New Owner - Ben got an iMiEV - Again!

[Pier]

What's snow?

Poor people who don't know about snow. . It is so nice. Right now, I am back from 10km cross country skying in this white stuff. What a pleasure ! So nice to have 2 countrys to live in : cold winter and hot summer. Please don't offer me your bungalow in Phoenix !! :lol:

Pier in a nice white cold I-Miev

 

[Don]

We have literally hundreds of Canadians down here on the Gulf Coast right now, many of them playing golf instead of skiing. They interviewed a few of them on the TV news last night and they said "We live about 150 miles north of Montreal where it's probably 15 or 20 degrees below zero right now and we're thoroughly enjoying golfing on your 60 degree afternoons!"

Don

 

[Phximiev]

Speaking of snow and Route 66, for those who intend to try the route, 'Bearizona' received quite a bit of snow as a result of the El Ninos, which we enjoyed last weekend (snow is really a strange experience for a Phoenician - think Sun Devils!). Here's a recent video of the bears in the snow:

http://youtu.be/uWblNbrBhxQ

And a video of Bearizona in general:

http://youtu.be/fzq17_ydRSM

Again, if you intend to try an iMiev on Route 66, Bearizona is right on the route at the Intersection of Hiway 40 and just east of Williams.

Plus, from Flagstaff to Williams, it should be easy, as it's all down hill. The remainder of the route, as described in other posts on this site, is a different question altogether.

 

[tigger19687]

I wouldn't mind Rt 66 in a Tesla

 

[databeestje]

I really like the video Ben did, he has a bit more time apparently to make a nice production out of it.

When you want to get under the floor mat you need to pull up from the front of the sill, the rear has hooks. It's just a basic clamp so there isn't much that can go wrong here.

The front plastic cover has a plastic nut with a flat head tip, just keep turning left, it has thread.

When you get that off you can peel the carpet back, it should give you enough room to fit another sheet of insulation beneath it. I've opted for some thin reflective insulation, but without anything that produces heat, like a seat heater pad, it's as cold as before.

The left foot rest is a styrofoam block, but since your foot generates almost no heat by itself and it's furthest away from the vent it will turn cold. If the vent would have exited at the door instead of the center console it would have a bigger effect. Now that I think of it, that would be a pretty cheap fix, a small hose or pipe to direct air along the outer left side. Need to find some bendable 40 or 50mm air circulation hose to try that out. I can probably 3D print a square to round adapter too.

 

[tigger19687]

What is under that Styrofoam block ?
I would love to have a flat area there, or at least a smaller lump. I have a tendency to push hard on my left foot. Not sure why, just do. Would hate to smush that block.

 

[PV1]

Would hate to smush that block.

I doubt you will. I get spirited with good music playing and hit my heel pretty hard on the block with the beat of the song (hard enough to shake the car :lol: ) and haven't noticed any dent yet. It's bare metal underneath of it with the tire just on the other side of the metal :? .

 

[bennelson]

Thanks for the carpet photos!

I was at a great store today that I haven't been to in a long time. It's called American Science and Surplus, and it's exactly what you think it is. I was looking for a specific item in the store, but on my way out, I think I stumbled on the fuel tank for my ethanol fuel-burner!

I was looking for a tank that would fit under the hood. HDPE plastic would be fine, but stainless steel is even better. I was even looking for a two-quart capacity!

Yes, it's a comically large flask. For somebody else, it's a good joke about booze.

For me, it's a fuel tank..... AND a good joke about booze.

 

[databeestje]

1/2 a gallon isn't bad, that's 1.9 Liters.

Meanwhile, it looks like the "winter" here is on it's way out, it hasn't been colder then -5C. And after this weekend it's 5 to 10 degrees C again.

Something else I've discovered, my 2010 doesn't have snow flake symbol. I'm pretty sure there is supposed to be a temperature sensor for that, but cycling through the display doesn't show me outside temperature either.

I've ordered a small digital clock with amber backlight and a temperature sensor to install into the car. I think just above the rear view mirror is sufficiently out of way to distract. Not sure if I have 12 Volt power there that is switched by ignition though, the outside temperature sensor can probably go into a side mirror if I can get the wire through.

 

[jray3]

I was at a great store today that I haven't been to in a long time. It's called American Science and Surplus, and it's exactly what you think it is.
For me, it's a fuel tank..... AND a good joke about booze.

Ben, I'm jealous that you live in range of AS&S! Their printed catalog is excellent restroom reading...

http://www.sciplus.com/

 

[PV1]

I think just above the rear view mirror is sufficiently out of way to distract. Not sure if I have 12 Volt power there that is switched by ignition though, the outside temperature sensor can probably go into a side mirror if I can get the wire through.

There is constant 12 volt power available at the dome light if you feel adventurous. The thing to watch about running wires down the pillars are any airbags, though I don't think there are pillar airbags, only side curtains.

 

[bennelson]

Well, I did it. I installed a fuel-burning heater in my electric car.

