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It has been a while, but Last night I finished putting the bus back together and took the family for a ride to my son's concert and the gelato store (Mio Gelato).
The batteries are now all in the main compartment of the bus. This allows much greater access to them. Before they were so hard to get at, which turned out to be the major reason for my meltdown. The bus also doesn't sag in the back anymore and rides really even, front to back.
All my battery terminals are now the universal top post clamp style, which should give me much better connections with less heat generation. All the motor and controller connections are copper welding lugs.
Here are some pics of the rebuild.
Enjoy!
3 comments:
Hey bud,
A quick note from someone who has built a lot of 24/12V marine systems.
Those terminals that you are using are eventually going to fail due to battery gases escaping and corroding the weak connection between the steel/copper/lead. What you need are ring terminals on the end of the cables, and crimped (or soldered). These, you put over the studs on the top of your batteries and bolt them down. Very clean. Very strong. The connections you are using right now will last a year or two, but for high amp applications, it has to be better for long term happiness.
BTW, my girlfriend and myself are building a articulating hybrid VW bus for burning man. Check out our blog:
http://mutantbus.wordpress.com
I'd like to get in contact with you, please email me at brandon314 (@gmail.com) (remove the parentheses and spaces).
Talk soon!
I like your bus. Do you have ventilation running through your battery box? Batteries work best if they don't get too hot and you can help control the hydrogen build-up and lessen your chance of an explosion.
Hi Philip, yes I have a fan on the battery box. I use it for venting only durign charging to help with the gasses, but around here I have to worry more about it beign too cold for batteries to be fully charged, rather than too hot while driving which hasn't happened to me yet.
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