Open Source Civic EV Kit

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Reusing the Power Steering Reservoir

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Remember how we talked about making the power-steering into manual awhile ago? We still have some hydraulic tubes coming out of the power steering valve that need something done with them. I spent a few hours trying to figure out if I could use the existing power steering reservoir and tubing to get the same function.

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Fixing the Batmon Resistors

Open Source Civic EV Kit

x3" rectangles of aluminum and bolted some beefier power resistors to them. Here's the rectangle of aluminum with the larger power resistors. I'm hoping this system has much more thermal mass than the last one and can dissipate more power safely. Here's the old power resistor setup. Here's the replacement setup.

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Making a Blank Slate

Open Source Civic EV Kit

With things cleaned up, I started to work on figuring out the power steering system. After reading up much on the internet and studying the Helms manual, I tried the following trick: The left-over power steering fluid reservoir has three hose connection points on it. Here's a picture of the carnage and removed guts.

Engine 100
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Hoisting Out the Engine

Open Source Civic EV Kit

Here's the start of removing the power-steering system. The Helms manual has you drain the power steering fluid by running the engine with one of the hoses in a bucket. Since I got rid of the power steering pump, reservoir and lines, I have to figure out what to do with the power steering rack. Wait a minute!

Engine 100
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Time to Get a Larger Hammer

Open Source Civic EV Kit

After showing the system to the power supply EEs at work, they told me that any FET in a TO-220 case like the one I had would not handle a constant 8-amps for a long time. If you can lower the resistance by half, the power dissipation goes down by a factor of four.

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Range Anxiety

Open Source Civic EV Kit

If I force myself to stay under 55 miles an hour at all times and use hypermiling techniques as much as possible, I don't lose power near the end of my commute, but as temperatures drop, I fear that I won't even be able to even get to work. This is the classic problem with electric vehicles: range anxiety.

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EV Awareness Day, Synkro faults

Open Source Civic EV Kit

I gave a press event with the Mayor Sam Adams and two VPs from local power companies (PGE and Pacific Power). Yesterday was our local EV organization's big annual event called EV Awareness Day. We held it at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. Here I am with the Tesla Roadster.

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