Friday, August 9, 2019

Summary of Changes over the last year

  1. Rear Subframe - This resolved the concerns from the heavily rusted, 40 year rear frame.
  2. Dampers - GAZ shocks for lowered models from MiniSport.  Noticeable improvement in the ride.
  3. Walnut Dashboard with round digital dashboard to match center console speedo.  This also involved replacing the CAN-BUS transceiver from the Serial Can-Bus device.  With the new transceiver, the system is using the built-in CAN-BUS feature of the DUE.  Still having intermittent CANBUS dropouts/loss of communications.
  4. Interior Door Trim - the plastic window roll-down handles broke, so this led to replacing all of the handles with bright alloy versions.  7ENT.COM
  5. Diagonal Tie Rods Link - The old ones were bent and in need of replacement.
  6. Speedometer Cable - The probably 40 year-old one broke due to tight routing. The new one resulted in a much smoother speedometer needle.  Before breaking, the needle always bounced at low-speeds, and now it just moves smoothly.
  7. Cooling fans for the Controller - The controller was overheating and self-limiting motor current once it got above about 60C.  Two 12v 5" box fans under the controller keep it in the 50C range over long runs with heavy braking.
  8. GreenBikeKit Battery Monitor - This was the end of the CellLog monitors which served Jane well.  The GreenBikeKit 26S BMS is a integrated and programmable system.  A new Arduino communicates over the serial port to the BMS to monitor cell voltages, terminate charge, and drive an audible & visual alarm for over & under voltage conditions.  The BMS also provides charge termination based on two different mechanisms, providing additional protections.  This brings the Arduino count up to 3 for the car.  

KLS72701-8080i Controller Serial USB Communication

Ran into a problem that the controller stopped communicating with the PC Configuration program over the Serial-RS232-USB connection.  The Kelly PC App Reported, no connector or power.

Saw this post on Endless Sphere

In summary - I ran a separate 12v supply to the SM-4P 12v line and cut the 12v coming from the controller (red wire) to the SM-4P connector.

This resolved the issue. The PC still only connects about 30% of the time but once it is connected, I can power cycle the controller without exiting the PC app and the App reconnects (on the Monitor Screen) reliably.

Finally, did some adjusting for Ki Kp SpeedTorque settings to try to squeeze out a bit more performance.