Full throttle Electric Supercharger Build Thread

[dtek]

My Phantom suddenly stopped working, I'm 95% sure it's to do with the relay that's in the on/off/volts assembly.
Its an Axicom V23105-A5403-A201

Problem is, that relay is discontinued by Axicom and even eBay doesn't show any worldwide with the correct model.

I've tried a Panasonic relay that is equivalent in all specs except the coil is rated for 550mW and amp rating 5A and it doesn't fix the issue.

Does anyone have a known working wire harness they would sell, or even open up the little enclosure and tell me the code on your relay, in case Rob updated this part in a later kit. mine is a v1.5 kit so there's a chance he revised the spec.

Otherwise, someone with good electronics know how might pinpoint me a relay that's readily available with these specs:

2 pole 12V relay, non-polarized,
Through Hole Type (THT)
Relay types: non-latching with 1 coil
Features
• Standard DIL relay
• Switching and continuous current 3 A
• 2 changeover contacts (2 form C / DPDT)
• Single contacts
• coil sensitivity 400mW
• Surge voltage resistance 1.5 kV (10 / 700 μs) between coil and contacts

I've scoured all over and used chatgpt to try to isolate a substitute but all of what I'm seeing is either unavailable or varies in specs slightly.

Also would like to update the whole brushless motor for something newer Im sure the tech in these things has advanced in the past 10 years, anyone researched that and found an option that's a direct fit?

[WNDSRFR]

Have you tried getting in touch with Rob? Since this project has long been dead, maybe he will release the assembly drawings, parts lists and schematics. Sure would be nice. Canadians are known for their niceness.
I used to have his address from sending back some failed experiments but lost it over the years.

[Qwimby1]

They went bad after only about six months and I got around to changing them the other dayeverything works fine again now. I hope and suspect that one of those batteries was faulty when I installed it because they certainly should have lasted longer.


I talked to a woman yesterday who has an Audi with a stage II E85 tune. She says she alternates between tanks of 93 octane and E85. That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Can anyone else offer advice?


I'm running 93 octane now, and I'm tempted to flash back to E85 but the last time I used my OFT it got balky on me and I had to disconnect two or three times and plug it back in so that I could progress through the tune. I'm tempted to leave it as is because I don't totally trust the OFT now.

[Qwimby1]

I'm sure this is a long shot. Does anyone know where I might get the on/off switch with the digital readout? Mine is working now but it's on and off and I'm afraid it's not going to be reliable. I see it can be disassembled but I'm not sure I'm knowledgeable enough to know what to do.

[Qwimby1]

There's been very little traffic on the board for the last year or so and I'm curious just how many of these things are still in use. I'm very happy with mine but I'm beginning to question its long-term reliability. Maybe we could have something like an ESC registry?

[Qwimby1]

Not sure if I'm the only living user of these things now. Out of curiosity I did a search on Torqamp. they do have a few dealers listed scattered around the world. There are two in the US. One in San Rafael California and the other in Sparks Nevada. the Sparks dealer told me they are available and replacement parts are available, but I got the impression it might take a little while. Out the door price for a kit is $3500, which is getting pretty close to what you can pick up a real supercharger for. Of course presumably labor would be a lot less for the Torqamp and also appealing to DIYrs. I didn't think to ask if batteries were included.

Just a thought.

[Target70]

Originally Posted by Qwimby1

Not sure if I'm the only living user of these things now. Out of curiosity I did a search on Torqamp. they do have a few dealers listed scattered around the world. There are two in the US. One in San Rafael California and the other in Sparks Nevada. the Sparks dealer told me they are available and replacement parts are available, but I got the impression it might take a little while. Out the door price for a kit is $3500, which is getting pretty close to what you can pick up a real supercharger for. Of course presumably labor would be a lot less for the Torqamp and also appealing to DIYrs. I didn't think to ask if batteries were included.

Just a thought.

