Yet Another Fifteen Minutes of Fame

 In mid January, I was interviewed by revdup.life and the finished video and blog were posted in May.

We started in masks and quickly decided that it would be easier to understand if we dispensed with the face coverings. Revdup.life is telling the stories of people like myself who don't necessarily fit the stereotype of liberal tree-hugging green activists that are often associated with electric vehicles. While concern for Mother Earth certainly plays a role in the lives of many who advocate for clean electric vehicles, there is another group of people who don't just talk about it. We sweep out a corner of the garage and actually build something. And we discover the dirty little secret that the greenies can't comprehend: these things are FUN to drive!

I hope you enjoy this show and tell.

Brain Transplant

 

After the physical installation of the Scott Drive SD100, what remained was the configuration and customization. I had hoped that Jack Rickard had it dialed in with the correct parameters for the Siemens motor, but no ...

I found that while EV West no longer carried the Scott Drive controller, they still had the software and user manual available for download (they've since taken it down). I loaded the control software and established the communications link from my laptop computer to the controller. So far so good. Then I made the fatal mistake of updating the firmware. That locked the controller up tighter than a drum and broke the communication link. What now?

My friend Ed Clausen had successfully upgraded his BMW from its original DMOC to a Scott Drive, so we compared notes and figured I had uploaded incompatible firmware. He suggested that I contact Dr. Scott Osborne, the developer and principal of Scott Drive, directly for help.

Scott immediately surmised that I had overwritten an EEPROM on the system board. He could send me a new one, but for less than the price of shipping I could buy an EEPROM programmer and flash it myself and avoid transit time as well. Amazon delivered my new EEPROM programmer the next day and after a typically interesting time finding and downloading the associated software I climbed the steep learning curve to become a barely competent EEPROM programmer.

First I had to remove the top housing from the controller. Happily it was well designed for servicing and could be removed without uninstalling the whole controller.

Let there be no confusion over the fact that electric vehicles are actually just big computers with wheels attached. I still had an old chip puller from my IBM Systems Engineer days, so getting the chip out and flashed was no problem.

Scott sent a new level of firmware for my old controller and it updated successfully. When I started to set the configuration, it was clear that the values were way out of range and pretty much random. Scott offered to do a remote link to my laptop from New Zealand and he saw that there were some issues with the firmware, so we'd need to give it another try after he debugged some of the code. Scott had to set up an old controller to test his firmware changes, then sent a new file, set up another remote session and dialed in all the configuration values. A quick drive around the block confirmed it was working well. I'll be fine tuning things for a while, but first impressions are that the Scott Drive is smoother than the DMOC and seems at least as good in torque and regenerative braking. I'll shoot a new drive around video, so stay tuned ...

I must say that Scott was very responsive, given the time zone thing. I've done remote support, but never from halfway around the world. He had every right to tell me to get lost since I bought a seven year old used product that is by now lacking the improvements in the current model, but he was very helpful, even spending weekend time to set up an old controller so he could test his changes to the firmware. Many thanks to Scott for excellent customer service, a real class act!

May 6 Update:

Today's ambient temperature was 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30C), so I ran some errands this afternoon totaling around 10 miles with two stops along the way. The internal temperature inside the car parked in the sunny parking lot reached 110 degrees (43.3C) so I'm guessing it was at least that under the hood. That would certainly put the old DMOC inverter into thermal limiting making me crawl home as a moving roadblock. Not so today! The Porsche ran the same throughout the trip which leads me to declare victory. Obviously I also need to do an extended run at highway speeds to verify, but I'm a happy camper. Still some fine tuning to do, but it looks like the Scott Drive has met my prime objective of making the Porsche a year round every day driver.

Heart Transplant

 If you've followed the evolution of the Porsche EV, you're probably aware of the cooling issues I had with the DMOC 645 inverter. Literally since day one, it would drastically limit current whenever the ambient temperature was over 90 degrees F, which is most of the summer and fall here in Austin. Winter and spring the car ran great, summer it was undriveable, moving away from stop lights at a snail's pace. I complained about it in my test drive video. Clip ends at around 12:02.

I've revamped the cooling system and added capacity on several occasions without success, and decided that if the car was to be a year round driver some drastic steps would be needed. After Jack Rickard passed away, I was randomly watching old EVTV videos and ran across one from 2014 where he was planning to test a brand new Scott Drive SD100 with a Siemens motor like mine, replacing the DMOC Inverter and GEVCU controller. Clip ends around 1:31:13.

Tagged and ready to ship from EVTV

After a little research on the Scott Drive, it looked like a nice replacement for my dodgy DMOC. It was developed and manufactured in New Zealand but EV parts dealers in the US didn't carry it. Guessing that the shipping on a new one from half a world away would be prohibitive, I got in touch with Richard Flentge of EVTV to see if the one from the video might be available. Sure enough, it turned up in the shop and after the exchange of a couple DC/DC Converters and some $$$, it was on my workbench in October, 2020. 

