eSprite: It Runs!

The short of this post: I’ve got my first functional test done! I think it was an absolute success. I was able to drive, reverse, use my signals, headlights, etc. The acceleration is adequate, and when stepping on the gas it simply sounds fantastic! Very futuristic, like something powerful spooling up. The downsides are that I don’t believe my brakes are working as expected, but more on that in the paragraphs below. Let’s dive in!

Blog Post 7 left us at the point where I sent the 1239e controller to HPEVs for reprogramming. This service was a blessing, because when the controller arrived back and I reattached the signal and power cables everything worked as expected. When I turned the ignition key and latched the ‘on’ relay, the precharge circuit charged the motor controller’s capacitor (bank of capacitors?) and then triggered the main contactor. You can hear the main contactor snap into place, and the internal optimizer. It’s a high frequency whine. Subtle, but still annoying enough to warrant a future look into. 

After I had the controller in, I immediately wanted to try driving the car. I was successful in this first attempt, except I hadn’t left the driveway before one of the old brake lines ruptured. It created quite the mess, and I’m very glad that most of my wires are either enclosed or shielded, because the caustic brake fluid spewed everywhere. Looking back, I should have replaced all the brake lines while it was still in the air. But, that’s part of initial testing. We can’t simply assume that things that we haven’t touched but worked before still work now. It’s just interesting that the line didn’t rupture while I was bleeding the brakes…

I’m now at the point where there is a lot of buttoning up to do before I would consider the vehicle ready for everyday missions, like going to the store, or cruising to the beach. For example, I’m sitting on top of the battery packs in the current setup. I’ve designed and ordered shields to go in place over the battery packs, and from there I’ll put a cushion down, and utilize the original seat backs. I’m hoping to reupholster them, because they were tired, and have gotten older and more tired over the 3 years they’ve been stored. 

Additionally, I’m almost convinced that water cooling the batteries may not be necessary. The batteries remained at a stable temperature despite going through somewhat heavy power pulls multiple times. Perhaps it was just the fall temperatures aiding me, but I saw less temperature increase over the whole 30 minutes driving than I did over the same time period of charging. We’ll see if this is just luck, or something out of place. I’m intending on keeping the vehicle well instrumented for much of its service life, so I’ll be able to track trends. 

Overall though, it was a fantastic moment to finally have the vehicle driving. It’s been a very long, difficult, and expensive path towards this moment. I’ve had to push the boundaries of my knowledge in multiple directions, and develop skills that I never had before. With this experience though, I can say that next time I’ll do it even better 😉