C5 hydroelectric pump in electric DS?

[ibartie]

I did an electric conversion to a VW Polo just before all the rules changed in NSW.
Just too crazy expensive now for all the engineering certification & compliance issues that will be coming your way with any sort of electric conversion.

 

[Andy N]

I did an electric conversion to a VW Polo just before all the rules changed in NSW.
Just too crazy expensive now for all the engineering certification & compliance issues that will be coming your way with any sort of electric conversion.

I’m lucky the local certifying engineer is quite fair, but he does still have to tick the boxes. I tend to over engineer the safety of the builds so there’s extra failsafes on my conversions that don’t even need to be there. But nonetheless it’s important to build a safe and reliable EV as much as you can. As long as there’s no major rule change coming up that prevents DIY conversions, it will be fine

 

[Andy N]

Ok so after a bit of back and forth consideration, I am about to purchase a 24v BLDC motor and controller. The motor spins at 1700rpm, and speed can be adjusted through the controller if that’s too fast for the pump. The power output is 750w drawing a bit over 30a with a torque output of 3.5 Nm. It was suggested I do direct drive with a flexible coupling similar to the coupling that drives some CX pumps.

I can either set it so the motor comes in with ignition through an on/off switch in the dash (sometimes you might want ignition on but not pump), and that would spin the motor at a constant speed letting the regulator cut in and out as it needs.

Or I fit a pressure switch and have the motor only come on when the pressure in the regulator drops. I’m inclined to try the constant spin method and see how much power is used idling away constantly. I’ve been told with a different motor it was 200w at idle and 400w when pressurising. He said it wasn’t quite enough to keep up when there’s a lot of steering input and takes 2 minutes to raise. I think I will improve on that, and hopefully get some good sound insulation to dampen the noise.