# s10 conversion from 1997



## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Hello everyone! I have been into RC cars for the last 20 years of my life, and always loved the simplicity of electric over nitro cars. For all that time I had dreamed of a full scale EV to drive around town. In 2008 my parents bought a Zenn (no photos somehow) and my old man had the dealer upgrade the controller and motor, for Montana we can run them at 35mph and it was really quick, but clearly a tin (fiberglass and plastic) can. 

Last year we built a 1000w drift trike.










It was awesome, 12s 10Ah 25mph, with lipo it was so light you could lift it without a problem. Local police told me I couldn't ride it so we are going to have to put pedals on there and it will be a "bicycle".

I got called to jury duty across the state in June, didn't get picked so I had a whole day to kill in the big city. Decided to look for a Nissan dealer and test drove a Leaf. What an awesome little car, but out of my budget. Get home the next day and out of curiosity get on craigslist to see what the closest EV is. Surprisingly there was an s10 pickup only 300 miles away, and it was posted 2 days before I searched! 

Long story short. I own that pickup now.










Bought sight unseen

Front pack. After this photo I cleaned all the connectors and power washed, looks much cleaner.










Batteries in the rear, I would like to move these under the bed for a clean look and lower center of gravity.










Battery tag










This is the dash, hate it. Already pulled out that stupid fan. First switch I assume is a breaker? I will pull it apart and trace it, seller didn't know what the other 2 switches are used for. I need to trace those as well. The amp and volt meter both work, the light is out on the amp meter though. Stereo does not work, will be ordering one tonight. Need to check the DC-DC to see if there is room for a small subwoofer.










Back side of the switch panel










Random switch #3










Random switch #4. This one is in a pretty strange spot. It's not like the red panel was out of room.











Some of the dash wiring, wonder is this white connector is factory.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Included charger does 120/240 which is pretty nice. I would like to pump these packs up closer to 140v. Just left the charger on last night and the batteries came back at 122v. We have a battery tester for ICE cars, it's 12v so I ran between two packs, only got 440 cca. Wonder if that is a reasonable amount.



















This is the cable coming out of the charger. Top priority right now is replacing this, perhaps making the charger on board.










Bro, sick wiring, this should pass 25a.










Oh maybe not, an hour after this photo I checked the temp and got 167f. Gave it a rest for a while.










This is the charge connector on the front










Another ridiculous connection, not as hot though. Max as about 120f.










Here is the connection to the cells. Again, this will be the first thing getting replaced. You can see the pink wire going into the wiring nut is the charger positive lead. Not sure what they were thinking with that one.










Fuse blocks on the passenger fender. The flex conduit looks prety nice, I would like to redo this but it's not high priority.










Here is the firewall crossover plus a fuse and a shunt.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Factory wiring, you can see the ICE computer, not sure why it's still there or if anything is running to it.










Here is the loud vacuum pump for the brakes. Might throw it on a switch, I hate pulling up to a stop light sounding like a tiny pump.










DC-DC need to investigate the output, don't know much about how these work.










Here is the controller, I found a spec sheet for it so I am happy. Only about 6 wires running out of it, pretty simple.










Some of the controller wiring.










Throttle pot










This is a relay running to a switch at the idle position of the throttle pot. Needs to be traced.










And of course the motor. 










I also have the original purchase order that was made it 1996! I will add that later. My next post will have a few questions that hopefully people can help me with.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

*QUESTIONS*

Can I run the JLD404 with the shunt that is already installed or do I need a new one?

Is it possible to hook a tach to the motor, not really needed, I am just curious about how it runs.

Is there any way to increase the charger voltage or should I not worry about it?

Is it normal for these packs to provide such low amperage? I have only seen the amp meter peak at 400a for less than a second. It holds about 300a max.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Grats on joining the EV world!



Pinkbatman said:


> Can I run the JLD404 with the shunt that is already installed or do I need a new one?


You should be able to use the JLD 404 with that shunt. You just need to know what that shunt is. Usually it is stamped on the shunt somewhere. The JLD 404 wants to be told what the shunt is as a 75mv rating. If your shunt is a 50mv = 500 amps you tell the JLD that it is a 750 amp shunt. If it isn't stampped on the side you can measure it by hooking a sensitive volt meter up to it and reading the millivolts at several known amp readings.



Pinkbatman said:


> Is it possible to hook a tach to the motor, not really needed, I am just curious about how it runs.


