Alfa Romeo Spider is home

Ran out to pickup the Alfa today. Got there around 10:30 am. Had to wait about 15 minutes then started loading the car. Noticed that there were batteries in the car as well. That was not mentioned when the ad was posted. Also included were 27 100ah Thundersky LiFePO4 cells with all connectors and main fuse and contactor for the controller. Also included was a new Zivian 96 Volt Lithium Charger. It is only a 120v charger and not a 240 but it was included. Totally unexpected. So with the batteries and and all the little components included this is pretty much ready to make any vehicle roll and no BMS. Im quite sure that this was purchased and started when Jack Rickard was first putting out videos of his electric cars and what he had for a vision of electric cars for the future. Things change but this was a good deal.

If you know where I can get 3 100ah Thundersky Cells let me know. I could use them.

Alfa Update

Update on the Motor/ Controller. Even though the motor is older (2010) it will handle 650 amps no problem but the controller (2010) is the old 550 amp 96 volt controller. I was told from one at HPEVS that the software can't be updated but Brian from HPEVS informed me that he could do the update. This won't allow the controller to do 650 amps but it will bring it up to new specs so that will be good. The software will be set for the AC-50. I was told that the 650 amp controller I have can only be used for the AC35 because when I sent it in for reprogramming it was set for the AC-35. No problem here. Controller will be shipped to HPEVS right away.

Pete :)

Alfa Project Continued

Looks like maybe the Alfa Project will be more of a collect the parts project. The car is OK but I may just put this in the Bug. I did find out that the controller and motor are older models of the AC-50 and the controller is only 96 volts at 550 amps. Not the 650 amp version. I could live with that. Sent some information to HPEVS for verification. The re-flashed my old AC-35 controller with the newest software and I could actually use that controller with this motor and use the other one with the AC-35. It would give less overall torque and HP but that may be fine for the Bus since it will be mostly a locally driving thing anyway.


I'll post information as I get it from HPEVS.

Pete :)

Alfa Project

Wow, its been a very long time since I last posted here. Just sorta got busy with other things and little has happened electric car wise.

Its now official, the Alfa Project has begun. It is a project that started with another but I hope to finish this. A 79 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce was being converted to electric with an HPEVS AC-50 with the 96 volt Curtis AC Controller. The motor has been mounted to the transmission but no motor mounts have been fabricated. I do not know if it has a clutch or if its clutchless yet. I did not bother to ask that question. The car is in good condition and its color is Black. Top looks to be good but it is covered in lots of dust. The motor/controller are still new. The vehicle has no batteries yet but looks to have some electrical parts. I do not know if there is hidden rust which I found was an issue with these vehicles. But being a California car I'm not expecting that to be too much of an issue. I am going out in the morning to pick up the car. I should be home with the car before dark and hope to be able to give it a bath right away. Im looking forward to the build. The last EV conversion I rescued was the 77 MG Midget nick named the Black Midge. That was a fun little project too. It is living happily in Colorado as an all electric car even today. I hope to finish this build to a drivable vehicle quickly. I have the batteries and charger and I can even do this with a J1772 charge port.

The Alfa does have the larger uglier bumpers but they did do a nice job making even the smog year vehicles look half way decent by 79. Its a cool looking vehicle. Small for me but it still may be a decent fit. Looks to be plenty of room in the trunk and up front to mount batteries. The fuel tank area looks promising for a good chunk of battery. This would be a good candidate for Tesla Modules. Might have to go that route for this build.

More to come in the following days and weeks. My Bus Project is still moving forward. I now have all the stuff for that build to mount my AC-35. Slow project but still moving forward. The Red Roadster has stalled out but still in the works. Need to pull the tranny to fix a leak then re-install and finish the electrics.

Full time work takes precedence over any project. Lots to do there too.

Battery Tab Spot Welder.

I was out on the web looking at different DIY battery spot welders that people have built. Most are built using repurposed microwave oven transformers and quick switches. Some were successful and all pretty much have single pulse to weld. Some were just too powerful. I did however find one that utilized a 12 car battery and and arduino board to control the power of the weld. It happens to be a DIY but you can also buy one prebuilt for you if you don't want to do that your self. As with me, I opted to just buy one already built. This sucker can be totally portable but normally uses a 12v 1amp power for the arduino and a Car Battery for the main power to weld with. It includes a place to connect up a micro switch so you can hit your switch and once you hit the switch it will not continue to weld. The board is a dual pulse board and will allow for 1 to 20 milli second pulses. The first pulse is 1/8th the power of the second. That is automatic. It is setup up to do these welds by hand but you could build a box to allow you to put constant pressure on your welds so each is consistent.

I plan on building a box to give constant pressure so I get real constant welds. I have some I want to connect together for testing and some for my RC stuff. Now that I don't have to worry about those micro wave transformers I can get on with welding. I have a series of 4 CALB cells for my 12 volt pack. Its light enough to carry and I can lug it with me if I need to weld out in the field.

Finally, a DIY welder you can build or buy to do good spot welding of the tabs instead of soldering and making a mess. I hope to build a power wall with some cells and if the cells I am testing are good I will see if I can buy enough for a pack for my EV and enough for two for my house. Built it myself and it they re LiFePO4 chemistry. The safe Chemistry.