Need Batteries

Over the past couple of weeks, I finished up most of the wiring. I removed most of the old wires that supported the engine's sensors and such. I made a schematic of my wiring, but I don't want to post it on the web until I have fully tested it.

I've been testing the 12 Volt system using a 12 Volt Deep Cycle battery. The various relays and contactors are working. I even hooked one of the relays to the clutch. This will prevent me from running the motor when the clutch is pressed. I no longer have this contactor connected to the clutch.

I decided to test the 144 volt system. [This was a bad idea.] Household AC electricity is about 165 volts when converted to DC. This was way too high. I remembered that my little AC inverter used a "modified sine wave". I use a rectifier, some capacitors and found it was just under 140 volts when converted to DC. Bingo! In the photo, the pie shape piece of wood supports the AC-to-DC circuit I rigged together.

So, my 12 Volt battery supplies power to an AC inverter. This provides the 115 volt modified sine wave. I converted this back to DC to get about 140 volts. I hooked the + and - to where the batteries would connect, held my breath, and flipped the switch.

I heard beeps and the sound of fans. The controller activated, I saw green LEDs and the DC-DC converter also powered on. I was even able to turn on the truck's radio. Now, I need the batteries. [Note: This was still a bad idea.]

I ordered the batteries. They should arrive in a couple of weeks.