oddly enough, repairs at dealerships such as BMW and Mercedes Benz, who are somewhat famous for this, are significantly higher in cost than at a Ford or GM dealership.
In this week’s video, we talk about a couple of wannabe Tesloids who bought wrecked Tesla Model S’s in an attempt to get into a Tesla at somewhat less than the $107,000 I paid. Tesla, the only source of parts for these cars, not only DECLINES to sell them the parts, but has a new wrinkle to offer. They can simply telephone the car and DISABLE it. And AFTER announcing he was going to “open source” the Tesla, Elon Musk apparently has hired a software security expert from Apple who has recruited 20 or 30 “hackers” to help them “secure” their system from “attack”. ALL of this mind you, and they assure us they will NOT ever back off from this, in the name of YOUR SAFETY.
My safety? Hey, that’s great. Where in the hell were you guys in 1971 when Dad slammed the Dodge pickup hood on my goddamned hand while we were working on it????
There is no issue of safety here at ALL. And there are NO issues of litigation. There is no recorded CASE EVER of anyone making modifications to their own car that later resulted in a lawsuit against the automaker. But there have been some HUGE lawsuits against automakers. Virtually ALL of them had nothing to do with design errors or vehicle defects you will be astounded to learn. ALL of them, from the Pinto incendiary gas tank to the Toyoto accelerator pedal to the GM ignition switch, ALL OF THEM involved corporations who had hundreds and in some cases THOUSANDS of reports of vehicle defects KNOWN and known unquestionably to cause individuals to DIE, and who then did NOTHING about it for periods of time ranging usually from one to ten YEARS – solely based on the expense. These are individuals, human beings within corporate structures who made active DECISIONS to bury information and stall off providing a solution for multiple YEARS while more people died from DEFECTIVE automobiles that repeatedly and predictably failed at exactly the same point – killing other people in tragic accidents. THAT is the “litigation risk” my friends and there isn’t any other. The reason for the huge awards is that a jury of 12 people of even George Carlin’s estimate of average intelligence were so enraged by the obvious and demonstrated EVIL of the parties involved that their only question in the lawsuit was what kind of number for the award would be considered REALLY BIG. Cause these SOBs are going to pay.
If I modified a Tesla by putting in two cup holders, and later ran into a school with failed brakes and wiped out 1250 little darlings, Tesla might have a liability problem, but it would not be the cupholders.
And if I TOTALLY modified a Tesla and REMOVED the brakes because I wanted to mount an explosive STEAM CALLIOPE on the front, and hit the same school and wiped em out again, Tesla really has ZERO liability. No lawyer would bring a case against them. Because it would not only be thrown out, but the lawyer would lose serious commitas among the lawyer guys. It wasn’t Tesla’s car. It was mine. And I had so seriously modified it, that anything Tesla had or had not done really wouldn’t have any bearing. When the calliope exploded, that was what caused most of the damage. Nobody is going to hold Tesla responsible. I might lose everything. But even though Tesla is the obvious deep pockets here, the connection is just too thin.
So there simply ARE NOT any safety issues in providing information or parts about car repair. And there are simply NOT any legal issues or exposure either. And indeed, you can watch the Wizard of Oz for the next 300 years on a black and white TV and it isn’t EVER going to show up in color for you. No matter what the man says.
But imagine what a FANTASTIC world it would be for carmakers if cars simply were not repairable? And if parts and information on their repair were UNOBTAINIUM. Better yet, if anyone even TRIES to repair or use the car after the warranty period, they could simply send the car a text message to TURN IT OFF.
Disposable cars. Throw away cars. You buy one, and if something goes wrong with it you send it to the recycler and buy another. And in this way, within just a few years, just as computers became less expensive than televisions, houses can be less expensive than cars.
There is something deeply sinister and deeply tragic that happens to people who come to run large corporate entities. I don’t know what it is about it, but they become so confused they don’t know right from wrong or up from down, leading to the eternal damnation of their immortal soul to the fires of hell. I know I don’t want to run one.
