Still feeling confident and productive from the brake overhaul that Anthony helped me administer last Sunday, I got a call Monday that quickly reminded me just how much work the Scorpion still requires.
It was heading into late afternoon on Monday (Memorial Day) when my cellphone popped-up Anthor’s number. The past few weeks the Scorpion has been stashed in the back lot at his place while we work on some of it’s shortcomings. As a fellow Scorpion owner with an interest in someday de-ICEing his car, he seems happy to have it there taking up his space and occupying his time. It makes a good case study for when his engine finally burns out.
I told him to take it out for a spin whenever he likes and warned him that a few of the batteries are heading south so the range is crap. I probably didn’t stress that last part enough, because when he called me, he had just run out of juice taking the car to the store. Unfortunately, he was still 20 blocks from his place and is was all uphill. Not exactly the introduction you want to driving an EV.
With the Emeter currently dead and removed from the dash, there is little indication to tell you what the state of charge might be. There is a working amp meter that will tell you the current amperage pull, but that’s pretty much it. 
There is a terminal block on the dash that let’s you check each of the battery pairs, but that requires a multi-meter (note to self: leave pocket multi-meter in car at all times). Anthony was flying blind and we had forgotten to set-up the charger after our brakejob victory laps.
There is a terminal block on the dash that let’s you check each of the battery pairs, but that requires a multi-meter (note to self: leave pocket multi-meter in car at all times). Anthony was flying blind and we had forgotten to set-up the charger after our brakejob victory laps.It was going to be awhile before I could make it across town to give him a hand, so we talked over a few options. I told hims that if the car sits for a bit, it will actually regain some power. He might be able to get it home in short hops. He let the car rest while he did some shopping, then gave it another go. That got him a few more blocks down the road.
The next option was to jump one of my charged auxiliary batteries parallel into the cell I thought was dying. Since there is no DC/DC convertor, there is usually a fully charged extra for when my system battery needs swapping out. 
My batteries are already in parallel pairs, so this seems like a reasonable emergency fix. It worked for a short time and he managed to get within 10 blocks of his place. This was surely not how he or his wife wanted to spend Memorial Day.
My batteries are already in parallel pairs, so this seems like a reasonable emergency fix. It worked for a short time and he managed to get within 10 blocks of his place. This was surely not how he or his wife wanted to spend Memorial Day.After a few hours that were probably laced with much profanity, I made it there with the Subaru and a tow-rope. We strung the cars together and were soon had it pulled back up to his place. The irony is that this car came with a towbar, but I have not yet gotten around to installing the hitch on the back of the Subaru. It’s was all sitting on my porch taunting me on my way out the door. I should bump that up the “to do” list.
However, right now the priority has got to be getting the battery pack straightened out. Hopefully next weekend we’ll both find the time to perform some pack equalization and battery replacement. The load-tester I ordered from amazon should get here and we can try to track down and replace the bad seeds in the pack. Although it’s not ideal to mix the pack, I really can’t spring for that new set of Valence Lithum-Ion at this stage in life...at least not without hitting the lotto numbers.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
