Ho-Ho-Ho... not so much!

 12/11/2018

Snowing today.

VW is sitting exactly as it was in the last post. I hope to get back to the lithium installation in January.

Golf cart fixed:

> Bad controller - installed new Alltrax 400 amp controller.

> Left axle broke and the wheel fell off! Replaced the axle. (Bought from Buggies Unlimited - a highly recommended company.)

> Installed two solar panels on the top of the cart, replacing the plastic top. I used a "boost type" charge controller to charge the 48vdc battery pack. I have been using the cart for running around the ranch for several months and have not had to use any aux. charging.

> Added two LED driving lights. Mounted one on the left front edge of the solar module and one on the right front edge. Works GREAT!

No progress on VW

Too many "must do" projects, right now.

• Broken water line to our underground sprinkler system. Lawn looks completely disreputable i.e., looks like hell!
• Electric golf cart suddenly quit last week. I need to troubleshoot it and fix. Getting tired of long walk to the barn/shop and back several times a day.
• Weeds growing like there is no tomorrow. I need to start making that happen.
• Wife and I picked up and hand unloaded 1200 lbs. of chicken feed. 

RESURRECTION!

 

For the last five years my Electric VW Cabriolet has been "lounging" in my barn. Prior to the "internment" I drove it almost 20,000 miles, until the original set of 16 golf-cart batteries finally pooped out. It was my intent to replace the "flooded lead-acid" batteries with Lithium cells. At that time, Lithium was very expensive. I calculated to obtain the same performance, the Lithium battery pack would cost around $12,000. I decided to wait until the cost declined substantially.
 

Gradually, the cost for Lithium dropped ... but until last years, it was still over $7,000. With the wide acceptance of comsumer electric vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf, there were a certain number of these vehicles that ended up crashed. One vehicle, in particular, the Nissan Leaf, had a Lithium battery pack that was quite adaptable to custom-made electric vehicles. Many were salvaged.

 

 This is a battery pack from a Nissan Leaf that I purchased last week. It consistes of 48 lithium modules, each about 8 vdc, for a total of about 385 vdc. Since my VW's controller has a maximum voltage rating of 144 dvc, I will split the battery pack into three parallel strings of 16 modules, each, for an output voltage of 128 vdc. (My original golf cart battery pack was 96vdc.)

 

With the original battery pack, my maximum range was about 50 miles and a top speed of 65 mph. With this new lithium pack, I am hoping for about 50% great numbers. 

 

Follow along, from day-to-day, as I upgrade the vehicle.

My hope is to be up and running by mid-August.