Onca Onca is coming alive!

Its been some time since the last update.  Wow time flies.  But forget the small talk, lets get to the important details:

1. 3D Printed Hub Design
2. Mount Assembly
3. Remote Control
4. Solidworks 2013 Rant

The Hub

So, in my recent post, you saw a 3D printed hub.  Yea, cool for rapid prototyping, sure.  But I've sent off an updated version to shapeways.com for a black nylon printing.  According to Shapeways, its their strongest material...We will see how it holds up to the torque, but i'm actually not too concerned.  And best yea, the job was $30 each!  I could even sell it through them!  Pretty cool.   It arrives at my door, this Monday!  Here is the new drawing:

Motor Mount Assembly

Not too much to report here, other than the shop is in the process of building it.  I have updated it a bit since I last posted.  Note, i'm now bolting to two points on the truck, and have added support ribs to minimize flex.  Of course, this is mostly theoretical, although my initial rides gave me a lot to work off of.  When riding, and flex in the system will create slack on the chain and can easily lead to the chain coming off the gear.  But with these precision parts, I don't think i'll be having that issue much longer.

Here is that drawing:

The Remote

So, I know i reported that Onca Onca went wireless, but i've worked out all the major kinks, too.  If i do anything further, is just sugar on top (which i probably will).  So now that the wireless and electronics are worked out, i still need a case for the darn thing!  So i got working and here is where i'm at.  I left this in transparency, so you can see the internal details...darn thing is more than just a soap box, for sure.  There are a few parts not shown here, cause i haven't modeled them:  The Joystick, its PCB, connecting wires and external switch.  But in the very base is the Arduino fio with XBee stack and the mini usb port sticking out the bottom.  The block in the middle is the battery, and the posts will hold the joystick.

SolidWorks 2013 Rant

I'm not sure where to start, here.  Many people know of SolidWorks.  If a staple software suite in the 3D community.  There are a few (really bad) free applications out there, but they're pretty much useless for anything beyond a simple sketch.  SolidWorks, as an application is really great.  But my experience with their "Authorized Dealer" CADDEdge was just plain awful.

I'm just going to relay the story, for what it was, with some of my own $.02 mixed in there.

1. I went on the SolidWorks website, and found my way to a form they have titled: "Request a Trial."  So I filled it out, with a high hope that i'd be directed to a download page.  I wasn't.  I was prompted with a message that said a SW rep would contact me.
2. Fortunately, i was contacted.  I explained to the guy why he was in fact calling me, cause he didn't know.  He then told me that SolidWorks (Dassault), doesn't fulfill trials, that is done by their Authorized Dealers.  For my territory, the entire North East, that is CADDEdge.  So he gave my info to them, and said they would contact me.
3. I got an email from CADDEdge, offering me more info on 3D printers.  I emailed the bozo and had to explain to him why he, too, was contacting me.
4. I got a response that was essentially brushing me off and denied my request, for fear that i was only interested in finishing my project.
5. I responded with a big WTF.  I'm your next potential customer;  I want to try it on my primary computer's virtual machine, and make sure it runs smoothly.  Regardless of how much potential i had in buying it, i would never buy it without trying it first.  Especially in a virtualized environment.
6. The first bozo pawned me off to some other bozo who told me he'd give me a 15 day trial, if and only if i gave him my credit card info, and on the condition that if i didn't tell him otherwise, he would charge me for the full license at the end of the 15 days.
7. I thought about this for about a week.  Then one crisp morning, i wrote my first raging email.  I let them have it, and i copied their support department as well as SolidWorks support - to let them know what was going on with their Authorized Dealer (cause i would never authorized it, if i were them).
8. Within about 2 or 3 hours, i got a call from the Regional Rep, i think.  I apologized for my hash words, but expressed my frustration.  He almost conceded for the mistreatment from his co-workers, but didn't exactly want to let go of control.  After about a 30 minute phone call, our negotiation led to them giving me a free 15 day trial, under the condition that I would sit with one of THEIR support technicians, for 30min-2 hours, at a location of my choosing, to supervise the install and assist in giving me some quick tips!  I tried to refuse.  I tried really really hard.  I told him i didn't want to be babysat, and i found his demands flat out insulting.  I actually did refuse, but he was gonna back out, which left me with no choice, because they are the ONLY North East Dealer.  So, i said okay.  and we'd email the coordination of the rest.  But I got the DVD in the mail, and the serial.  And never scheduled a meeting.  Friggin bozos.  Bottom line, I would find any possible alternative to doing business with them.  But if it comes down to using SolidWorks or the other crap free software - use SolidWorks.

