No pain, no gain

[Bruce EVangel Parmenter <brucedp@yahoo.com>]

I over worked my back last week, which had me flat on my
back and unable to stand (at all) until Sat. I would have
never budged until I healed, but I had a lab I had to go to
on Sat.

Stupid as it may sound, I am committed to getting the grade,
as I drove my Blazer to Villa Montavilo (for a 1.5 mi
hike?!).

I had took the last of the 'over the counter' ache killers I
had on hand, before groaning my way into my EV and out onto
street. I felt every bump there was and I could swear I
could feel the paint on the road.

It was scarey (if not dangerous) in this condition as no
matter was position I was in, an occasional spaz um would
seize control for 7 seconds (Forget about moving my feet). 
It was all I could do to keep my eyes open and grip on the
wheel during these. As my upper and lower back fought for
which would be the next spaz um, I made my way South on Hwy
101.

Since I was early, I stopped at a Saratoga store. Walking in
a bent position, I replenished my pill supply and redosed
myself before arriving at the Villa.

A short ride up Saratoga and Los Gatos swanky multi million
dollar homes, the local resident pedestrians were oblivious
of any vehicle traffic (they had to endure them even though
they paid so much for their home). So my ELECTRIC VEHICLE
decal not noticed (nary an eyebrow).

Dropping into first gear, I tractored up into a parking spot
near the hike meeting place. I was early, and used the time
to look for an outlet (the distance was 25 miles, half my
range, but the uphill climb was 60ah or 30 energy miles).

I found a couple of outlets that would have been easy to use
without 'long power cord tripping liability' concerns. But
there wasn't anyone in charge to ask. I was not disparate,
as I knew Otmar had Solar Electrons I could mooch. I opted
to not plug in, even though the time would have been well
spent, even on a 1kw charge.

I completed the portion of the hike that was needed, and
hobbled my way to my EV. I left in second gear, as it was
down hill and brakes to avoid the joggers as I left.

I probably could have made it all the way home as the
return trip was mostly down hill and less energy miles would
have been used, but I wanted to conserve the life of my pack
for when I really need it (out in the boonies).

I figured I only needed about 10 miles more range or 20 ahs
back into my pack (my EV uses 2ah per mile @ 55mph).

I was in luck, there was a spot open at the corner of
Otmar's home. I plugged in my chargers: PFC-20, NG5, and two
120VAC K2s. I was using the AVCON adaptor (available on
http://eaaev.org ) with the AVCON powerpak charging head, a
14-50 (equavilent to two 14-50 outlet's worth of power - I
had more chargers I could have plugged-in but, I was careful
not to pop Otmar's panel).

I was down 80ahs (20ahs left), and pushing 70amps into my
132V pack.  The surface voltage rose from 130 to 144
quickly.  The Cruising Control Emeter was showing my spent
ahs decrementing quickly at this charging current.

I left for a few minutes to stoop-walk over to get some
lunch.  When I had returned in ~fifteen minutes, I recouped
my 20ahs.

...
I think it is important to share an interesting experience
when charging this way. I have so many chargers to give me
the flexibility to draw power from what ever sources are
available. It would be nice to always have access to 14-50
equavilant power each time I stop, but that is not
real-life. So two 6kw chargers would be nice rather than
so many chargers, but you don't always have as much power
as Otmar offers, everywhere you try to charge.

My point is the amount of charge current going into the
pack makes the opportunity charging so fast that, it almost
seems like one is spending more time connecting and
disconnecting the chargers than the time it takes to 
charge the pack (this is a cool thing).

...
I start disconnecting the low power chargers first, leaving
the higher current chargers on until last. The time it takes
to coil up the cords and put them away, can give you ahs into
your pack (less waste).

I left Otmar's after only being there about 20 mins, and I
had over 20ahs back into my pack. My pack was reading less
than 60ahs down, which gave me 40ahs to use to go the 10
miles to home ( cake ).

If one had access to two AVCONs (or 14-50 outlets) and have
two 6k charges on board), you would see similar results. I
put my own money were my mouth is, and have proved that with
smart chargers in parallel, EV drivers can get fast
opportunity charging.

So don't go cheap when it comes to EV charging. Always have
120VAC 1kw and 220VAC charging on board. 

You will get more EV grins :-)




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. http://geocities.com/brucedp
. EV List Editor & RE newswires
. http://egroups.com/group/evangel
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