But it is invariably the same. The see no win/win situations. If offered the opportunity to take advantage of their position of power to get just a bit more from their own customer base, they will lunge at it every time. And if at any time they are faced with a decision between making it right or covering it up, they cover it up like catscat.
I would ask that you join me in fighting this whenever and wherever found. We will develop the tools necessary to hack these cars to death and take advantage of every opportunity to free their “intellectual property.” Once you sell the car, the rights to access the intellectual property go with it.
We would also advocate immediate “right to repair” laws applied universally through all 50 states via Federal legislation to require both parts and information adequate to make effective repairs from anyone selling any model of automobile within the borders of the country.
I frankly don’t give a shit about ISIS terrorists. They don’t scare me at all. But Tesla does. The increasingly computerized automobile poses a direct threat and this seems to be accentuated with the advent of the electric car.
And I would leave you with one sort of shocking thought. What if the automobile dealers have a point after all???
This means war. And we’re talking boots on the ground…
All your car are belong to us.
More and more often my trusted independent mechanic shrugs his shoulders and tells me it’s a dealer only thing…
Hey Jack,
Another great post with many good nuggets in there. A few comments:
1) Nice to hear that there’s another Getrag fan in the EV world. I personally paid stupid-money to ensure my 911 roller had the G50, simply because it is one of the best manual transmissions out there, and knowing that these electric motors are all torque-monsters.
2) A big Caveat Emptor on the mega-capacity thumb drives. Someone I know (close and personal-like) got burned by this a few years back, and I see the scam continues…
http://www.ebay.com/gds/All-About-Fake-Flash-Drives-2013-/10000000177553258/g.html
3) Regarding auto manufacturers and lawsuits, did you ever watch Fight Club? Remember what job Ed Norton’s character (also named Jack) had? Here’s what I’m referring to: (lifted from a script posted online)…
JACK
Take the number of vehicles in the
field, (A), and multiply it by the
probable rate of failure, (B), then
multiply the result by the average
out-of-court settlement, (C). A
times B times C equals X…
JACK
If X is less than the cost of a
recall, we don’t do one.
BUSINESS WOMAN
Are there a lot of these kinds of
accidents?
JACK
Oh, you wouldn’t believe.
BUSINESS WOMAN
… Which… car company do you work
for?
JACK
A major one.
– Collin
I’m with you Collin, Everything a CEO / corporation, etc does, comes down to a cost benefit calculation.Whichever is most beneficial to the bottom line, the stock price, that’s what has to be done. If a CEO somehow grows a conscience and decides to do the right and moral thing, profits be dammed, the stock holders will promptly show him the door. The stock holder just want to see large returns on their investments and don’t care what goes on behind closed doors, after all they are not held responsible right? I’ve seen the same thing before in regards to OSHA and safety laws and penalties. If it costs more to make a make a manufacturing process “safe” compared to the costs involved with fines and penalties, they choose to pay the smaller cost option, which maximizes profits.
I’ve given up on taking my vehicles to the “stealer”. After the third time taking a vehicle in for the same problem that wasn’t fixed the first time. They want to replace the same part a fourth time because when they plug the computer into the vehicle it tells them to replace that part. GM abs sensors are common for this. The computer says to replace the ABS sensor so they do. A google search turns up people with the same problem. It that shows that the more likely cause of the fault code is corroded connectors to the abs sensor or bad wiring harnesses. I take my vehicles to an independent non dealer shop, when I can’t repair it myself. They don’t have the fancy dealer supplied computer system and such, but instead they have access to and know how to use, the most complex and powerful computer system known on the planet, the human brain. Replacing the abs sensor didn’t fix it the first time? Hmm, let’s see, what’s the abs sensor connected to, connectors, harnesses, hey, lookey there, that harness is chafed!