New Parts

It's been a little while since the last update. I've been keeping busy, trying to move along all these different aspects of the project. Some of the most visible headway has recently come to life!

Thanks to my roommate Steve Sorgenti, and the kind folks at Designspring Engineering, I have my first 3D printed part!

That is a hub, which mounts to the wheel, and on the shaft mounts a sprocket. This allows power to be transferred to the wheels. 

All in all the design came out perfectly, and it verifies almost all the other dimensions in my modeling, which means I'm almost ready to send it to the shop for production. But first I need to make a few more tweaks. 

Other than that, I'm working on some circuitry still, and waiting on components, but in the mean time, I've got wireless working perfectly up to its current max speed. I'm also about to file my complaint with the fairfield PD too.

Oh, did I mention the New York Times?  Well, they may be mentioning me some time very soon!

Onca Onca goes Wireless

Last night, this guys electric skateboard went wireless!  It was really exciting! The new joystick control is accurate, sensitive and the microprocessing is VERY responsive!

For those interested, I'm currently using 2 Arduino Fios, with the series 1 Xbee wireless chips, 1mW.  Connected to the transmitting fio is a joystick, identical to the orbital stick on a playstation remote. On the receiving end, I simply a taking the position of the joystick, forward or backward, and converting it to a corresponding PWM duty cycle on the proper DIO pin, which sends the signal to the motor controller accordingly.

Yea there is a little more to it than that, but for the time being that is the gist of it.  Once I finish the code and have it well tested, I'll share the code.

It's also not 100% done. I still had some funny business going on with the wireless braking, but I think it was just bad wires.  The code was doing what it should.  I'll vet it all out this weekend. Maybe I'll even get to post a few pictures.

Onca Onca update

Another productive weekend was had, considering how busy it was. Lots of accomplishments!

Success:
Sunday morning, I added a new gusset to the motor mount to support the torque of the motor under high load. This proved to be very efficient and I had much better success with the chain all day.

Success:
I also have brakes!  I added a momentary push button which activates a variable braking knob to dial in the braking rate.  Before testing, I was concerned that the braking power wouldn't be strong enough, but I sure was wrong. I can easily slow to a near stop, rolling down hill on a moderate grade.   So that was another big success.

Success:
Great wireless progress was made too!  After some trial and error, I finally got my wireless components talking to each other. Even better, I wired in my joystick controller and version 1 code, and it all functioned exactly as I intended!!

Taking what I learned in that test, I've written the receiver code too, but I need to work out a little circuitry before I get to testing it all for real. But we're getting close.

In an attempt to test my range, I thought I'd follow the coast;
Fail:
not more than 100 feet into fairfield, and I got pulled over by the fairfield police. The officer was extremely unruly, and didn't even ask what my ride was;  he simply asked where I was from, and promptly told me to go back to bridgeport. That my "vehicle" is not street legal, and if he saw me again in "this town" he would write me a "very expensive ticket."  Considering his arrogance, attitude and general hostility, I didn't argue. But I will be taking it up with his superiors.

I proceed back to black rock, and looped around St. Mary's a few more times, and then went home to re-read state laws on my ride. All in all I logged around 10 miles, with a max speed around 18, averaged 14mph.   Pretty cool!

Stay tuned. I'm sure more will be reviled. Particularly with the local authorities and on my wireless transmitter/receiver. For now, the prototype components are fine for test riding. I just want to get rid of the wires.

Project Onca Onca: The Electric Skateboard

 As some of you may have heard, I'm in the process of building an electric skateboard. Technically,  it's a motorized mountainboard, but if you don't know what that is, it's kinda like a long board with big tire wheels (8") and a motor on the back.

About 36" long, the current prototype moves at a top speed of 17.5 MPH for a calculated 40 miles!  I do, however, plan to cut that range in half, by adding some more power to the drive system  for faster up-hill acceleration.  But at this point I'm not sold on going much faster that this. At max speed, you are extremely challenged to keep the board from going into a speed wobble. I have adjustable trucks, which are as stiff as I'd like them right now.

Anyways, there a number of revisions to go through before I finalize the design and technical components. For now, I'm riding along and boy does it feel good!