Scott Drive on my workbench

I got the old DMOC and GEVCU removed and started working on the physical mounting for the new controller. 5/8" marine plywood will give a solid but slightly compliant platform with room for terminal blocks. Paint it black and it will disappear. I also took the opportunity to remove a bunch of old wiring and generally tidy up the under hood area. I'm quite pleased with the result.

The Scott Drive is a handsome piece of technology and looks like it was custom painted to match my motor bay. Part of the beauty is the integrated precharge circuit and contactor much like the Soliton1 controller in my MG TD. With integrated control electronics both the GEVCU and precharge modules are eliminated which makes for a much cleaner installation. Next we'll set the configuration, and that's a whole new adventure continued in the next post ...

Plague, Pestilence, and the Passing of an Icon

The last time I posted was way back in February, 2020 when I reported on the Fully Charged Live event. A short month after shaking hands and conversing at short range with 4000 people from around the world, the COVID-19 virus put that world into a state of suspended animation. Shelter-in-place orders, mandatory face masks and social distancing in public, school and business closings, and toilet paper hoarding became the new normal. 

Six months later ZOOM has replaced the classroom and conference room. Things have relaxed a bit with limited retail and restaurant openings, but all of the musical ensembles I play in have cancelled their fall seasons. Also cancelled is the Fall car show season that I look forward to every year. Not this year. With no place to go, my EVs are languishing in the garage with trickle chargers on their 12 volt batteries so they don't brick on me. National Drive Electric Week is supposed to be virtualized - don't see how that's gonna work.

Jack Rickard at the EVCCon 2012
awards banquet with his trademark
yellow Crocs and shop towel

Amid all this, we marked the passing of a guy who has been most influential in my EV journey. Jack Rickard passed away this week from lung cancer. 

Jack Rickard Obituary

I wanted to make the trip to Cape Girardeau, Missouri to pay my respects at his funeral Mass yesterday, but couldn't work it out. Happily, video of Jack's Mass and graveside service were posted for those of us who could not attend.

I discovered Jack's web site, EVTV.me, after I started my eBugeye conversion, and continued my build in parallel with his Porsche Speedster project, gathering a huge trove of insight and information through Jack's weekly videos. The eBugeye was finished just in time to take it on what became an annual pilgrimage to Jack's shop in Cape Girardeau. From 2011 to 2015 Jack sponsored and largely funded the EV Conversion Conference (EVCCON), a gathering of EV conversion guys who responded to Jack's challenge to sweep out a corner of the garage, build something, and change the world one car at a time. We all became fast friends in the process. 

This gathering of father-son teams at the 2012 EVCCON was a special moment. Jack said he had pictured 37 year old fathers bonding with their 17 year old sons through projects like this, but he never imagined it would be the 60 year old guys bringing their 80 year old Dads. We have lost several of the Dads from this group including my own, now Jack as well.

After recognizing the success of Tesla, Jack declared victory in the sphere of electric vehicles and moved on to battery backed up solar power. His skills as a visionary, coder, and entrepreneur applied to everything he touched.

My sincere condolences to Jill Rickard and the rest of the clan. Jack, thanks for the inspiration and practical insight. You have left behind an unforgettable body of work. Godspeed until we meet again on the other side.

Fully Charged Live!

The Fully Charged Youtube program came to Austin for a live event featuring presentations, panel discussions, displays, and vendors all focussed on electric vehicles and renewable energy. They booked the event center at the Circuit of the Americas race track south of the airport. The Electric Auto Association organized a display area for EV owners to show their cars and talk about the EV experience.

I brought my MG and Porsche conversions, but needed to rent a U-Haul auto transport to get them down there and back home again. The comfortable range on both cars is about ten miles short of a round trip. My son loaned me his Jeep as a tow vehicle and it all went like clockwork. Thanks, Freddy!

Here we are all set up and ready for the show to start. My friend Stan Cloyd drove his Tesla Model 3 in from Phoenix and stayed with us over the weekend. That's his blue Model 3 next to my Porsche. He has an insane sparky vinyl wrap that really makes his car stand out.




We had two thirds of the non-commercial conversions in the show and judging by the constant stream of people, there is still interest in converting classics to electric power. The track was open for testing, and there was constant roar from the racers. It made conversation a bit of a challenge, but I printed up spec sheets and flyers on both cars so I didn't have to explain the basics.

My friends Marc Davis of Moment Motors and Michael Bream of EV West had professional conversions on display in the vendor area.

Moment Motors had a number of beautiful conversions on display

Gorgeous Cobra Replica with dual Hyper9
motors from Moment Motors

Awesome Porsche conversion from EV West

I got to say hello and shake hands with Robert Llewellyn, host of Fully Charged, during the setup day. We met in front of the Rivian display where he was posing with their new EV pickup/SUV. Unfortunately, he was under the weather and flew back to the UK that night, missing most of his own event. Hope he's feeling better soon. Despite his illness, he was very gracious and friendly.