As to making spare parts available, I’ve had trouble even when they are made “available”. Again, my experience is with ABS / wheel hub bearings… Go to the dealer and they will replace your hub bearings with “factory” replacement parts. The bearings that were installed in the vehicle on the assembly line were manufactured in a plant in the US, close to the assembly line, a quality part that lasted 100,000 miles. The “factory” replacement part that the dealer can purchase? Made in China of questionable quality and lasted 20,000 miles. What I want is the same part off the assembly line but I can’t get it. The solution to this problem can sometimes be 3rd party aftermarket parts. IF there is a market for quality parts that exceed the crap that the dealer provides, then companies will spring up to produce them. Case in point, those wheel bearings, for less than the dealer was selling me the china bearings, I bought Timken, made in the US bearings from Rock Auto.
This comes to my first recommendation whenever I’m asked what car is a good car to convert. In short, one with a large and vibrant community who love them irrationally. A cult car. Because parts for that bland-o-mobile that was only produced for three years won’t exist.
There is a tech lean to want an open source car. Go to a hot rod cruise night. It already exists. But there, they are considered cliche builds – because they use the most common reliable and affordable components. But few of those parts actually are original or are from the OEM. They are straight out of Jegs and JCWhitney.
An Empire is an Empire not matter if it is a country or an automobile manufactoring plant.
Elon and Vladimir made out of the same stone? No wonder we are all made out of the same dust after all. It still annoys me.
Apropos TV set. A couple of parts and your computer can become a TV set and you only need a couple of readily available parts to repair it. Myth Buntu is your friend. I have digged into this because I was thinking of doing some videos and found there are no more video recorders alive in this world. So when I have to teach my computer to record videos why not used it to watch them in the first place.
When Karin and me bought our i-MiEV I was thinking of the Citroen 2 CV (deux chevaux, two horses) a cult car here in Europe at least. More have been sold than VW Beatles. Citroen, Peugot and Mitsubushi, I am still sure the car will become a cult car except there are not so many as Citroen 2CV. It is a cheap car, not the price you have to pay for it but the parts and engineering. So it will become an easy conversion when the time comes to replace important parts. After all most of the work is already done. Replace the ECU and the controller. Keep the motor but get rid of the BMU.
I am sure it is not that easy but most likely it will be easier than most conversions.
Convert a Mini Cooper? Jack did it and it performed better than BMW’s version.
Convert a Smart Electric Drive? Anger him a little more and Jack will show us how he has done and I am sure it will outperform the Mercedes original.
Cheers
Peter and Karin
Great show as usual! Yes it would be interesting to see how Tesla,s “you cant buy that” policy will fly in Europe. But more car makers are producing vehicles that even if you want to, you cant repair, i.e. Land Rover, their TD5 engine cant be rebored (im sure someone will tell me it can!) the crank cant be reground, the head cant be skimmed, it lasts for ages but when it goes tits up, “buy a new block, crank,head” Anyway thats all old ICE stuff!
In the UK its certainly common practice to repair CAT D, light damage cars, Insurance companies are ok with it, but they are registered forever in a database so you have to declare it, not seen many EVs though, Renault have rather messed things up with their battery rental, no one seems to know who actually owns the battery if the car is written off! (ready to be corrected!) But factory EV,s a great source of parts so their value may remain high even as wrecks, but used Leafs are dirt cheap in the UK anyway!
I made a comment a while ago about transmissions and soft starts, I think another added stress on the gearbox is regen, in my experience, and I have to say Im more grease monkey than IT “nerd”!, gearboxes dont like being used as brakes. I use this little saying “gears for GO brakes for SLOW” my driving instructor used to shout when I changed down to slow the car. Interesting to see if autoboxes have the same issues or does the torque convertor help reduce shock loads?
