# Mazda B2000 slug



## BikerA (Jan 9, 2008)

I have a Warp 9 with 120 volts in a Mazda B2000 with a light weight flat bed. It accelerates slower than a Zen car. Should that be so?


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## Little Rhody (Jun 17, 2008)

BikerA said:


> I have a Warp 9 with 120 volts in a Mazda B2000 with a light weight flat bed. It accelerates slower than a Zen car. Should that be so?



Did you buy it built? or did you build it?
Did you check the actual voltage at the bat pack? 
What controller are you running? 
Is it a direct drive, or does it use a gear box? 
Is the parking brake on?
Tires inflated?lol

Help us out here, we need some more info. 

LR


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## BikerA (Jan 9, 2008)

Thanks "Little Rhody". 

I built. Voltage goes to 120 fine. Curtis 1231c. 5 speed "tranny". I coasts fine, so the brake's not on. I keep the pressure up.

I had a surging problem so I returned the controller and got a new one. The power seems to be degrading steadily.

I got am Electroautomotive kit so I'm asking them also.

BikerA


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## TX_Dj (Jul 25, 2008)

If you have a 120v system, and it's only reading 120v, you need to charge.

It should be several volts over 120v when fully charged, perhaps as much as 130v or more.

Are you sure the pot box is adjusted correctly? It could be if it's out of adjustment, you're not able to get "full throttle" when the pedal is down.


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## BikerA (Jan 9, 2008)

It's off point, but I like your photo TX. I think I;m going to have to learn how to post a photo of me and my rides. BikerA


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## ww321q (Mar 28, 2008)

What kind of batteries do you have ? J.W.


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## BikerA (Jan 9, 2008)

I have 20 Interstate U2300 (242 ah). Electroauto says I may be lugging by shifting too soon, but I have virtually no torque even from a cold start.

I plan to "test" furthet , but really don't know what to test.

BikerA


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## elevatorguy (Jul 26, 2007)

Any possibility of a connection problem? Are you measuring your voltage at the motor under a load? What size battery cables and is anything getting warm, cables connections etc. Also double check the pot box for full travel at full power.
you mentioned shifting, are you using all the gears or ? any above 3rd and it is too high.
your pack voltage should be 160 or so for a charged 120v setup.


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## ww321q (Mar 28, 2008)

I think elevatorguy may be right with the pot box . Check with ohm meter and make sure it's going full range . I disagree about the voltage though at 120 volts you are just less then 50% depth of discharge . Fully charged you should be 127.2 or so . J.W.


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## elevatorguy (Jul 26, 2007)

I really need to read what I write, I meant about 130 sorry for the confusion. thanks J.W


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## ww321q (Mar 28, 2008)

BikerA find any thing yet? J.W.


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## BikerA (Jan 9, 2008)

I was careless about voltage. I do get over 130 when fully charged. The truck is still sluggish with full charge. On a level road it takes 200-250 amps to maintain. The netgain manual says I should get "highway" speed at 150 amps. Any ideas of how to diagnose?

BikerA


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## madderscience (Jun 28, 2008)

Dumb question:

How much power/acceleration were you expecting? A 120v pickup with 1500lbs of batteries and a curtis controller is probably only going to do 0-60 in 20-30 seconds. 

My car (a 1985 MR2 with 126v, advanced DC 9" and the same controller as you, but a bit smaller and lighter chassis) is in that ballpark. That said, it should have pretty decent torque at lower speeds, especially in 2nd gear. It might actually be hard to keep the tires from squealing in 1st if things are working right.

The controller does have a "ramp up" property to it so that even if you stomp on the throttle it won't immediately dump full motor current. This is supposedly adjustable on the curtis but don't do it without finding somebody who knows to tell you what to do.

Are you measuring motor amps, or battery amps? (it will be different). I will believe the 150 amps on the battery side for maintaining 50-60mph in a pickup. My MR2 needs around 100 amps to maintain that speed, but it is higher voltage and more aerodynamic than your pickup. If you are really pulling 250 battery amps on the level to maintain 60mph then something is wrong in the friction and drag department. 

Have you checked for bad alignment? Dragging brakes? it might not take much and you might never have noticed a problem in a gas vehicle that if left unfixed will eat 50 amps in an EV at freeway speed. If you have agressive tires you ought to replace them with more street freindly, high presure low rolling resistance tires. If the B2000 has 14" wheels then a good choice is the bridgestone B381.

Try a coast down test. Find a level, smooth, deserted stretch of concrete roadway where you can accelerate to 40mph, then let up on the throttle and time how long it takes to coast down to 30. Do this several times in both directions on the same stretch of road and average the results. I am just guessing based on what my car does but if your truck is rolling well you should see a number around 20-25 seconds. Anything significantly under 20 and you definitely have a drag problem.

As for proper gear to be using, I would guess you should be in 2nd at any speed below about 40, 3rd for 40-60 or so, and 4th above that if you need to go that fast. At least, that is what I do. If you know your gear ratios and what your motor redline is you can do the math and figure out your shift points. The warp 9 motor will probably be at its most efficient running at 3000-4000 rpm if I had to guess.

What gauge of wiriing did you use to wire your motor and battery pack? Anything less than 2/0 welding cable is too small for wiring your setup. Not sure what the dimensions would be but you can look up the equivalent copper bus bar size to that. 

Its also possible you have a cell with high internal resistance for some reason. You could detect this by driving with a voltmeter on each battery. If you find one where the voltage fluctuates much more than the others then you may have a bad battery. 

If this is a new pack and things are being charged properly (you should have about a 150v peak finishing voltage when the charger shuts off, and it should settle out to the aforementioned 130v or so after that) then that is fairly unlikely.

If this pack is a few years old or has 10,000 or more miles on it (but hopefully a bit more than that for a flooded lead pack) it may just be getting tired. How far do you drive between charging and how old are the batteries? (if they are like trojans there is a date stamp on one of the terminals on each battery) How many miles are on the battery pack?

Is the controller overheating? It will ratchet back the current to protect itself in this case and leave you with no power. If it is not mounted on a good heat sink with heat sink compound on it and located someplace where lots of air will hit it while driving, then this could be causing you grief.

Good luck.


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