I've been posting about it in the "Upgrading the Heater system" thread. [url]http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1248[/url]

I did it over the better part of a week, as I could, depending on my schedule and what the weather was. Temperatures lately have been anywhere between 0-18 degrees Fahrenheit. (-18 to -7C) I've tried working on the car when the sun would come out. It's pretty amazing the difference in heat when you can be in the sun and out of the wind, even on a very cold day.

Overall, the installation was pretty straight-forward, other than the fact that I've never done anything like it before. Mostly, it was nuts and bolts, connecting hoses and tightening hose clamps, running wires, and zip-tying things in place.

I wasn't able to find a correct sized/affordable fuel tank locally, so I mail-ordered a one-liter tank, as might be used on a mini-bike or small go-cart.

I have a complete series of videos on the installation on my fuel economy blog at: http://300mpg.org/imiev-heater-installation/

See all the videos and more photos at: http://300mpg.org/imiev-heater-installation/

 

[Lic]

I figured that the power savings would be SO MINIMAL that I didn't even bother to do one. Just for fun, let's do it right now!

The normal license plate bulbs are 5 watt bulbs.
The new ones are 220ma. 22ma at 12V is 2.64 watts. So, not a huge savings The LEDs are slightly less than twice as efficient as the incandescent bulbs.

It is not true. As I can see you are used leds with canbus resistor, it means that led has resistor which is shorting power to increase consumption and to prevent canbus error apear, because system checking bulbs by consumption. If consumption is low it thinks that bulb died and shows error. So led with canbus resistor shows consumption very close to bulb consumption. I used led without canbus resistor and my leds shows 50ma curent (0.6Wt).

 

[JoeS]

...As I can see you are used leds with canbus resistor, it means that led has resistor which is shorting power to increase consumption...

Lic, would you mind educating us? Where exactly is the resistor? For my DRL LEDs, I simply measured the input current and saw 0.2A for the LED instead of 1A for the incandescent bulb.

 

[jsantala]

Let's get to the bottom of this.

New vehicles monitor light bulbs. They do this by measuring their resistance. If there is none or close to none, the bulb must be out and an error is flagged.

If you change to LED lights that don't take this into consideration, the car may raise an error, because a LED will not have the same resistance as a traditional bulb.

To get around this, they put in a resistor parallel to the LED, which will increase the resistance so that the car think there's a normal buld in there. They mark them as "CANbus".

It doesn't really have anything to do with the CAN bus. It's just that a lot of cars that have the feature also have CAN bus, so it's to make things easier to understand. If you have a car which has a CAN bus, you might need LEDs which are marked "CANbus".

Having an extra resistor means that the "CANbus" LED will draw more current than the LED would alone. That extra current is turned into heat. This means that a "CANbus" LED will consume more power than just a LED.

Whether that little extra resistance actually makes a difference is another thing. For a small buld it might be next to nothing. For a big bulb which the car expects to blow 55W or so, you need a big resistor to mimick a bulb, if you have a LED instead. Then you'll use more power as well.

That's how I've understood it anyway, correct me if I'm wrong.

If you actually measure the "CANbus" LED you will get the actual power consumption of the thing, including the resistor. If it's less than a normal bulb, then it will consume less power.

 

[JoeS]

jsantala, thank you for your detailed explanation. While I fully understand the technical aspects, I was confused as to exactly how one could distinguish between the two LED lights Ben was showing in this photo, as it wasn't obvious to me which one had the resistor:

What I missed was Ben's reference to the CANbus label on the light.

 

[kiev]

Funny and sad moments at the same time, only Ben can appreciate the depths of despair...

Flooded Tesla Repair: How to

 

[bennelson]

Thanks, Kenny, that actually DID make me literally laugh out loud.

 

[bennelson]

I enjoyed your videos, but couldn't help notice on your last video that you had a big crack in your garage floor.

My ENTIRE GARAGE is nothing but big cracks. My next big project is to rebuild the garage.
My house is smaller than average and has no basement (unlike ALL other houses in my area) and minimal storage space. I'll be rebuilding the garage to include additional work space, "house-like" insulation, and hydronic heat in the floor.

On the roof will be 5kW of photovoltaic solar panels. I've run the numbers, and that should be just about right for powering the electrical needs of my house AND powering an electric car on average, every month, year-round.

For those wondering, using solar electric energy to power an electric car INSTEAD of buying gasoline brings down the financial R.O.I. of purchasing solar panels to about 4 years.

Think about that. Buy solar panels now. Have them pay for themselves in 4 years, and have free electricity and no need for gasoline for the rest of your life.

Cool stuff.

 

[Aerowhatt]

On the roof will be 5kW of photovoltaic solar panels. I've run the numbers, and that should be just about right for powering the electrical needs of my house AND powering an electric car on average, every month, year-round.

For those wondering, using solar electric energy to power an electric car INSTEAD of buying gasoline brings down the financial R.O.I. of purchasing solar panels to about 4 years.

Think about that. Buy solar panels now. Have them pay for themselves in 4 years, and have free electricity and no need for gasoline for the rest of your life.

Cool stuff.

I see a number of perspectives for calculating this. I'm not doubting your conclusion whatsoever. I am just curious at how you approached it?

Aerowhatt