Mark
Your driving ed instructor had a bias. Lets examine that. Brake linings are cheaper then syncros. On ice downshifting would be a bad idea, especially with rear wheel drive. At EVCCON most of the conversions could smoke’em at will from a standing launch. When have you ever seen regen lock’em up without a concurrent down shift. Jack’s regen gets ramped up gradually from the throttle coast point. I’ve even caught Jack’s regen profile get samelessly copied without credit from a tech writer in Europe. Shock loads at start? highly likely. Shock loads at regen? improbable. The convertor should be locked during regen to reduce torque converter heating and efficiency loss.
A gearbox can certainly be weaker in one direction than the other. I’ve chewed through motorcycle rear-ends because of this. The gears weren’t adequately supported in the direction of force now being misapplied and slipped out of place. The teeth no longer meshed correctly and sang a horrible farewell.
I may be incorrect here, but semi trucks do use their transmissions to slow down through engine braking all the time. So it certainly can be done and with large forces at play. Granted, those transmissions are larger than some cars in entirety. But I do think Jack’s onto something about the time scale of things.
As with any lease agreement, you dont own the part / vehicle / photocopier, you pay a lease charge for it. At the end of the lease, its ownership returns to the lease company. That is the case with the batteries, you have a separate lease agreement. Citroen, Peugeot and Renault all dit it with their early Electriques in europe and the cells were removed from the vehicle when it was sold, if the lease wasnt passed on. The lease companies were not the makers in those cases, at one point I tracked them down to a company in Paris, who would not sell the battery packs. They either got re-installed or sent back to SAFT who made the cells.
If you lease a car, its clear that you dont own it. If you finance its purchase you do own it unless you default on the loan, in which case its reposessed by the finance company.
In the UK Cat C and D damaged vehicles can be put back on the road, Cat C requiring an Identity check by VOSA to ensure you havnt just put the plates on a stolen car. Whatever designation it stays on the registration documents, for all to see.
I totally agree with this blog post. Tesla are in the wrong here. What scares me the most are all the apologists who are defending Tesla. I’ve recently gotten in this argument in EVDL. It’s just plain outside the realm of reason (as far as I’m concerned) to suggest that it is either acceptable or desirable that a company should be able to disable the operation of a vehicle that they’ve sold. If a customer wants to drive their broken car then that is on them. To some extent I’d imagine that that is the reason for black boxes in a car. Did you drive 90MPH in a 25MPH zone with your seatbelt off? Had you disabled the airbag sensors? Did you then hit a phone pole while texting and eating? Are you currently laying on the street looking like a Rorschach drawing? Who is at fault there? Auto makers don’t want to be blamed for things like that. They shouldn’t be blamed for things like that. Telemetrics data helps to prove that the driver was an idiot. But, it isn’t the auto maker’s responsibility to ensure that you are not an idiot or that you repaired your car properly. The sole liability for repairs rests with the person/company that did them.
I have a repair manual for a 1971 Triumph 2000. It’s the thickness of a phone book full of detail about every nut bolt and screw. Wiring diagram , torque specs you name it. I have a manual from the same publisher for a 2001 BMW E39 5 series.It’s like a glossy magazine. All hat and no horse. The phrase ” This is a highly specialised procedure best undertaken by your local BMW main dealer” is rife throughout. Good job I thought of that when dumping the engine for a forklift motor.
Is that type of coupling used by Anne Kloppenborg generally successful in such an application? I’m used to seeing harmonic balancers on crankshafts that have to be pressed on due to using an interference fit on top of being keyed. I would have expected that with the torque an electric motor can generate that any coupling would need splines, or at least an interference fit to keep it from eventually spinning.
Hi Mike,
Proof will be in the pudding! Though I’m hoping our coupling wont turn into jelly… So far the coupling we have done with the warp & HPEVS style shaft have all relied on simple keyway fit -and there is no shortage of torque there either. Also I would expect the clutch plate to slip before the key gives out… Either way, I’ll be sure to share with you all in future Amsterdam segments!
