Monday, November 3, 2008

A wee bit of a problem here....

So what happens when you are coasting backwards a little too fast and hit the brakes, just as you go over a steep bank? This:


With the AMPhibian on top of me I began to question the benefit of adding 240lbs of batteries to a 500lb vehicle. Luckily since most of the weight was in the back I was able to lift the vehicle enough to crawl out from under it and walk back up to the house. After washing the blood off my face I remembered that the contactor switch was still on and the controller was still powered up. Walked back down and turned it off, made a weak attempt to push the vehicle back over, gave up, and walked back to the house and called for a ride to the emergency room. 9 stitches later I'm bruised but not beaten, and the AMPhibian is remarkably unscathed, I guess I cushioned the impact. With help from my father I used a come a long to winch it part way up, took out the batteries, flipped it back over, put them back in, and it seems to be working fine. I will be adding a rollcage, and better hold downs for the batteries since they did end up moving around quite a bit. Very glad I went with Odyssey sealed lead acid as opposed to flooded, and very glad this was an EV and not an ICE, since the gas tank would have been right over my head probably leaking all over me.

Earning its keep, logging with the AMPhibian

Here's a little video of the AMPhibian dragging about a 600lb red oak log through the woods with little effort. This thing works so well, as long as I keep the wheels underneath me, (more on that in the next post).