April 14, 2008
Well, the new AC Zenn arrived!! I took a quick walk around it and then hopped inside! Off I went. The car had noticeably more torque and power. I was liking what I was feeling. Of course that liking came to a screeching halt when the car came to a screeching halt at 25 MPH. Well, I guess it was time to get this vehicle going faster!
I dismantled the front end to find a Curtis 1236 AC motor controller. Curtis does not have the manual on their website, so I had to call them to retrieve a copy. These controllers are mostly used for OEM applications and are anything but user friendly. You can click on the above link “1236 Controller” for more information. The controller is actually a "dumb" box until an Operating System is installed. Almost like any computer would be before Windows XP or Vista is installed. Curtis came up with a programming language called WinVCL. This is the programming language used for the controller. Getting my hands on a copy of that was not an easy task.
What I also found surprised me. I found the blower hose for the air conditioning not even hooked up. I am really curious how the car passed a quality control inspection. I also found a tool stuck between the controller and wire harness. Seems to me, if someone lost a tool, you would make some sort of effort to find it! Any visual inspection of the “engine” compartment would have located the lost tool. Below are links to a few pictures.
Now, let's just talk about the default parameters set in the controller from the factory. The controller has three control modes which are "Speed Mode Express", "Speed Mode" and "Torque Mode". The car is running in the "Torque Mode". Changing the parameters are simple, the problem is, the Operating System written for the controller changes them right back. It just ignores any changes. My guess is Curtis wrote the Operating System specifically for Zenn with the sole intention of keeping me from making the car go faster. Well, it did not work, because it took me only a few days to figure it out and I had the car speeding down the road at 44 MPH.
What I had to actually do is to take the binary file and edit the hexadecimal entries. This is NOT the ideal way to modify a program. One of the settings that was easiest to find was 4260 (0x10A4). That was the maximum RPM allowed in the torque mode. Based on the transmission ratio and tire diameter, that setting will give you 25 MPH. The maximum setting which could be set in the controller is 8000 ONLY if the controller would allowed it. So, instead I changed the hexadecimal entry to 8000 (0x1F40). The car's maximum speed now was 44 MPH.
I have made many modifications to OTHER applications involving simple computer programs, games and other software that does not include a 1,500 pound vehicle speeding down the road at 44 MPH. A small percentage of the time when hexadecimal changes like this are made, you affect something else. There is no way to tell unless you do extensive testing OR have the source code. I also considered just writing a new Operating System. Any of my choices take a LOT of time and quite frankly would not be worth it.
So, what I need is the "commented WinVCL source code" for the Zenn 1236 Curtis controller. Without it, I am just not comfortable releasing the new code. Maybe Christmas will come early this year and I will get the source code in an anonymous email.
I tested the air conditioning. The performance of it can be summed up in three simple words “What a joke”. The temperature finally got up to 90 degrees around here which gave me a good opportunity to test it. Quite frankly, I would have been better off to stop at my local Convenient Store, purchase a bag of ice, put it in the passenger's seat and fan it while I was driving.
I do want to comment on the 25 MPH speed limit. It is UNSAFE and driving in a 35 MPH zone is legal but you are a HAZARD. You will impede the flow of traffic and eventually cause an accident. Whoever came up with the 25 MPH limit for NEV’s should have his or her head examined. Some States have come to their senses and raised that limit to 35 MPH where it should be. Quite frankly, I would love to know what they would site you for if you were caught driving 35 MPH in a 35 MPH zone in a 25 MPH NEV State.
One final item that makes me chuckle is Zenn announced a fully highway capable electric car for the fall of 2009. The car will have a top speed of 80 MPH, a range of 250 miles and be powered by EEStor. It will also be able to be charged in five minutes. If that in fact does happen, I will purchase one of the vehicles, drive it to downtown Cleveland and park it at Public Square. I will then proceed to cut it up into little pieces and EAT the entire car. That is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever heard.
Why do I say that? First, Zenn has no concept of what the coefficient of drag does to a car at 60 MPH let alone 80 MPH. The amount of power that will have to be "stored" is of epic nature. And to be able to charge the car in five minutes is also very amusing. Maybe they plan on hooking it up to a pair of high tension wires, or possibly getting Doc Brown from Back to the Future to transfer some power from his "Flux Capacitor".
I have seen what Zenn has built thus far. And to create what they are talking
about is like going from building Timex watches (Zenn) to crafting Rolex Timepieces, it just is not going to happen overnight
Furthermore, I have not seen ONE single demonstration of the EEStor product. Don't you think that Zenn or EEStor would want to show people what they are working on? All we get is lip service on how great EEStor is. Well, that is nice, show us. And Zenn threw away $2.5 million dollars on that fiasco. Lockheed Martin is not too far behind them. I wonder if either company may possibly be interested in purchasing some swamp land in Florida??
Many emails stream in every week asking me if buying Zenn stock is a good investment. Not being an investment consultant, it is a question I am not qualified to answer. Although, purchasing Zenn stock is not on my list of 10,000 things to do before I die. In fact, you would be much better off taking all the money you planned on investing in Zenn stock and divide it into two piles. The first pile would contain 20% of the total amount. With that 20%, go out and buy lottery tickets. The second pile would contain the balance of 80%. Burn that pile using lighter fluid as an accelerant. Then, take the ashes and sprinkle them over the South Pacific for good luck. Now that would be a more sound investment.
I will keep everyone posted on anything new happening. I also appreciate everyone’s support in the past.
If you have any questions or comments you can email me at:
Copyright 2008 Mark DiLuciano
How fast can it go?