Pudding ? Jelly ? I be right over! Seriously, your coupling will be just fine Anne. I do have to agree with Mike about using a press fit, if for nothing else but to keep the flywheel true. On a lot of Porsches the clutches are a pull type , requiring a circlip or other means to stop the adaptor( Puck) from being pulled off.
That little set screw is not meant to hold things in place. your push type clutch setup should hold it on ,but a little preload on the throwout bearing might be good in this case. While it is out ,why dont you put in a couple more set screws at 120 degrees
Good to hear that such has already worked successfully. The key size seemed significant so I’m sure that helps. How is overall assembly balance with such a keyway, and then that single set screw? As someone else already mentioned, since you are having all the machining done, it might not be a bad idea to have it require a press fit if possible for that assembly. Considering that the intention is for long assembled life, the key, keyway, and coupling should all be as tight as possible when assembled. At least that is what I’ve always understood though granted, I’m not a machinist..
ultimately ,using a taper lock bushing would be the best solution,especially when multiple trial fittings are involved. Interference fits require heat for installation and special pullers to pull them apart if things don`t match up the first time, which turns out to be always
When ever I’ve worked with antique motors with press fit harmonic balancers the crank would sometimes not have a deep fine thread in it for pulling on the balancer. While the crank was out I’d have the machine shop bore and tap the crank for this feature. Like-wise if one plans to press or shrink fit a hub a provision needs to be made for pull threads deep in the shaft. This really helps if for some for reason it didn’t seat properly on the inner bearing race. Using a bolt for this purpose is ill advised. Instead use a high tensile strength stud with a high grade nut. That way you always have full engagement in the shaft and the wear and tear is limited to the stud and nut. Stiff grease or anti-seize is also well advised for this work.
A few words about splines. Involute splines work because they self center, as torque is applied the curves of the splines both male and female drive themselves to a common center-line. Imagine if you will that they are each held securely in their own center-line but slightly offset from each other. The result would be a constant sliding of the spline surfaces against each other causing wear compounded by the fact that only a small portion of the spline is actually carrying the load. The reason the small e-gear drive spline system works is the coupling tube is free to self center between the distance of the driver and driven ends as soon as torque is supplied thus avoiding any sliding wear point.
On Flash cards/SD memory.
This is a HUGE issue with sellers selling fraudulently sized cards. Usually seeing these as selling cheap on the likes of EBAY.
Owners find once the card starts filling up the data they have saved is still on the filing system but the file is blank.. Gone down the memory hole.
One day somebody is going to get sued for deliberately losing data that may be of serious cost in value. It’s fraud. Pure and simple.
.
The best windoze program to detect this issue is h2testw
http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html
.
If your browser does not translate, try this:-
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3DH2testw%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&sl=de&u=http://www.heise.de/software/download/h2testw/50539&sandbox=0&usg=ALkJrhjyL5_DKAp1nPXmZyfFFLW3MiyKug
On Flash cards/SD memory.
This is a HUGE issue with sellers selling fraudulently sized cards. Usually seeing these as selling cheap on the likes of EBAY.
Owners find once the card starts filling up the data they have saved is still on the filing system but the file is blank.. Gone down the memory hole.
One day somebody is going to get sued for deliberately losing data that may be of serious cost in value. It’s fraud. Pure and simple.
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The best windoze program to detect this issue is h2testw
http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html
Due to the moderation issue (What for?) on multiple links I’ll not post the Google translate version.
After watching this weeks show and the bit on the VW Thing CV joints, The real problem with the axles was that the bolts (8mm cap screws) and the way those cv joints are attached to the hub flanges has always been problematic with German cars. Allen head cap screws are totally fine ,as long as they are the same grade as the 12point bolts.(In fact I would recommend something stronger than OEM in this case)
Remember that you have more than doubled or tripled the torque on those shafts and they were not designed for that amount. The bolts have actually stretched to the point of being loose. It`s a good and safe practice to use new bolts when reassembling the CV joints.
