New Warp 9 install

Thanks to Bob Batson at EV America, and George Hamstra at NetGain motors, we were able to get our old motor covered under warranty.  Not only that, the motor that we received was actually the new Warp 9 with 28 improvements that will help overall efficiency!  The new motor went in without a hitch, but we seem to have noticed a new problem with the transmission that we never noticed before, a rattling at certain RPM's.  We think it was pre-existing, but we can not do anything with it until after we compete in the NEAT Rally competition next week at the NCCAR facility in Roanoke Rapids, NC. We think it may be a synchronizer, but will not know until the transmission is removed and taken apart.  We only hope it hold out until after the NEAT Rally.

Battery problem!

On a routine check of the batteries in the truck, we discovered a slight problem.  The students had learned how to use a refractometer to check the specific gravity of the lead acid cells to determine the state of each cell in comparison to the rest of the pack.  The results found the 14 month old US Battery US145xc batteries were within a few tenths of each other except for one cell was considerably lower than the rest.  Upon checking it out further, we noticed the water level was lower as well, even though we had topped them off the day before.  We also noticed that there was a considerable amount of oxidation underneath the battery box below where the battery in question was.

  We removed the battery to find that it had been leaking around the side seal near the top of the battery.  We contacted Fred Wehmeyer at US Batteries and he suggested we try to fix the leak by melting the side where the seal was broken, and if that did not work, he would try to get the battery replaced under warranty since it had been leaking since the day we installed them.  The fix did not work, so Fred contacted Larry at Battery Specialists in Greenville, SC, a distributor, and arranged for us to have the battery replaced.  Larry assured us that we would have the battery before our event on November 4th!  Stay tuned.

Leading the homecoming parade

What has become a tradition at Topsail is just another way to spread EV awareness.  Each year the THS EV Team leads the way for the homecoming court around the football stadium at halftime.  We were only able to drive the Ranger since the Warp 9 motor has been sent off for repair.

Removing Warp 9 motor for repair

Wouldn't you know it, our MR2 motor has developed a very rare problem.  The balancing putty has broken off the armature and in turn has created a bad vibration within the motor.  Supposedly, this only happens if the motor has turned over 9000 RPM's.  Not likely this has happened, but nonetheless, NetGain is repairing the motor for free.  This week, we removed the motor in the MR2 and shipped it off to Warfield Electric for repair.  Of course, we have a competition November 3rd, so hopefully we will have the motor back in time to install before then.