Many thanks to Josh at Gnarboards for the inspiration for this project. The concept came to me, through the natural course of events, discussing hoverboards, Back to the Future and more.  But once i started researching the subject, I quickly found Josh's design, and had a great challenge before me.

I'd also like to thank all those who have helped me with design, parts, etc. Steve, Tom, Jon, cellman and A123, Exact Auto, BDI-USA and most of all, my girlfriend Nora, for listening, helping, supporting and putting up with all my crazy antics.

Stay tuned for updates, pictures, videos and more!

Thank you, Good Morning America

It was a pleasure to be a guest this morning on GMA.

A huge thanks, also to my sponsor, MXEnergy for helping to make this all happen. Without them, I could not have done it.

As I mentioned, learn more about my conversion here and see what else you can do!!!

Electric Vehicles 101

• Find a Qualified Technician to do your conversion
• Demand EV Production, not procrastination
• Talk to your Congressperson about their position on EV Production and the auto industry's resistance to change.
• Educate yourself on options and alternatives
• See what others are doing at evalbum.com
• Talk to experienced retrofitters at diyelectriccar.com
• Explore the options of current production EVs, NEV, and what is to come.

Read up on "How to Build an Electric Car" here.
Buzz About James and His Electric Car


Green Is Universal report on the MXenergy sponsored electric car

October 26, 2009 – NBC News 30
Fairfield man crafts a plug-in Toyota
By Michael C. Juliano
October 17, 2009 – The (Stamford) Advocate,
The Connecticut Post and The (Danbury) News-Times
To do his part for the environment, James Boncek of Fairfield has turned his 1993 Toyota Tercel into an all-electric vehicle with the help of Stamford-based power marketer MXenergy.


October 14, 2009 – The Fairfield Citizen 
Homemade electric car readies to ride
By Anthony Karge
For MXenergy, this was an educational opportunity. “There are no plans to go into electric car manufacturing,” said Paul Lavallee, marketing director of the company, who added, “It’s a means to educate consumers that it’s important to think of how electrical efficiency might fit into our future.”

Electric Vehicle Community Links
diyelectriccar.com
evalbum.com
www.eaaev.org - Electric Auto Association
Parts Websites
evsource.com - Great Parts and Quality Service. I purchased most of my parts from evsource.
evparts.com
www.electroauto.com

Nina is on the road! Here's the full story...

I’ve finally obtained my plates and have an official Electric Vehicle registration. I'm a bit speechless, but I think a real blog post is in order, as I’ve been biting my tongue for quite some time.

In short, there were a number of mishaps that made my registration process take an extremely long time. Additionally, there are a number of areas where the DMV in CT are ill equipped to handle Electric Vehicles. It all really boils down to the following:

1: The Requirements for Electric Vehicles are not properly distributed, communicated or trained to DMV staff.

2: The personnel responsible for handling Electric Vehicles is limited to ONE person, Lieutenant Frank Baio of the Bureau of Vehicle and Business Regulation, Commercial Vehicle Safety Division.

3: The State really has NO qualified inspectors, period.

As of today, 12/6/09, this is the most accurate CT Requirements for Electric Vehicles.

(Disclaimer: do your own research, until you get a definitive answer from a authoritative source, someone more informed than your DMV Manager. I take no responsibility, whatsoever.)

Here is the story as I’ve been telling it face-to-face, and holding off on posting till after my registration was complete...

A while back, shortly after I started building the car, I figured I should have an idea of what requirements I needed to meet in order to register the car in CT. So, I did some research online, found some documents pertaining to Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, and that was about it! So, I drove myself down to the local DMV branch (Bridgeport) and inquired in person. The information desk had no idea, and sent me over to the manager. The manager, had no confident idea, and went on her PC, looked it up on their website, and 5 minutes later, she came back and said it should be registered as a "Composite."

For those who don't know, Composite cars in CT, is a rather large group of vehicle. Really anything that isn't what it originally was: Kit cars, Hot Rods, Custom Cars, Modified Bodies, whatever. So, it made sense enough, and I went on building.

One of the unfortunate, mishaps in all this, is that between the time that I started and the time I finished, the DMV stopped requiring appointments for inspection, they actually disconnected the published line! So, when it came time, I towed my car up to Wethersfield, as I was directed (10/21). Upon my arrival, the conversation went something like this:

Inspector 1 (i1): Hey, what do you think that is?

Inspector 2 (i2): Think it’s a Composite?

i1: No, must be a Salvage.

