| Owner | Ken Salisbury | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Washington United States map | ||||||
| Web/Email | WebPage | ||||||
| Vehicle | 2003 Gizmo Three-wheeled reverse trike. | ||||||
| Motor | D&D Motor Systems, Inc. ES-32 mod-15 Separately Excited DC I had to replace the motor and D&D Motors said I needed a longer one so they built me a nearly drop in replacement. I only have to move the brush end motor mount. This motor does better with my long drives. I'm sure the peak HP is higher with this motor. The original ES-10C: 15 HP Peak I've seen momentary power draw from the battery pack of 24kW so I'm sure more than 15HP is being delivered to the rear tire. | ||||||
| Drivetrain | Belt Drive | ||||||
| Controller | Sevcon PowerPak PP745 This is a 500A controller with an operating voltage of 14.5-75V. | ||||||
| Batteries | 40 Thunder Sky TS-LFP100AHA, 3.20 Volt, Lithium Iron Phosphate There are 20 buddy paired groups of cells. I couldn't fit enough of the 200AH batteries in the box which is why I went with buddy pairs. | ||||||
| System Voltage | 64 Volts | ||||||
| Charger | Zivan NG1 I've adjusted the voltage to finish at a maximum of about 69.3V. This keeps the DC-DC safe (it shuts off at 69-70V to protect itself) and the controller is programmed for 70V as max voltage. The voltage drops to 66.5V after the first acceleration. 7/26/2010 - Electric Conversions (WebPage now have LiFePO4 charging profiles. My NG1 is on the way back to me with the 612 profile for 19 cells for an ending voltage of 69.35V (3.65vpc). I've installed 20 cells total for 3.47vpc ending charge. | ||||||
| Heater | Body heat | ||||||
| DC/DC Converter | Sure Power Industries, Inc 41020C00 48V input 12A max, 12V out 20A max. The max operating voltage is 69-70V and max non-operating voltage is 100V for a few minutes. | ||||||
| Instrumentation | CycleAnalyst mounted in a RadioShack project box which was carved to match the contour of the dash. Digital speed-o-meter Analog Ammeter Digital split pack voltage monitor | ||||||
| Top Speed | 50 MPH (80 KPH) This is on level road with no wind. I actually see a little bit more than this at times but am not sure if it is wind differences or slight incline. With the warmer batteries this summer I regularly achieved 54-56 mph. | ||||||
| Acceleration | Excellent with LiFePO4 pack. | ||||||
| Range | 72 Miles (115 Kilometers) (Range confirmed. See below.) I live in a hilly area so my range may be lower than it would be on the flat. I went 48.1 hilly miles one day and only used 7.87kWh from the wall. This included over 3500 ft of climbing with regen on the way down. The highest point was 1798ft and lowest was 7ft. I figure that 80% of the pack energy would be over 9.6kWh so I believe I actually have over a 60 mile range since I'm measuring from the wall. I'll wait until I have an Ah counter to be sure. (6-18-2010 update) I went 65.7 miles today. This was with a bit of hill climbing on the trip. Not as much as noted above but still 3300 ft of climbing overall. It took only 10.23kWh to recharge which comes out to 6.42 mi/kWh. This is a little better than my usual town driving so I feel confident in the 60 mile range. Battery temperature started out at 66F and ended at 78F right after the run. The peak temp was 80.5F after they had been charging at 18A for a couple of hours. Air temp was in the mid to high 60's. I now have a CycleAnalyst installed and I'm seeing 2.2Ah/mile so 80% discharge would be just over 70 miles. I have driven 80 miles on a charge. | ||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 140 Wh/Mile 280Wh/mi with T-875 pack (8V) pack 250Wh/mi with U2200UTL (6v) pack 165Wh/mi with TS pack. This is as measured from the wall with a Kill-a-Watt meter. After installing a CycleAnalyst I'm seeing just under 140Wh/mi from the battery pack. I just did a 58 mile run with only about 15 miles below full throttle. The battery pack started out at 18C and ended at 24C. The current was about 125A when on level road and speed was 48-50mph. The CycleAnalyst reported 151Wh/mi. | ||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | 1 adult | ||||||
| Curb Weight | 829 Pounds (376 Kilograms) 993 lbs with the Interstate U2200UTL 6V battery pack. The weight with the 40 TS-LFP100AHA batteries is a little higher because I added a blower with mount to the motor and a few other things like more relays and such so I really don't know how much the weight would have been reduced had I only changed batteries. | ||||||
| Tires | 12" radials (145/70R12) | ||||||