The show opened at 10:00am on Saturday and people were lining up for admission an hour before. I heard that the show was sold out with around 4000 attendees. Pretty good for the inaugural event on this side of the Atlantic.





The presentations inside the conference center were packed and live streamed on Youtube.



The crowds outside were equally healthy. This is the Rivian display.



In the conference hall was a Porsche Taycan Turbo. It's a breathtaking work of automotive art.



Also indoors was a very rare GM EV1, the car immortalized in the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" This one is an inoperable model on loan from a museum.



Audi had number of their new e-tron models available for rides, as did Chevy with a fleet of Bolts.

The Electric Auto Association also organized ride-alongs with private owners, as well as a shuttle service to move attendees from the parking lots to the conference center. The ride-along and shuttle volunteers were mostly Tesla folks, so the silence of that operation was in stark contrast to the noise on the track.

The weather was spectacular all weekend and the event organization was first rate. I was happy to contribute in a small way and hope this becomes a recurring event. I had a great time!

I was so busy that I didn't get a lot of photos, so many of the pictures on this page were borrowed from Robert Llewellyn's Twitter feed. Thanks Robert, wonderful show!

It's Showtime!

It's that time of year again for cooling temperatures (Low 90's!), autumn leaves (I wish!), and best of all CAR SHOWS! Three in row this year, all in the space of a month: three different  points of emphasis, three different venues, three different kinds of cars, three different sets of really nice people.

I decided this year to show the MG TD replica at all three events. The Porsche is a far more sophisticated build and way more useful as a means of conveyance, but just not that interesting to the casual observer. The MG is a basic and rudimentary EV conversion, but attracts all kinds of attention with its vintage style and classic good looks.

The first show was the EV Expo hosted by Smart Charge America, capping off National Drive Electric Week September 14, 2019. 

Amidst a gaggle of Teslas, Leafs, and BMWs, a Jaguar and a Kia were these three EV conversions. Along side my MG were two customer cars from Moment Motor Company in Austin. Marc Davis is the owner and founder of Moment Motors and he brought an Austin Mini and a Porsche 911, both beautifully finished.

The event was covered by the Austin American-Statesman local newspaper and their photo essay is here. The photographer got some very interesting shots, so please have a look.

Next up was the 29th annual Texas All British Car Day at Centennial Plaza in Round Rock on September 29. Among blue-blood classic British vehicles, I was once again relegated to the "Special Interest" class. V8 powered MGB's and a very interesting Morris Minor pickup truck made up the rest of the class. It was a very beautiful Sunday and I had a great time visiting with all the British car enthusiasts. Sad to hear next year may be the last for this event - we're all getting older and so have our cars. Seems that younger folk don't have quite the interest and enthusiasm we have, and the registrations have been shrinking over the last several years. 

Too bad, I have participated in this event many times over the years going back to my Bugeye days. Sorry to see it go ...

Finally, the IBM Austin On Display car show at the IBM campus on October 10. This event is part of the annual Employee Charitable Contribution campaign and attracts mostly retirees and their hobby cars. This 1988 Mazda RX7 was bought new and has only 16,000 miles on it. Behind it are some new-ish muscle cars and an American Motors AMX.





Eleven years after my retirement from IBM I'm seeing many fewer of my old comrades, but had a great time chatting with the new younger generation of IBMers. The business is in good hands, I think.




At least they voted the MG "Best In Show Classic" so they have good taste.

Rearranging the Deck Chairs

The AutoBlockAmp device that drove the ammeter and (intermittently) the fuel gauge on the evTD dashboard packed it in last Winter. I had been a beta tester for the developers at Rechargecar and I must have done a pretty lame job because the product never did get quite right even though they were selling and shipping it. Rechargecar is now out of business so a replacement is not in the cards. 

Happily, I had earlier found and installed a combination ammeter/voltmeter/state of charge display device to replace the JLD404. It also functionally replaced the ammeter and fuel gauge that were driven by the AutoBlockAmp, so when that failed I was in no hurry to deal with it. We've had a solid week of rain and I took that opportunity to remove the failed gauges and tidy up the basket of snakes behind the dash.

In the rush to completion in 2012, I had just loaded in the dashboard components and put a zip tie here and there to keep the stray wires out of sight. Not a pretty sight and not very maintainable, so this seemed like a good time to make order out of chaos.

Removing excess wire length and encasing everything in split loom makes a huge difference. No one will see it, but it will give me some peace of mind knowing that things are secure and not flopping around back there. I replaced the fuel gauge with a clock from Speedhut with the same face design as the other gauges, then promoted the combo volt/amp/SOC display from its separate bracket below the dash to cover the hole where I removed the old ammeter. It stands a bit above the dash surface, but puts that info in the line of sight. It's a departure from the vintage analog look I started with, but more useful.