ME: Nope, Electric.

i1: ELECTRIC! Oh, I can't inspect that! Harry used to inspect those. Can you look at that?

i2: NO! You need a Federally Certified Automotive Engineer! Harry was, but he retired. Frank will have to look at that now I guess.

i1: Yea, I guess, but, uh Frank is in a meeting. You'll have to come back....

Needless to say, I didn't leave just yet. I waited 2 hours for "Frank” AKA Lieutenant Baio, and happened to catch him in the Cafeteria finishing his lunch. LT Baio did apologize, and quickly offered to make the situation a bit more right, and offered to send a qualified inspector to my house to complete the inspection.

While I was waiting for LT Baio, Inspector 1 found a document, dated 1994, which was written by Harry, pertaining to the "Requirements for Electric and Hybrid-Electric Vehicles." Attached to the Requirements was a Memo and Inspection Points.

The Memo: Essentially, in 1994, a similar situation occurred, and the EV owner must not have been as understanding as I was. Regardless, Harry sent out this memo, attaching the Requirements and suggested full distribution of the document to prevent the situation from happening again. (I have re-requested this distribution).

The Requirements: Fortunately the requirements are not all that far fetched and I simply needed to make some minor adjustment to meet their demands. This, however, could have been a much greater issue if my plans were not so close, and I built the car under false direction from the DMV.

Anyways, I spent the next 7 days at work in the garage, my day job, and calling LT Baio’s “Direct Line.” Funny, that he used those words. This actually translates to: Direct line to the receptionist/secretary in the Communications Department. There used to be 2 receptionists, but due to recent budget cuts, they’re down to 1. More so, this direct line, I first thought no one answered. I tried calling at all hours and it would ring and ring. Eventually, I gave up and sent LT Baio a fax (10/28). In trying to follow up on the fax, I kept making calls, until on time, I forgot the phone was ringing, and I let it ring and ring and ring while I was working and eventually, someone picked up! I was caught a bit off guard but learned that the trick is to just let it ring.

So, I got through, and was sent to LT Baio’s Voicemail, however the receptionist did confirm receiving my fax and putting it on his desk. Painful, I know, but the process was long. I had gotten no response from the LT, and only to come to find out that he got the Flu. So, I asked for the next person in line, and I was transferred to Sergeant Franson. Franson didn’t have much he could do for me. First he told me to call back next week, and I did. The following week, I called back and he told me to call back, around this time next week!!! I say, NO WAY. Who’s LT Baio’s boss! I need to speak with him. He gave me the truly direct line of Chief Rio.

Chief Rio, although our conversations were brief, they were very productive. He couldn’t send out an inspector, but he was communicating with Frank while he was sick, and at the very least expedited the situation. Once Frank returned to work, a week and a half later, I had 1 conversation, where we clarified some inspection issues and he gave me 3 options:

A: I wait 2 or more weeks for him to send me an inspector

B: I higher an Automotive Engineer to do the inspection

C: I tow the car back up at an agreed upon time.

Now, yea, I could do any of these, great, but I couldn’t pick one that second. Would you believe it took another 7 days to get him on the phone? Finally, I got so tired of getting no response, I left a frustrated message with Chief Rio, and within an hour, LT Baio called me, and about 3 days after that, I had an inspector at my house (11/20).

The inspection was stupid simple, but practical. The inspector, Doug, was most interested in making sure my High Voltage was electrically isolated from the chassis. I showed him this by measuring voltage from the controller’s B+ and B- connection. According to Baio, it must read less than 12V. This was all by the direction of LT Baio. The inspector was not an Automotive Engineer, nor was he versed or trained in Electric Vehicles.

Now, to step back a second, back in October, I faxed a letter to LT Baio, in which I express concern of my Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). Did he press the issue, no! Was it an issue to finish the registration, yes. Very frustrating.

Anyways, because my GVW was 250lbs over the chassis GVWR, I had to lighten up and schedule a re-weighing in Wethersfield. At this point I’m communicating directly with Doug, who is a very nice man and continuously returns my calls.

Upon my second arrival at the DMV (12/4), it was pretty simple. I rolled over the scale, weighed in under weight, and went to LT Baio’s office area. He took the paper, signed off, and I proceeded to registration.

Now as far as the registration went, they had quite the hard time properly entering the information in the computer. More accurately, they couldn’t. Something to do with Number of Cylinders. No, but seriously, a computer issue pertaining to Class code or Subclass code, Fuel Type, and Number of Cylinders. So, my paperwork didn’t process immediately, as most registrations do, but will have to be filed in a more manual fashion.

