Tesla S Finally .......

Well I finally got my first ride in a Tesla S today. We had a First Responder training session at our local college so our First Responders could get a good look at some all electric cars. I brought my Leaf and a fellow (David) from Sacramento brought his Tesla S. It was more a mini show and tell than a First Responder session but maybe tomorrow will be more on task. The Tesla S will not be attending the session tomorrow. The Tesla S stole the day and was the most talked about of the electric cars. The other vehicles that were there were a Prius and another Nissan Hybrid. None of which were even looked at. They all looked and checked out my Leaf and the Tesla. I got to go for a spin with him in his Tesla and quite frankly I can say I have never been in a more elegant and powerful vehicle. This thing is just amazing. It is solid, quick, quiet and agile on its feet. For such a large vehicle it did not skip a beat and the pull is just outstanding from zero to 80 mph. It pulls hard all the way. Not like my Leaf that drops off the pull quite early. My Leaf is a weenie thing along side the Tesla S. The build of the Tesla is just astounding and if you want my opinion there is no other electric car or gas car on the road that can compare. None. If you think its expensive I can assure you that you will get your moneys worth with this vehicle. Hands down.

Playin with the camera

Been playing with my Canon using some old manual screw on lenses from the older Pentax cameras. Just got a new lens in today. It is a 55mm f1.9 lens and works great. Opens wide up. Only 6 blades so the blur is not so clean but with the aperture wide open it is great. The only problem is getting a good focus before you start video. Images are good. Going to mess with video tomorrow with the new lenses. Hoping for some good results. I need to set up a dummy for focusing then replace myself for the dummy. I usually use a broom. Works great.

Since there is a shallow field of view I need to focus and stay in that focus range. I could use a different lens but I will try later. I have a few other lenses to practice with. Maybe some green screen again too.

Stuff for Sale

Time to cull the herd. I have some stuff for sale. Been figuring out what I want to sell and what I want to keep.

Below is my list:

$2500 38 100ah Hi-Power Cells. The Hi-Power cells may be already sold but maybe not. Deals fall through the cracks sometimes.


$1000: The Synkromotive controller is the early production model and fully able to do 156 volts and 750 amps without skipping a beat. Fully configurable.



$400: The Elcon is a 120 volt setup for lead acid but can be changed to lithium if desired.

$ 1200: Warp9 and in excellent condition. No its not the new upgraded version that you can buy new for $1900.

$1200: The 9" GE that Jim Husted built with the BMW 2002 adaptor plate. Can't beat that price. Runs great.

$800: Another 9" GE with built in adaptor for the VW.

$250: 96 volt Quick Charge Select-A-Charge charger.

$450: 144 volt Quick Charge Select-A-Charge charger.

$300:  S-10 Adaptor Plate for the Older Style Kotov 11" motor with flywheel.

EVWEST

Wow. Mike and Matt have done a bang up job with the VW conversion using the AC-50 setup. Starting with a restored VW from a customer they have done a very nice and clean conversion. Detail is  the key to build a nice electric car. With performance of 0-60 in less than 9 seconds is in the same class of performance as I see in my Leaf. Now the VW is a much simpler vehicle but it is a timeless classic and one that is plenty in this country. What I like is that using the AC-50 and Curtis controller you actually have a low voltage system that requires the use of the transmission. Making it all the more viable for a daily driver electric car. This car is being used for show and go. One could build a good used VW as a daily driver without dumping in thousands in a restoration job but still be a real decent daily driver. With some detail work it would look and feel like it came from the factory that way. I had the privilege to drive Jack Rickard's VW based Kit cars with the AC-50 setup and felt it was good for the light weight fiberglass buggies. But it actually does perform quite well in the all steel bodied VW and as long as you know its not a RACE car it can be a real nice daily driver/commuter for many wanting an electric car. Now its a matter of getting the owner to get over the up front cost of lithium cells. Once that is done it should be an easy thing to do. Yes, some will want more power but many will be quite satisfied with this level of performance. I sure am with my Leaf. In a VW, it would be super.

I am glad to see some clean conversions coming out and being shown that have the AC-50 setup. Coming up with a quick setup for the VW is a great idea. Time to build the battery boxes clean and tidy. The motor/adaptor is the easy part. I have an idea for another type of battery box.

Good going guys.
Pete :)