To reaffirm Jacks point on using Nordlocks, Ive found this the best method for securing those bolts, although even those will fail if you don`t retorque the bolts after 100 miles or so. Trust me on this ,I do these all the time.
BTW loctite does NOT work in molybdenum grease
…michel
These were all good pointers, Thanks for the insight Michel. It’s not like the Thing spent a day doing 1/8 mile drag races…
This is one thing as a car repair person I have been fighting for several year and one reason I (we) don’t work on Most German cars past the late 70’s. The American car builders are getting as bad with flash programing that has to be done at a dealer or have expensive programmers for each make. That’s Jack. I realy did enjoy evccon this year and hope to make it next Year
When I trade in a car to purchase a new one the dealer has me sign a “release of interest” form. I should think a similar form has to be filed by the dealer when they sell the car to me. This business of disabling damaged cars is essentially stealing the car. I paid good money and I’m the legal owner not Elon. The only claim he has on the car is if his company financed the vehicle and it has not been paid in full. That is the only time he has any say in the destiny of the car.
did I miss something in the video? What was the ChaDeMo receiver on the table for? It is a modification that I really do hope makes its way into the GEVCU. I’d love to have a way to use the public DCQC stations.
Yeah, I was waiting the whole episode for a big CHAdeMO DIY kit announcement, but no, it just sat there on the table. Was it simply forgotten? I just bought a OEM EV to get CHAdeMO, so that I can take some longer trips that need to be taken weekly. CHAdeMO in DIY would change the game for me.
Looks like a message to Tesla. If you dont want our cars charging, let’s go CHAdeMO.
I am more than curious. We had our first CHAdeMO charging our i-MiEV at Mitsubushi Europe when visiting a Pirates Party convention last weekend. We may use it 7 days a week and 24 hours and for free.
Just like a gasser, except for smell and grime. Take the hose. Plug it in. Karin celebrated us a cup of tea und 15 minutes later we were back on the highway. No unrolling and folding of cables. No waiting in a line inside a loud gas station.
I’d like to learn the other side as well. Making my own electricity and feeding it via CHAdeMO. Charging was between 17 kilowatts per hour and 18 kilowatt per hour most of the time. Even close to the end it was faster than our built in 3.3 kW charger.
Cheers
Peter and Karin
Does anyone have a good understanding of the current position of Chedemo in the EU? This article suggests that the Brussels gestapo are arranging to ban it in Europe (http://cleantechnica.com/2013/08/13/eu-to-ban-chademo-ev-charger-by-2018/). [BTW I shall be voting to get out of the EU if we have our promised referendum: I like Europe and Europeans but not the corrupt and baleful EU]
Here in germany they make us belief it is europe but it actually is a petrol sponsored mafia. They preach Menneckes in the first place and a german fast DC charger for the very distant future …
Well, there is no german fast DC charger except down in the cellar of a lab far away from a street and there is no german car that might profit from a german fast charger. BMWs I have seen do have a Menneckes for regular charging and some have CHAdeMO but only in Japan.
They are preaching they will stop sponsoring the deployment of CHAdeMO in 2018 but I have not seen any sponsored (by them) chargers in the first place. Just a number, just another anouncement.
Yesterday I discovered a new caravan park in a neighboring town. They have some 8 or more Blue Command Sockets and you can feed them coins. The fuse will blow at 25A. At Ruesselsheim (Opel / Vauxhall City) I have discovered my first CHAdeMO. What I can see here the Blue Command Socket will be my companion for a very long time with CHAdeMO comming closer and Tesla Superchargers beyond my horizon.
It looks like a run between CHAdeMO and Tesla were Tesla wants us to buy a new Tesla or keep out but Mitsubishi and Nissan invite the rest of us to come in and have a free charge.