| Additional Features | - AM/FM radio with CD player and a really huge filter to filter out the 16KHz noise of the controller. - I added some LED lights for cabin lighting. - defrost heat made from a floor heater - Split pack voltage monitor (AKA Lee Hart Batt-Bridge) see my blog for details Removed items: - BMS system from Black Sheep Technology (I'm doing a no BMS test to see how things go. Nothing wrong with this BMS. I highly recommend it if you are going to use one. A little more expensive than others on the market but only draws 1mA.) - 48V PowerPulse from PulseTech to keep batteries from sulfating. - Hydrocaps from Hydrocap Corporation, Miami, FL - PakTrakr with current sensor. I think I have a couple of weak batteries. The PakTrakr will help determine this. - Analog volt meter - All outside lights except the head light are now LEDs.(I'm back to incandescent bulbs for turn signals because the LEDs were not bright enough in bright sun for other drivers to see in some circumstances. Also, I had to replace two of the turn signal assemblies and found some with a double filament socket for the front so now I'm more visible from the front.) | ||||||
| The negative start miles is because the previous owner changed speed-o-meters. Check out the Light Electric Vehicle Forum at WebPage for more information. The local paper did a nice article on my Gizmo. The link is here: WebPage It actually was on the front page! My Gizmo had a 30 tooth drive gear and a 90 tooth gear on the rear wheel. My hill climbing and start stop driving was overheating the motor so I sent my motor to Jim Husted at Hi-torque Electric to be rebuilt. I have ordered a replacement drive gear with 22 teeth. 9/30/07 I have installed the 22T gear and driven a few miles. The motor is getting broke in now. Acceleration is is much better but the top end is a little weak. I've only hit 40mph briefly on a long flat run. My hill climbing speed has dropped from 27mph to 24mph at the steepest part of my hill climb home. The voltage, however, doesn't drop as far as it used to so I'm sure the motor current is lower than it used to be. The motor also doesn't seem as warm as it used to. I jacked the drive wheel up and ran the speed up to the max throttle. It only went to 55mph and this is with no load. The Sevcon PowerPak controller has a Traction Speed Limit setting which is maxed out at 51kph. I'm not sure if this limit is kicking in or not. 3/1/2008 The blinker lights were 23W bulbs and would cause the head light to dim when they blinked so when one burned out I replaced all of them with LEDs. 3/31/2008 I have sent off my right throttle handle and NORM circuit to Ron Anderson of Black Sheep Technology www.black-sheep.us to be rebuilt/replaced. If you have a Hall Effect type throttle on your Gizmo and you are having problems email me. I may be able to give you some help. 4/16/2008 I'm planning on adding some of my experience with my Gizmo and related information to my blog at WebPage . 4/2009 I've posted some of the things I've done on the Gizmo on my blog. I have the new Gizmo Interface with variable regen working, a new and bright adjustable headlight, new splash guards, and some new wiring. 11/2009 In the works... I'm in the process of building a set of coils to warm the air from defrost fan. I'm using the nichrome wire out of an electric 120VAC room heater. I'm also waiting for a pack of TS-LFP100AHA batteries since one of the cells in my T-875s went dead. It may have been reversed. 1/2010 I have the TS pack installed. Odometer reading when installed: 8640 miles. I'm still working on the defrost heater. I have all the parts except for a grill. I need to pull wires through the frame now. I also still have to install the warning circuitry for the BMS system and a latching relay to turn off the charger if a battery hits the high voltage trip point. I have gone to a 24T drive gear in hopes that the belt doesn't slip as easily. I'm going to work on adding a blower to the motor because the hill climbing current is over 200A. 6/2010 I had someone who has followed me down my hill at night say that the Gizmo isn't overly visible with just the tail light. The reflective tape on the rear canvas is badly weathered and he suggested I put some reflective tape on the bottom of the back of the battery box. The lower portion is very visible from the rear. I went to a local trailer parts supply and bought some read & white trailer reflective tape. Two red sections with a white one in the middle perfectly fit across the back of the box. The rear wheel blocks most of the white reflective portion. Being under the rear tail piece means that the tape should not get weathered and should last a long time. I took a drive from Kelso, WA to Woodland, WA over Green Mountain. The trip down I reached an elevation of about 900ft. On the return trip I took Shirley Gordon Road which took me almost to 1800ft elevation. I had a total climb/descent of 3524ft according to MapMyRun.com. I'm really glad I have a blower installed on the motor. I started to smell the motor just before reaching the top on my return trip. This is the first time I could smell the motor since I put on the blower so I believe it is doing its job. I'm really glad I have