Just preparing again

Now that the car is mostly disassembled I'm waiting for the motor and adapter plate in order to start reassembly. Till they arrive there is lot's of "little stuff" (little meaning not 500lb engine stuff) that needs to be done.

One of the little tasks is putting together an enclosure for the some of the high voltage components in the system. This enclosure serves both as a convenient way to mount the components and as a safety measure.

The components are:

Fuse



The purpose of the fuse is to disable the power and protect the components "plugged" into the battery pack in case of a short circuit or malfunction. The fuse is equivalent to the circuit breakers in a house.

The traction pack is composed of twenty four batteries for a total voltage of 144V. The pack is capable of delivering over 300amps. So this is one big #!& fuse! (For comparison most modern houses are supplied with 120V, 200amp electric service.)

Shunt



In a gas powered car there is instrumentation that informs the driver of the status of various vehicle operating parameters. This includes the fuel gauge (how much fuel is remaining) and the trip computer (how is my gas mileage).

An electric vehicle requires similar instrumentation in order to know how much energy(fuel) is remaining in the batteries and how many miles/watt (miles/gallon) are being used by the vehicle. The shunt is the component that lets that instrumentation "tap" into the battery pack in order to measure some of the above parameters.

Contactor



In a gas powered vehicle turning on the ignition switch starts a series of events that eventually leads to fuel delivery to the engine. Ignition switch closes circuit----relay in starter motor closes---starter motor turns engine---relay in fuel pump closes---fuel pump delivers fuel---combustion occurs in cylinders.

In an electric vehicle the electricity (fuel) is delivered to the motor by closing a switch between the battery and the motor. The contactor is the switch that closes this circuit.

High voltage fuses
Several other components of the vehicle, besides the motor, require electricity. This box also contains the fuses protecting the individual circuits for these components.

Below is a schematic of what it should look like once assembled. Later in the week I'll stop by the electric supply store to pick up parts for the connections.