S10_2Engine out!Battery BoxesBed tilted!Electric MileageMotor installed.Battery PackFront battery boxFront Battery Box Mounts
OwnerBrian Mathis
Owner's Other EV1997 Chevrolet S-10
LocationNew Berlin, Wisconsin US map
Email email image
Vehicle1994 Chevrolet S-10
Think it was a Katrina reject. The bed had been replaced, and the frame was heavily rusted up to the cab. Brakes were replaced, and emer brake cable is new. I removed rust and undercoated.
MotorNetgain WarP 9 Series Wound DC
9"
Drivetrain5 speed manual tranny
ControllerCafe Electric Zilla
Curtis 1231C until Zilla 1K shows up.
Batteries24 Trojan T-105, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
225 AH each. I had 180V worth of batteries till I shorted 10 together and ruined 6 of them. I'm mounting 18 under the bed. Six under the hood.
System Voltage144 Volts
ChargerManzanita Micro PFC-20B With Buck Enhancer Battery Charger
110V or 220V, multi voltage charger
Heaterceramic 1500 watt
DC/DC ConverterSevcon 45
45 amp Max
Instrumentation0-1000 amp meter
0-200 V meter
Pak-Traker battery monitor system
Top Speed67 MPH (107 KPH)
With Curtis 500amp- 77mph!
With KELLY 650 amp Controller- 40 mph
With Zilla 1000- ????
AccelerationKelly KDH4650B, 650 amp (really?)-horrible.
Curtis 1231C 500 amp,- like it was(ICE)
Zilla 1K, - don't know yet.
Range60 Miles (96 Kilometers)
00-40 MPH - 50-60 miles
40-50 MPH - 40-50 miles
50-65 MPH - 35-40 miles
20 degrees outside - 20 miles!
Watt Hours/Mile270 Wh/Mile
Last one was 125 amps & 130 V @60mph
EV Miles
Current:236 Miles (380 Kilometers)
 
    As of 1/4/2009
Seating Capacity2 adults
TiresStreet.
Conversion TimeTwo days to remove ICE. About a week to install tilt bed kit, and weld battery boxes under bed... still welding.
Conversion CostAround $10000.00 including truck, tax, title and all. I'll track every penny this time. $6919.00 so far.
Additional FeaturesTiltable bed, Pak-Traker battery monitor system, coil over shocks, air helper springs, I have a separate wattmeter I have reset to zero to monitor every kilowatt going into the truck. Its wired to a 30 amp breaker.

Front aluminum battery box from E-bay user closertowholesale. Built to exact specs, and for a real nice price, $325 shipped!

I was able to reset the odometer to 000000.0!

01 Jul 08- Engine removed.
02 Jul 08- Ordered parts.
15 Jul 08- Bed removed. Bed is tiltable. Batteries underneath.
Jul -waiting on parts
Aug -waiting on parts
Sep -waiting on parts
22 sep 08- Got the air springs, Pak-Traker.
24 Sep 08- All but motor and either controller showed up.
30 Sep 08- Welding battery boxes frame under bed.
4 Oct 08- Welded in left side battery box.
5 Oct 08- Fabricated right side battery box.
8 Oct 08- Installed rear air helper springs.
8 Oct 08- Welded in right side battery box.
11 Oct 08- Tested Pak Traker, worked fine.
12 Oct 08- Installed motor and trans.
14 Oct 08- Fixed throwout bearing, wired truck power, tested motor in 5th gear with a 12V batt, odometer reads 000000.1, more welding in rear.
16 Oct 08- Welded bumper on bed, more to go...
17 Oct 08- Made half of the 2/0 cables.
18 Oct 08- Finished welding on bumper, mounted the brakes air pump.
19 Oct 08- Finished cables, connected charger and Pak-Traker.
20 Oct 08- Pulled bed to move it closer to original position.
21 Oct 08- Re-installed bed and welded hinges, now I can bolt it down.
26 Oct 08- Made a wood battery box for the bed for winter, insulated and heated.
28 Oct 08- put 24 batteries in box in bed. Front battery box showed up! It fits!
29 Oct 08- Fit foam in front battery box, added batteries, cables.
30 Oct 08- Welded mounts for the front battery box, mounted box, main contactor, throttle POT.
2 Nov 08- Started wiring main battery pack. Connected one row of batteries in a loop and killed 6 batteries. Fire, molten lead, sparks....
3 Nov 08- Replaced batteries, finished wiring HV pack.
4 Nov 08- Completed wiring, tested and blew the Kelly controller. Sparks, flames, engine going to who knows what speed,, .6 miles on odometer! Talking to Kelly to see about a fix. (fix was to use a precharge resistor to charge capacitors in controller slowly. Instant cap charge causes short)
10 Nov 08- Went to Illinios and picked up a new controller. Faster than shipping.
11 Nov 08- Installed new (used) Kelly controller. Will check wiring before running it.
12 Nov 08- Ran it 2 miles using 36V worth of batteries. POT is bad, bought one at Radio Shack. Will shoot for 144V tomorrow.
13 Nov 08- 144V tested good, had to use old POT which was good, bad meter.
14 Nov 08- installed batt charger and dc/dc converter. Wiring them up tomorrow.
15 Nov 08- FINISHED! Sort of... everything is done, took it for a test drive and with the kelly controller (KDH4500B), only got up to 40 MPH, same as the other truck with the earlier version Kelly (KDH4500). Wont go up any sort of a hill in anything other than 1st gear.
16 Nov 08- Blew up the DC/DC converter by using the manzanita battery pack charger and adjusted the "amps" too high. Apparently the AMPS knob also increases the voltage! Ordered new dc/dc converter.
17 Nov 08- Went to Kelly support and swapped the 500 amp for a 650 amp controller
18 Nov 08- Installed new 650 Amp Kelly (KDH4650B), road tested slightly faster than the 500 amp, but not anything I'd try and take on the highway. Top speed is 44 mph downhill.
24 Nov 08- Informed Curtis 1231C is in mail!
03 Dec 08- Installed Curtis
08 Dec 08- Wired Curtis "on" 144V signal to the POT input. Blew the throttle card! Sending it out, ordering another Curtis.... Will try and wire it correctly next time. Wish they didn't put all those male spades for the throttle and "on" signal right next to each other. Also, two different versions of how to wire the HV and LV, throttle in the same manual. Wonder which one is correct, one shows 12V to the "on signal, other shows 144V to "on" signal...
10 Dec 08- Opened the Curtis 1231C. It was easy, remove the two rubber covers on each of the 8 holes, remove the mounting screws and plastic inserts. I used a kerosene heater I use to heat the garage to warm the top of the controller. I had a coat hangar tied through two of the lugs, B+ and B-, heated the top, turning constantly, and used a rasor knife to go along the edge of the case where the black rubber seal is, and then heated again, and pulled it right out!
11 Dec 08- Installed new Curtis, Connected properly. Good to go! Sent old one for repair.
12 dec 08- made 110V adapter plug for charging away from home. Need to bring an extension cord also.
13 DEC 08- drove 20 miles to an EV event. Barely made it home! Cold batteries suck. Didn't use the adapter plug I just made! Didn't bring an extension cord. Will wire battery warmer (gutter wire) next.
20 Dec 08- Wired front battery heater, took two days, but got it from 20 degrees to 60!
23 Dec 08- Wired rear battery heater. Plugged in, pulls 1.75 +/- amps. gets them to 60 degrees in 20 degree temp.
28 Dec 08- Got the Pak-Traker installed. Found a 4.2V 6V battery, tried charging it, replaced it.

code by jerry