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It's theoretically possible but probably not practical. First you would need to somehow get up to the 350-400 volts DC that is used in a modern EV. For the panels I used, that would mean 25-30 panels in series, or else a DC boost converter to increase the voltage. Then you have to somehow connect that to the car's battery. For good reason, modern EVs don't have a convenient direct access to the battery. Some do have a high-voltage DC charging port, but you would need to hack into the electronics that control the contactor for that connection. Or else try to hot-wire it direct to the battery, which is practically suicidal. So yeah, probably better to go through an inverter and then into the car's normal AC charger, even though you do lose some power with each conversion. Thanks for commenting.

About 3 years. So a premature failure, but it sat unused for months at a time in a drawer in a fairly damp basement. Thanks for commenting.

Limiters do often go bad and that will peg the meter, but it's difficult to understand why the reading would be lower when the engine heats up. Your symptoms sound more like a bad sensor. You could test the limiter by connecting a turn signal bulb between the limiter output (where it is connected to the gauges) and ground. If limiter is working the bulb should blink on and off. If you can get an ohmmeter, measure the resistance between the disconnected sensor contact and ground, as I did in the video, but comparing a hot and cold engine. If I recall correctly, mine was 200 ohms cold (check the video). if the sensor is working correctly, the resistance should be much lower when the engine it hot. I'll try to get a reading on a hot engine next few days if I get a chance. Thanks for commenting.

I forgot to tell you that was a wonderful video. I learned a lot.

I did check the voltage at the sender connector with the ignition turned to ON. I got full battery voltage and not the fluctuating 5V average I should get, similar to what you were demonstrating in the video. Seems like it's telling me the limiter is bad.

@@davestarkey7519 Yeah seems it pretty much has to be the limiter. Plenty of solid state reproduction limiters available now, but not cheap.

I measured 2 fuel gauges and 2 temperature gauges. Fuel gauges: 12.5 ohms 12.6 ohms Temp gauges: 12.3 ohms 14.9 ohms

Thank you!! ,I'm going to add nichrome wire to recoil the temp guage and hopefully I'm able to fix it :)

I measured it at 100 ohms.

Good luck with it, let us know if that does the trick. Thanks for commenting.

Indeed. At 200K I've replaced almost everything at least once but the original engine and transmission keep chugging along. The sweet spot for these cars was about 1968-73, where you had a lot of the safety features like shoulder belts and collapsible steering column but before they started loading up the engine bay with failure-prone emissions-control stuff, npt to mention injectors, electronics and the dreaded "check engine" light. And thanks to the hot rod guys most of the parts are still available - reproduction speedometers, dashpads, even body panels. Thanks for commenting.

That's great! Glad you found it helpful. Too bad everything isn't as backward-compatible as these old phones. Thanks for commenting,

For more information about the Evcort, check the Wikipedia page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EVcort I've been meaning to do a video on EVcort history. I should get to it. Thanks for commenting.

Yes it's a 1988 Soleq EVcort, based the Ford Escort. They only made maybe 100 of them between 1981 and 1994, mostly for government labs to experiment with. It was one of the first EVs with regenerative braking. They had some pretty impressive EV tech in those days. What they didn't have was a decent battery, they were still using lead-acid, not much different from the Baker Electrics a centruy earlier. I converted it to lithium LiFePO4 batteries and now it is quite a practical little hatchback. Thanks for commenting.

That's great. Surprising how many of these are still around. At least they are serviceable, unlike the junk you can buy these days. Thanks for commenting and good luck with your restoration.

I've had squirrels chew through fuel lines, solar panel cables and car wiring, but after 3 seasons, they still haven't got into the chicken wire tomato cage. Thanks for commenting.

Great. That makes at least 4 people with the exact same problem, so definitely a bad batch of capacitors. Hate to think how many of these things went into the trash when they stopped working, surely 90% of people wouldn't even consider attempting a repair. Thanks for commenting.

That's one way to do it. Maybe I will have to extend mine but so far in 2 seasons, no deer have got in. Even though they seem pretty desperate for food, much more so than in previous years. I've seen as many as 8 in the yard at once. Any small tree, they will nibble it right to the ground if it's not protected. And they even look different than deer I used to see, they look much darker, kind of a dark grey-brown.