Yes, it is easy to fit a tach sensor to the tail shaft. Check the EV suppliers on the right. I suspect all of them sell this stuff.



Pinkbatman said:


> Is there any way to increase the charger voltage or should I not worry about it?


Probably not easily.




Pinkbatman said:


> Is it normal for these packs to provide such low amperage? I have only seen the amp meter peak at 400a for less than a second. It holds about 300a max.


The CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) I believe is what a lead acid battery will put out when loaded to half its nominal voltage. In your case it is probably a combination of controller limiting the current and tired batteries.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Awesome, thanks a ton. I just checked the voltage and the whole pack is around 135v so that seems to be a non-issue. I will be ordering that amp hour meter and checking out some sort of tach driver.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Ordered a JLD404 from lightobject. I wanted to get it from EV West (their BMW inspired me to get into EVs) but they only had a version that came with a shunt. Also ordered a stereo system so the pickup feels less like a go kart.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Just got the stereo installed, my amp meter should be here tomorrow so I can get that installed and finish the center section of the dash.

Got two stitches figured out. The red switch under the steering column wasn't connected to anything. On of the dash switches was a single pole single throw that fired the main relay, which seems repetitive since the key does the same thing. I might eliminate that circuit.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

First things first we broke our record of 65mph with about a 2 mile run followed by a down hill.










Here is the main breaker, which seems way too small to me, but never gets hot or trips.










Installed a small stereo system, its kind of a hassle since the truck doesn't have a constant 12v signal you have to turn the stereo back on and select aux in.



















Also seen is the amp meter.



















Kept blowing out 1a fuses for pack voltage so I replaced the old receptacle with a new version and went with a 3a fuse from the home section. It seemed odd to me but the builder used a fuse on the positive and negative leads for voltage. Same on the shunt side, I am considering eliminating the fuses on the shunt when my 1000a 75mv gets here.










Also tried my hand at tinting, unfortunetly the tint got creased in transit so I will be redoing the windows at some point.










And finally got her cleaned up.


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## kickngas (Feb 3, 2011)

Looking better all the time! Keep up the good work reviving this old conversion.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

kickngas said:


> Looking better all the time! Keep up the good work reviving this old conversion.


Thanks! 

Should be installing my new shunt this afternoon. I completely over estimated the size of a 1000a unit. Probably should have gone with a 500a.










Decided it would be easiest to print a mount. Still haven't found the best way to get ABS to stick. Need to build an enclosure to keep the heat in next.










Here it is finished, might try an acetone fog on this one. Usually use PLA so working with ABS is a bit of a pain.










I also ordered new head lights, with mixed results, went toHIDs to hopefully lower amp draw.










Quick polish on the trim too!










The low beams are traditional bulbs and the highs are HID, they have this silly green tint and the glare is all blue. Light is much improved though. LEDs would be cool to try, not sure about a quality source on the cheap though.










Here is the amp draw change, I grabbed off the pack because I am lazy. Idle is about 0.4a without the lights on. We have some quad bulb LEDs that only draw 2a at 12v and make a STUPID amount of light. So I would bet that with LEDs the draw could be down to under 1a with still enough light to drive around town at 35mph.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

So I got the shunt installed but now I am blowing fuses on the HV side of the DC-DC, those bug 240v 80000a (iirc) slow blow type. I wonder if the old 500a shunt limited the current just enough to keep the fuse happy.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Blew out the amp side of my ammeter, on the upside though I learned how to wire it correctly. Also the truck smells like burnt wire and melted plastic. 

Probably going to run cheap amp meters and volt meters from ebay until I get it worked out better.


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## Pinkbatman (Jul 12, 2014)

Made a few changes and started pred for winter.

Moved the traction pack shunt to the front and added one to monitor the 12v system.










Here are my two ammeters. Blew out the 12v one by accidentally hooking it to the 120v system










Also moved the sub from the rear wall to the floor, no more rattle










As for winter I was doing some testing with a 1500w heater plugged into AC with an extension cord at 0f and it was pretty nice, even with the huge holes in the firewall and rear of the cab. What I want to do is hook up one 1500w heater that works on AC on a timer with a relay to run off the traction pack in parallel with another 1500w heater. Plus a heated blanket draped over the seats. The relays I am looking to use is KUEP-3D15-12 rated for 10a @ 150vdc.


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