Our WarP™ Speed Sensor mounts to the tail shaft of many motors to provide RPM measurements. It is optimized for motors made by NetGain Motors, Inc. and works with after-market tachometer gauges, motor controllers or our AutoBlock RPM.
Read more about our WarP™ Speed Sensor.
Safely and easily disconnect your high-voltage direct current from the rest of your system using our EV EZ Safe Disconnect. Designed specifically for use with Anderson SB® electrical connectors.
Read more about our EV EZ Safe Disconnect.
Our first AutoBlock is the AutoBlock RPM, designed to interpret the signals sent from the magnetic pickup (or other type) sensors peppered throughout most any semimodern automobile. These sensors are used for rotational rate measurements, from tachometers to speedometers.
Read more about our AutoBlock system.
We are excited to learn that we will be featured in the very first issue of CHARGED magazine. Our AutoBlock AMP is exhibited in the Market section. Check out the preview.
Update: Look for a fancy new advertisement somewhere in the new issue - great work from our marketing department!
One of the more challenging aspects of upgrading/converting a car to electric drive is dealing with the complexity of the existing electrical system. When the internal combustion engine and its related systems are removed, the car's brain can get quite confused, especially in newer cars where more of the systems are mediated by computers. Cars these days have some pretty nice features, so we don’t just want to rip those out; if you’re converting a newer car, you’re likely planning to keep it looking new and sleek.
So the goal becomes one of keeping the car’s systems happy, and integrating information from the new EV components into those systems. However, with the numerous “standards” employed, the several signal protocols in place, and the dozens of sensor types present, the problem of compatibility comes to light. Our approach is to provide a programmable platform to combat this issue of compatibility. In order to ease this effort, we hopped on the open source hardware bandwagon. More specifically, Arduino.
The daunting task of creating one system that is compatible with every car out there is one that we wanted to share - with you. By combining the car hacking/EV conversion community with the Arduino community and development model, we hope to open up more possibilities. We built the hardware, now we need your help to give it smarts.
We created the Macchina to solve these issues and to provide a platform for better instrumentation, easier customizing, and useful statistics to improve efficiency and performance.
The Macchina is based on the Arduino Mega 2560 and is compatible with all 5 OBD2 signaling protocols including PWM, VPW, ISO 9141-2, KWP and CAN. This should cover any car built from 1996 onward. It includes a sturdy power supply to power sub-circuits and add-ons (called "shields" in the Arduino world) and was designed with automotive standards in mind with better immunity from Electromagnetic Interference (EMI).
Although the Macchina is a general purpose car-hacking tool, it can be especially beneficial in EV conversions, and that application has been and will continue to be our focus during development.
Interested in helping to create better instrumentation for your EV, seamless (or at least reduced-seam) system integration with newer cars, or just want to hear what your car is saying? Let’s work together.
The RechargeCar team has finally recovered from our first trade show. We would like to thank everyone who made EVCCON 2011 a HUGE success. It was refreshing to be amongst a group of people with such knowledge and wisdom. The contacts we made are invaluable and the friendships even more so.
It's hard to believe it will be another year before we can all convene again but hopefully we will spend our time wisely and be able to present the community with even more useful conversion components. Special thanks to Jack, Brian, and the whole city of Cape Girardeau for their outstanding hospitality.