regen. It would have been a brake burning event I'm sure coming down with the small brakes the Gizmo has. At no point during my run did I have a low voltage warning from the BMS which means the cells all stayed above 2.93v even with a continuous 1.5C current with momentary 2C. The slowest climb speed was 29mph on the 9% grades. The pack voltage dropped to about 55v on the 300+ amp pulls. I only have the old non-number scaled 48v pb acid volt meter which came on the rig. I "calibrated" the meter on different points so I have some idea of pack voltage based on what the needle is at. The battery temperature started out at 64.4 F and hit a maximum of 76 F during charging. It hit a peak of 72 F during the drive, however, I regularly see a slight battery temp rise after stopping. I've generally thought that this was because of the heat from the motor getting into the battery box but the temperature probe is insulated against a battery in the middle of the pack so I'm beginning to think that it just takes a little time for the heat in the battery to make it to the case. This is the first time I've been able to feel that the batteries were slightly warm. The air temperature was in the mid 60s. For my normal short runs I probably won't need to cool the batteries in the summer around here. 7/25/2010 I replaced the bearings in both front wheels and the king pins along with the bushings. The front end is much tighter and it drives much better. I went with longer grade 8 bolts so that the non-threaded portion of the bolt goes through both the upper and lower hole in the part that turns. (I don't know what it is called but it is what the axle is attached to.) 9/2/2010 I've installed a CycleAnalyst from ebikes.ca. I tapped into the speedometer signal wire for speed to the CA so it will calculate Wh/mi. I also hooked it up through a relay so it will come on with the key and also through the two relays in the Zivan NG1 so it will come on when charging. This has been very useful since it will now give me a reasonably accurate value of the Ah used out of the pack. I don't leave the CA on all the time because it counts Ah too quickly with the mA of current being taken out of the pack by the DC-DC, radio & BMS monitoring system. I also installed a relay which is activated by the headlight switch to turn on the back light when the main headlight is turned on. I also installed a resistor to dim the back light. The back light is now only on when charging and when the main headlight is on. 9/26/2010 I checked the current draw of having the defrost heater & fan on, headlight on high beam, motor blower on, and dome lights on and there is a draw of 7.5A or about 500W. The biggest draw is by far the heater. I lose at most about 6 miles of range for every 2 hours of driving. 3/6/2011 I picked up a Sevcon PP784 425A 80V controller with a package deal on eBay. I really wanted the Calibrator but for $275 I couldn't pass up the whole thing. This controller is good for voltages down to 43V and up to 100V so I decided to give it a try. It seems a little more sluggish off the line than the PP745 even though I had the PP745 turned down to 430A. Once moving, however, this controller seems more peppy. The strange thing, however, is that the battery current doesn't spike at 430A on an acceleration up a hill like it did when using the PP745. I don't quite understand why this is the case. Maybe this one is more efficient? 3/28/2011 On 7/28/2010 I stopped top balancing my pack. I now charge to 69.7V or 3.485vpc and have not seen the alleged "cell drift" everyone has been warning me about. I take monthly voltage measurements right at the end of a full charge when the Zivan NG1 is putting out no current. It turns on and off a few mA of current during the very end of charge. 7/3/2011 After 11 months, 5,117 miles, and over 11,852Ah delivered by the pack with no balancing the extreme cells were 0.103V different. I rebalanced the pack at 4.00V using the BMS and then removed all the BMS boards. I am now running a test with only a split pack voltage monitor (see my blog) to see how balanced the pack stays. I have also taken steps to try to keep dust out and water from dripping into the battery box. This may have been a factor in causing the very slight imbalance in the pack. 10/8/2013 Over 17k miles on the pack and over 38,600Ah delivered. No sign of capacity fade but I haven't done a capacity test. No balancing since 7/2011 and the cells are still within 0.028V of each other right at the end of charge. I now charge to 3.455V/cell. I did do a no load rest test after a charge and all the cells rested right around 3.36V after a 12h rest so I'm confident that the cells are not getting over charged. 3/19/2018 David Nelson sold Gizmo #31 to new owner. Original blog at WebPage /> | |||||||
2003 Gizmo #31
Last Updated 03-21-2018
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