Nothing serious. Both Tesla and CHAdeMO are not yet fast enough. I do see lorries needing a lot of charge. Lorries cannot charge neither CHAdeMO nor Tesla but we’ll see our chars charging were the lorries do. Some big lorries never have seen a gas station. To expensive to drive them there. Gas station or power station does not make a difference for them and where they are working there is already a lot of electricity. Besides my Blue Command Plug I do have a red one (CEE 400V/16A). Single phase that is 230V/16A and I did use it on construction plants.
Hey Guys, on Chademo.
It won’t be banned in the EU. Just eventually deprecated. The money to fund the Chademo standard will end at 2018 is not the same as removing the cables.
I can travel England with no difficulties using these. They are great! The difference between dealer chargers and motorways; the dealer offers free coffee.
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Oddly. dealers seem to be in better locations too! My last 200 mile run in a day to see a sick relative used one Motorway stop at 50 miles. Then a dealer within 5 miles of destination. That, was the long way.
Topped up to full at relatives before leaving Derby for Manchester, 55 tortuous but so beautiful miles over the tops, (hills) to Stockport Nissan, (South of Manchester.) Had to charge up at home from that last 30 miles. So it set me back a £1 for the days travelling. Disgusting. 😀
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Sure the supposed new standard is the mennekes with the afterthought (frankenplug) DC pins. Plenty of UK chargers are triple headed and fitted adjacent to the old twin headed chargers. Few cars use this. The BMW option is expensive!
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IMO the Tesla without the DC pegs is on a loser with reliability. They are over driving those skinny little pins at 70KW. UK’s Ecotricity/Nissan/etc. chargers are at 43KW AC or 50KW DC.
Nabil,
I have a blue commando to our standard AC mains on a pig tail, to fit camp site sockets. It’s been a great buy! If it fitted to an EVSE we could dial down the load. Some do not like more than 6A or 10A. Most are the full 16A.
Oh on Pirate party and getting out of the EU.. I’m right behind that.
Sadly dark forces will seek to destabilize and destroy us from within if we do. Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Ukraine etc. etc. They have “our” fingerprints all over them.
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For the metric guys. 200 miles = 300 Km, 55 miles = 80Km and 30 miles = 50 Km.
Andyj,
dont fear the dark forces. They are leading us strait through the darkness, but as long as we have not yet reached the center of the dog pile they are leading us right into it. bardarbunga is watching us. Solves a lot of problems like rusting old vehicles a bit faster
For all the Tesla fans out there…Check this out. 0-60 in 3.2 sec. Automatic speed control, lane changing and stopping without driver intervention. The car will come pick you up at the door from its parking space at a time you designate in your calendar. Wow!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7quu551ehc0
Is the model ‘D’ Tesla’s response to the drivetrain issues mentioned previously by Jack, ie – take the load off or share the load ?
Okay, I’m throwing down the gauntlet. I want to see the Tesla P38D do Pike’s Peak… Unmanned.
I’m sure F1 is already there, Chuck. There’s an issue about carrying the dead weight, The deluded fan base who actually imagine it’s all down to the driver.
It’s the driver who wins, not the car, not the engineers, not “the team”. Sad, int’ it.
Jack just watched the show, about the ChadeMo you should go back to the people doing the JuiceBox charger. You could get a setup from them for under $5000.00.
http://www.emotorwerks.com/products/online-store/category/listing/17-dc-charging-systems
Steve
Just watched the Oct 10th news show. I can tell you using the voltage detector meter to detect the AC power will not work. I don’t now about the Brusa but in the Leaf when the charging is complete the car turns off the AC input when charging is complete. Your meter would determine the plug is out while the car is sitting connected. The only reliable method is to check the proximity when the key is turned on. I’ve been working on a no power method to detect that the J1772 plug is in. Nothing happens until the key is turned on (aka request to drive). If the plug is removed the request to drive is passed to the OK to drive output. If the plug is in the OK to drive is open. The circuit is powered by the request to drive 12v when the key is off no power is used.