And off I went…

Official!

I GOT MY PLATES!!! I now have an officially registered Electric Car!

WPKN

7pm tonight. WPKN radio.

Extra Extra!

Fairfield man crafts a plug-in Toyota

Extra Extra!

Today, the first press on my EV hit the streets with an article in the Fairfield Citizen. See below for the full article and stay tuned for more news...

Homemade electric car readies to ride

OMG!

SHE'S ALIVE!!!!! MY ELECTRIC CAR MOVES!!!!

The missing link!

I can't say I'm done....yet, but, I've very very close. Like 2 cables away, and I've already made them.

Today, I squared away most all the miscellaneous details that had been sitting: Rear Coil Springs, Transaxle oils, wire loom, etc.

The more major accomplishment of they day was making my final interconnect cables. Some of these are pictured, which connect between the back of the controller to the motor, contractor, and batteries. So all i really NEED to do, is connect the fuse, and +/- cables.

That is to make the car move! Before inspection, however, I will need to clean up a few things, reassemble the rear seat, install a vent, put lock washers on the battery connections, zip tie everything, and tidy up my OEM wire harness.

Check back soon for a video of my car's induction.

Danger, High Voltage!

This weekend was full of high power! Lots of work done, many connections made, and all of my components are mounted! There are a handful of connections left to make plus the installation of my rear coil springs:

On the topic of my rear springs, they've arrived. I can't recall if I blogged about it, but I ordered new springs to compensate for the additional weight of my batteries. And, although i'm yet to install them, I am very satisfied with the company overall: coilsprings.com

I was referred to them from another EV guy, Randy. So, i called them up and said:"Hey, I have a '93 Tercel and need to support an extra 900lbs in my trunk." Without a flinch, they replied "Okay, just give me the OEM part #s on the original springs, and we'll have them out to you in about 3 weeks." Even better, it only cost me about $250. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

This week, I'll be picking up a few extra feet of cable, calling the DMV, and renting a spring compressor. Ideally, next weekend, i'll be installing the springs and making my final connections. I may even drive by Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading.

Whose that guy

Not "That Guy", but I've gotten another sponsor: The Guy

"The Guy" AKA Christopher Schreiner, is looking for a nice set of wheel for my car. Much appreciated. Take a chance to buy his CD, see him live, or buy him a drink!

This weekend was a productive one. I finally carved out some time in the schedule to get stuff done on the car. Although I didn't know exactly what i was going to do when i started working Saturday morning, I soon work up, and got going...Coffee helps.

I began with what i had on hand, which was my Electric Vacuum Pump that had arrived this past week. After my coffee, i worked out where it was going to go, and proceeded to install it. In the process, I ran into the end of my heater core, which i new had to go, so I stopped installing the pump and began removing the heater core; If anyone has ANY expierence with these, you probably know that it is not the simplest of tasks. In a short matter of time (relatively speaking) I had the entire dashboard ripped apart, and I still scratching my head. Nonetheless, i managed to get the darn thing out. I promptly put it aside and continued to install the pump as i had originally intended. That pretty much wrapped up Saturday, aside from some evening pondering, on how I would complete the next few tasks, which brings us to Sunday:

I woke up with a plan: Coffee and breakfast, NAPA ( 4 ga. battery cable, fuse, terminal, etc), home depot ( 1.5" ID tubing 8 feet ), home + install. Unfortunately, NAPA didn't have all the cable i needed, but i got 10 feet insead of 30. The other 20 will be in on Tuesday. Anyways, i made a bunch of measurements. Connected some lugs on my long High Voltage leads, and proceeded to tackle the heater core. I fortunately found myself in the "Zone" and i was able to weld a pretty decent carrier for my new Ceramic heater core, which fits quite nicely. While i was welding, i figured i might as well go all the way, and i made 1 more battery tray for my accessory battery ( which i had much deliberation on. I didn't even really want to keep it, but there was no real reason to go buying some other battery. I had the space, i just needed to make it work. So i did. Still not 100% cool, but acceptable, more that it was.)

So there it is. I'm getting there. Not as fast as i had hoped, but getting there. If i find any time this week, i may actually have my full battery pack wired, and the car Hot! Whoa, that would be cool. I'm going to need to go back to ABCO for more 2/0 cable to make the final connection to the fuse, controller and motor. So, i'm not quite driving yet, but getting there...