Off Topic

Well this post is about my camera. I use a Canon T3i at 18 mega pixels. I use it for my photos and video. I don't like it for video only because of its limited gigabytes per clip. If I use raw setting it limits me to about 11 minutes per clip. If you don't have a clip timed you will need to restart and continue from when it quits. Really sucks. So right in the middle of a sentence it will cut off. So I try to limit my time per clip. My camera is totally automatic or manual if I want. My lens is the stock 50mm lens. It is good and takes some great images. I can do manual settings or semi-manual and get great results. What I wanted to do however  was to get a nice telephoto lens but did not have one. I then remembered that my wife has an old Pentax camera with a few nice lenses but they don't fit and are not electronically compatible with my Canon. What to do. Well there is a whole world of lens adaptors that allows you to use the old SLR lenses on the new DSLR cameras. Since most film photography is pretty much done it leaves a brazillion old lenses needing some love. Hop onto ebay and pickup some adaptors that have the electronic sensors to allow the camera to continue to adjust the iso setting needed. An adaptor is about $9. I got two and now have a 72-300mm Tele-Photo lens and a good 50mm lens. Not the best but good enough to get some great pics. I also found that there are many excellent quality lenses from the 50s and 60s that use the old M42 screw mount. A simple lens adaptor and world of lenses allow you to pick and choose with out breaking the bank. Once again digging for quarters. Again the Pentax rules. I found locally an old Pentax Spotmatic camera with a bunch of good lenses and teleconverters and tubes and cases and such and now have a nice prime 150mm lens and a nice 35mm lens. Using the teleconverter is not so great. You need a great amount of light as you loose light when using one. If set up properly you can get excellent images. If not you get real crappy images. Many of these lenses only have like 6 blades on the diaphragm. It is prefered to have more for exellent Bokeh. What I want is a nice 50 or 80 mm lens with at least 12 blades on the diaphragm for using in making my videos. I have not yet found that quarter but I did come up with a nice 200mm lens that I can use an extension tube with so I can get closer and get excellent results with my aperture settings. My 150 mm lens has too soft of edges when the aperture is wide open. My small lens has excellent edges. I try to do my images with the aperture setting open wide. My 200 mm lens has 12 aperture blades and is nearly round when not fully open. I may get excellent results with video with this lens and a lens extension tube. I can produce plenty of good light. However I do need to move my studio to a different place so I can set my camera a bit further away than where I sit. Filming outdoors is not going to be a real issue except for the time needed to setup. 

I decided to give my extension tubes a good try and used one to make my 35mm f-3.5 Super Takumar a super maco lens. I needed a good subject to photograph and was having trouble finding something cool and small. Well fate was good that day. Wouldn't you know it, a bee landed on our sliding glass door in the early morning at mid height and just sat there for hours before flying off. What a perfect subject. Got everything set and started to take pics. I needed to do a bunch of adjustments but finally found a good setting. Some images came out lousy, some ok and two excellent pics. I used a number 2 extension tube. Below are the two best resulting images. It really pays to hunt for gems. More quality lenses will follow. 

Just thought you'd like to see what can be done when you marry the old with the new. 

Pete :)

Diggin for Quarters

Diggin for quarters to get that good deal. Shoppin around to find the best price. You know, most of us need to do just that. Yes, there are many who can just go out and spend willy nilly and not give a hoot about cost but that is really the exception. But you know if one can save $20 here and there and a buck here and there the pennies really add up. If you happen to be in the camp of having to shop around and try to save a buck to help in that purchase of your lithium batteries then so be it. It is no big deal to see what the coolest thing happens to be and then go out and price the components elsewhere and if you can get them all for less then by all means do so. It is really nice to have a one stop shop but there is no place that can do the best price and be a one stop shop. I penny pinch and dig for those quarters to fund my project. I also go shopping in every corner I can find to get the best deal. I look for new and used. Many times I come up with good used parts that will fulfill the required needs. Instead of paying $1600 for a motor I paid $600. I did have to pay for a new adaptor but the savings I found purchasing a good used motor helped pay for that adaptor.

I shop, barter, sell and buy to get what I need. It is a skill that would help many with their project and one that could allow them to build a reasonable electric car. Diggin for quarters in its self can be a wonderful hobby. Bust out your detector and start sweeping. Much of the time you will come up with pop tops but once and awhile you do find a little gem. Keep going because you never know when your hard work will pay off.

Don't get me wrong, building an electric car conversion is expensive but you can ease the pain in the pocket with frugal shopping whether you shop for new or used. Frankly I like new and get new when I can. Like the little JDL gauges with shunt and dc dc isolater from EVTV for $175 vs DIY for $107. That $70 bucks can go a long way towards buying one LiFePO4 Cell. That is a little shy of being able to buy one 60AH CALB cell. You know, I'd much rather save enough to help me afford just one more battery for my pack vs spending without care. A convenience store is NOT the place to do business in BULK. Its fine for the occasional slurpee or soda but not for all of your components.


The convenience store is all about spending the mighty buck. Not about saving the almighty buck.  So go shop around. There are plenty of deals to be made but know what you need and price things out first.

Be smart when you shop. The convenience store is not always the smartest choice. Some times its the perfect choice, but most often not.

Pete :)

Roadster

I got my motor installed today in the roadster. I had to order some mounting studs for the adaptor so I could fit the motor with the new transmission. The old hex bolts no longer fit on the bottom mount holes. The new studs worked wonders. The studs are grade 10 and I also had some grade 10 washers to mount with them. It was a slick install. Took a bit to get it lined up but got it done. Now to get some tranny oil installed and do some brake adjustments. Time to start getting the battery area ready. Still lots to do. Now that I have some day light in the evening on the car port I can actually do some things. I decided to take my studio lights to the car port and see if I can do a video. Well it worked and it also gave me some killer light. Way better than any drop light and the lights are not hot either.