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.

Homecoming 2010

The electric Ranger and Mr2 led the homecoming parade at halftime Saturday night.  Also, we had a member of the homecoming court ride in our electric Miata.  I think this would be the first time an electric vehicle was used by a student on a homecoming court!  We were also selling raffle tickets at the game.  Make sure you contact us if you would like to purchase them.  1 for $5 or 3 for $10.

Classy Chassis car show at Poplar Grove

We took the opportunity to show the truck at the Classy Chassis car show at Poplar Grove today.  The car is out of order right now awaiting a new motor, so we just showed the truck.  There were almost 200 cars there, mostly classic pre-1980 cars, so the attendance and exposure were great.  It was hot and muggy, but still great to get out and allow the students to display the truck and gain experience in showing the public our program.

  Thanks to Sean, Stephen, Tony, Kevin, Marissa and Zach for showing up and helping to promote our program.

p.s That red 1961 Bug belongs to Mr Garrett.  We should convert it to EV!

News story on local station WECT TV 6 wilmington

WECT story on Topsail EV program

Extreme Makeover, Electric Edition!

Seems like a good time to show the before and after pictures of our newest conversion.  There is some confusion about this truck.  First of all, it is a new conversion.  This truck is not the old Ranger without stickers, we sold that truck last spring.  Yep, "Roscoe" is a newly converted 2001 Ford Ranger Edge.

Below is a picture of our previous 1996 Ranger we owned for 8 years.

Seven time National Champions!

The EV class traveled to Raleigh this weekend and emerged victorious again.  We collected 11 trophies including first and third overall.  This was the seventh year in a row that we have won first overall in the SMARTT Challenge competition against high schools from as far away as Iowa and Miami.
  The new Ford Ranger conversion took top honors.  We finished the truck just two days before the competition and really felt this was our best effort to date.  Being our fifth conversion, we used our knowledge from the past to help us to make the very best conversion we could do with the budget we had.  All of our hard work paid off with a $1000 check for first place!
  The Toyota MR2 placed third and brought home first place in the Autocross competition, a feat we had not yet achieved. We also earned $500 for third place

Our Overall trophies were:  
1st Overall (Ranger truck
3rd Overall (MR2)
2nd School initiative

1st Website

Our Truck team:
1st Range (Josh Parmeley, Jeff Harris)  53 miles
3rd Troubleshooting (Josh Parmeley, Ryan Stone)
3rd Oral presentation (Aaron Hackett, Sean Bullock)
1st Vehicle Design
2nd Autocross (Ryan Stone, Josh Parmeley, Aaron Hackett)

Our MR2 team:
1st Range (Aaron Hackett, Marissa Ruehle) 32 miles, could have gone 50, but we had already won)
6th Troubleshooting (Ashley Counts, Dakota Adcock)
4th Oral presentation (Arik Jones, Adam Markley)
4th Vehicle Design
1st Autocross (Dakota Adcock)

Its' alive!!

"Roscoe" the Ford Ranger electric conversion rolled out of the garage on its' own today for the first time.  Plenty of tweaking to do before the final event competition this weekend.  Details to come, stay tuned.

Open house and raffle drawing

Today, we held our first ever open house for the EV program.  The turn-out was more than we expected.  Many students, parents and interested community members showed up to inquire about the vehicles and also to watch as we drew for the fundraising raffle.  Several of our sponsors made an appearance, including Mrs.Castoro of Hampstead Furniture and Ms.Adcock of Modren Woodmen. There were speeches from both showing just how valuable the community is to our program, We couldn't do it without you guys!

Saturday battery install

This morning, five students got up early in order to get a bit ahead on the Ranger conversion.  It is definitely crunch time and every bit of time we can spend on the truck is that much closer we are to the goal of completion with a truck entry at the SMARTT Challenge final event on May 14th.  Several items needed to be done in order to install the batteries so everyone jumped in and worked as a team to get the job done.  The front battery box was installed, foam insulation was measured, cut and installed and finally, the batteries were lowered into place.  Everything went perfectly and now, let the wiring begin!

Rhino Liner

We had a great experience with Doug at Rhino Linings of Jacksonville on Friday.  We had the opportunity not only to get the bed of the Ranger coated, but to actually do most of the work!  Doug explained to us the chemical properties of the liner and also the fact that it cures in 8 seconds!  After prepping the truck bed, Aaron got the opportunity to practice before spraying our truck.  We rolled the truck in the spray booth and the coating began.  A short time and three coats later, the truck emerged with a beautiful hard finish.  Thanks to Doug for his time and training.

