My Grassroots Motorsports $2009 build

[Nashco]

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/ ... post564613

I fixed my inverter! As a reminder, this happened in Florida:



I have been borrowing a replacement inverter from Al for a long, long time...since the $2009 Challenge in Florida. I was actually procrastinating pretty bad because I was afraid if I tried to fix it and found something irreplaceable was permanently damaged, it'd be too damn depressing. I finally gathered the gumption to start fixing it last week.

Last week I probed it (ha!) for a good long while with the multimeter and tried to figure out what was going on with my resistor board. Obviously, those resistors that got smoked in Florida had to go, but I wasn't sure if there was collateral damage. After some investigation, the board seemed OK otherwise. No more smoked parts, no funky resistance values on transistors/resistors, no failed diodes, no burned traces, etc. I cut all of the resistors out and at that point it matched the one that I've been using in the car since the $2009 competition. The resistors are used to discharge the high voltage inside the inverter to make it almost immediately safe to work on after disconnecting the batteries; without the resistors, I have to be a lot more careful about when and how I work on the high voltage!

So, cut to the chase and last night I tested the car to make sure everything was working properly. After I confirmed that, I pulled the loaner inverter out of the Fiero and put my repaired inverter back in. I tested it out and it works! That's really good news, as the inverter that's been on loan can finally be returned to it's home and I know mine is all healthy again. I'll be replacing the resistors that got burned out soon so that it discharges as it should again.

With that said, the hybrid Fiero is going to a new home very soon. I've had fun with it, but my interest in the AWD Fiero is waning. I just have too many other fun projects! Al is taking delivery of the car very soon and it will live on with his EV hardware in Michigan. Same car, different owner. It's a win-win, as the car will have a new owner that will have a fresh look on the project, Al now gets to play with his EV hardware (same parts as mine) that's been collecting dust for years, and I will keep my EV hardware to collect more dust until my next project.

I recently bought a Honda Insight...it might be the next shell to hold onto my EV hardware in a full-EV design. Or...who knows? I've got auto ADD, so by the time I get around to doing something with my EV hardware, I might have some other project in mind.

I'll try to get some video of the "how it works" version of the car before it leaves.

Bryce

[Nashco]

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/ ... post574589

I put together a video showing how some of the hybrid Fiero stuff works. It's not going to be winning anything at the film festivals this year, but it should give some more insight to how things work than my past updates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21PkKCI7Ycg

In just a couple of hours, I'll be taking the car to the auto transporter to go to its new home. I'm sad to see it go, but hopefully some fresh blood on the project will make it more awesome than before.

Bryce

[Nashco]

In case anybody cares, the $2011 Honda N600 is 99% complete:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/ ... post681175

Bryce

[Emc209i]

Holy shit...

[The Dark Side of Will]

Lol... yeah, that's awesome. All it cost was two Honduhs and a bunch of random steel.

[Emc209i]

And a shit ton of dedication and time. I couldn't even begin to imagine building something like that at this point in my life, I haven't the patience anymore. Well done Bryce!