Great. Must have been a bad lot of capacitors. Thanks for commenting.

Let's hope it's a little more durable than the original. Thanks for commenting.

@@quetzal4042 I can't remember what mine wasn't doing, but since replacing the capacitor, it displays and seems to measure reasonably. If these safety capacitors wear this quickly, I can see why these meters aren't warranted too long, LOL. Thanks again.

I grew up in the 1960s so I'm pretty much an analogue guy, I'm just now learning about the capabilities of Arduino. But you're right of course, a digital solution would be more accurate and reliable and the programming does not look to be that difficult. Probably I could have done the tach, fuel/state-of-charge and temperature gauges all on one board. Thanks for the suggestion.

That's a good suggestion. I did consider doing something like that. But you'd have to have a third wire going to the car for the center tap and 4 cables from 2 separate panel arrays coming off the roof so the two MPPT controllers could regulate independently of each other. Also, if one array was more in the shade, half the pack would oreceive more charge than the other and unbalance the pack. The BMS has a balancing function, but it only leaks 200 mA and only balances when the cells approach full charge, because it's assumed that you're using a single charger on the whole battery pack and that the cells are only marginally out-of-balance. Also those regulators usually have a function that turns off charging when the input is too low, so you'd probably have to have some interlock to shut them both down when one shuts off. Probably it could be made to work, and maybe a little more efficient, but I think it does have some downsides. Thanks for commenting.

Could be. The Aptera guys claim their 3-wheel 2-seater can put on 40 miles a day and 11,000 miles a year with just the panels built into the vehicle. Oddball design and not for everybody, some wouldn't even call it a "car", but it shows what you can do if you really push the limits. Thanks for commenting.

Yes I’m aware of the Aptera but it’s far from an everyday design. You’ve shown that even with a conventional car design and older battery technology, you’re still getting a practical amount of range.

The advantages of solar on a car would really be maintaining 12V battery over extended periods of time, and running the cabin fan on hot summer days while parked to reduce the need for AC. Many cars have fans built into the seats as well, and the difference between hopping into a car with 120 degree seat vs a car with 105 degree seat would be huge!

​@@oliverpolden 12 miles is practical? Must live in the city haha I have a similar EV EXP, practically sure is held back by the batteries' & motor's poor efficiency. From weight vs power we're talking an old golf cart with the weight of a Taurus (that wagon weighed 2200lb stock and about 3200lb after the conversion) and that alone makes for bad range before we even look at the old inefficient DC motor. I'd say they're glorified golf carts but modern electric golf carts are far more efficient..... Lighter batteries and more efficient motor would go such a long way in practicality but at the cost of more than the stock gas car ever costed anybody after 250k miles it's not a financially wise investment by any means 😕

@@The_1982_EXPert Well, most people live in cities and as I said, in most countries that covers the majority of commutes. Just because something isn't practical for you, doesn't mean it's not practical for others. Plus, you could have another option for longer journeys.

Radio Shack ruled when it came to my projects and experiments as a teen in the early 80s. Then my favorite DIY parts source up till it closed.

I got the kit almost by accident. I was looking for a cheap oscilloscope but found a guy who wanted to sell a whole package - CRT oscilloscope, Radio Shack kit, some textbooks and his collection of resistors, capacitors etc for $200. But it has proven quite useful. As a kid in the 60s, I had a similar Knight Kit kit. It had transistors but also a dual-triode vacuum tube that ran on 12V filament and 12V B+. No idea what happened to it.

A long time. The car has a 20 kWh battery pack and on a sunny summer day I can get about 4 kWh so from a fully depleted pack to fully charged would take 5 days. Perhaps a more useful figure is that a sunny day will give me about 12 miles of driving, and with Virginia weather I can put on about 3000 miles a year, way more than I actually need just driving it around town. If I put 9 more panels on the north side of the roof but angled to the south, everything could be doubled. Thanks for commenting.

Maybe its the principle of the idea

Thanks for commenting!