We have Power...steering that is.

Dakota finished mounting the power steering pump today.  All we have to do is plumb and wire it up for 12 volt operation.  Since we removed the gas engine and all components, the power steering had to be revisited.  We bought a 12 volt pump out of an MR2 that should do the trick.  The only issue we will have is the current draw can be as high as 75 amps, so we need to design a circuit to limit the current draw under certain circumstances so as not to tax our DC/DC converter.

We have batteries!

Our batteries were delivered today.  We are breaking from tradition this year and will be using US Batteries instead of Trojan batteries.  The Trojan representative never returned our seven messages therefore we decided to go with a manufacturer that would provide us with a quality USA made battery and excellent customer service.  The US 145XC specs out exactly like the Trojan T-145 we have used in the past, they look great too!

The transplant is a success!

Today we installed the WARP 9 electric motor by attaching it to the Ford transmission. The coupler went on the transmission shaft as smooth as silk. We bolted the adapter plate to the transmission and ran the motor with 12 volts to see if all was well. If there were any problems, the motor would vibrate or the transmission would not rotate the rear wheels when in gear. Everything was fine and so we began the process of attaching the clamp motor mount to the frame of the truck.  Our battery boxes and batteries should be delivered today, so keep in touch!

Wheels!

We bought wheels for the truck this week. Richard at Midway Tire was able to get them for us at his cost, plus he donated the tires for free. Thank you Richard!! We mounted the wheels and tires on the truck just to see how they look and the response is mixed. Some love them and others think the truck looks "thug". Well, when all is said and done, and the truck is lowered down a few inches, it will look just fine. Let us know what you think. Like them or not, they are staying!

Putting it all back together

With the truck back from paint, we need to concentrate on getting everything put back together, painting the unfinished areas and also cleaning the over spray. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there!

Tasks needed for completion include, mounting motor, making battery boxes, installing control board and components and installing batteries. We are still waiting on our controller, which has been delayed due to manufacturing issues, so hopefully we will actually have a controller before the final competition in Raleigh.

Bed prep and hinge

Yesterday we took the bed off the truck and prepared it for the Herculiner bed lining. The bed was also hinged for easy access to the batteries. With the some extra room under the bed now, we are now designing battery boxes for optimum placement and drawing the designs as a solid model on Inventor to determine where to place battery boxes. We are planning to have the bed raised by a linear actuator if we can determine the correct geometry.

Out with old, in with the new

Eariler this week, we recieved our new adapter plate and motor mount for the truck . We have taken the coupler design to be machined at a local machine shop, Atlantic Tool and Die Company in Hampstead. They will be making revisions to an older design we had from a previous conversion, and creating a new coupler to fit our Ranger transmission.

We also had to grind off an inch and a half of the input shaft of the transmission so the electric motor shaft would clear the input shaft when the motor and tranny were attached. It really made sparks fly!

Truck and transmission back from blasting

We got the truck back from getting a blast from the past. The transmission and drive shaft were bead blasted and the truck rails were also blasted in preparation for painting. The engine compartment was pressure washed to remove all of the oil and grease build-up that had occurred over the past 9 years of driving. We now can begin designing the battery box and engine compartment control board.

Slimmer and trimmer

The truck has lost some weight this week with the removal of the V6 engine. We had an initial weight of 3247 pounds. We removed the unnecessary components such as the engine, gas tank, radiators and hoses, leaving it at a svelte 2460 pounds! Dropping the 800 pounds will be a good thing as we begin the conversion and put back approximately 1400 pounds. We need to stay below the gross 4600 pound vehicle weight to avoid disqualification. We should be fine, but the lighter the better!

Sparks flying!

The first challenge we face in terms of design, is the rear battery box. Structurally, the frame rails and cross members provide stability and rigidity for the rear suspension. The only issue we have is the factory placement of the cross members are not conducive to battery box placement. Without removing the braces, we will have very limited space for our 12 batteries under the bed. We decided to remove the braces and replace them with straight bar to provide the support for our battery boxes. Today, we began the removal process by grinding the rivets. Let the sparks fly!