I'm still running mine, I just don't check the forum very often. Without looking it up I think I have a version 1.2, and have been running it since I got it sometime around 2014. While I drive 5 days a week, I don't drive very far so I have about 40k miles on it and have had no issues out of it, other than having to change the batteries about 3 times. The price was good when the kit first came out, but Rob upped the price when he released the later versions. I have no complaints other than that I think the charger may be burning out the batteries through over voltage or something, or just the quality of the dump batteries is pretty low.

[Qwimby1]

Originally Posted by Target70

I'm still running mine, I just don't check the forum very often. Without looking it up I think I have a version 1.2, and have been running it since I got it sometime around 2014. While I drive 5 days a week, I don't drive very far so I have about 40k miles on it and have had no issues out of it, other than having to change the batteries about 3 times. The price was good when the kit first came out, but Rob upped the price when he released the later versions. I have no complaints other than that I think the charger may be burning out the batteries through over voltage or something, or just the quality of the dump batteries is pretty low.

Is there a way to contact Rob on the forum?

[Target70]

Originally Posted by Qwimby1

Is there a way to contact Rob on the forum?

I don't believe so. Just going from memory here so I could be wrong, but it seemed like Rob cancelled production for everyone on the wait list and went radio silent without warning. Theories about copyright issues were floated at the time, but nobody had any real answers. To my understanding he was never heard from on the forum again. It would be awesome if he would opensource the data on the system, but it's been over a decade so the best I think we could do is to take a working kit and get it reverse engineered. It's a relatively simple system. I think the most difficult part is balancing the compressor wheel and housing size and matching it with the 3 phase motor speed. Everything else (should be) a basic 3-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor controller combined with a relayed battery charger circuit. Someone in the E-bike field might be able to source off the shelf parts for most of it. IMO anyway.

[Teseo]

Originally Posted by Target70

I don't believe so. Just going from memory here so I could be wrong, but it seemed like Rob cancelled production for everyone on the wait list and went radio silent without warning. Theories about copyright issues were floated at the time, but nobody had any real answers. To my understanding he was never heard from on the forum again. It would be awesome if he would opensource the data on the system, but it's been over a decade so the best I think we could do is to take a working kit and get it reverse engineered. It's a relatively simple system. I think the most difficult part is balancing the compressor wheel and housing size and matching it with the 3 phase motor speed. Everything else (should be) a basic 3-phase brushless DC (BLDC) motor controller combined with a relayed battery charger circuit. Someone in the E-bike field might be able to source off the shelf parts for most of it. IMO anyway.

And at the end, it will cost almost the same as traditional supercharger

[WNDSRFR]

I'm a retired Manufacturing Engineer and I'll bet I could build one of these for less than $1000 worth of parts. In fact I've thought about it more than once.

[WNDSRFR]

Originally Posted by Target70

I'm still running mine, I just don't check the forum very often. Without looking it up I think I have a version 1.2, and have been running it since I got it sometime around 2014. While I drive 5 days a week, I don't drive very far so I have about 40k miles on it and have had no issues out of it, other than having to change the batteries about 3 times. The price was good when the kit first came out, but Rob upped the price when he released the later versions. I have no complaints other than that I think the charger may be burning out the batteries through over voltage or something, or just the quality of the dump batteries is pretty low.

My dump batteries usually last for about 2 years and I use the cheapest AGM batteries I can find. Also I guess I drive a bit more than you. I have over 240,000 miles on my '13 FRS. Most of them driven with the ESC. I shut my system off a couple months ago because my clutch started slipping under acceleration in sixth gear. I've got all the parts to change it but don't have the motivation to roll around on the crawler AGAIN. Getting too old for this crap. Maybe I'll hire somebody to do it but I doubt it. Don't like people touching my car. Took it to the dealer before and they fukt it up.

[Qwimby1]

Originally Posted by WNDSRFR

I'm a retired Manufacturing Engineer and I'll bet I could build one of these for less than $1000 worth of parts. In fact I've thought about it more than once.

FWIW. I would be a buyer for sure. Having a spare on the shelf has a lot of appeal.

[WNDSRFR]

Yea
I would definitely build one if I didn't already have one. I've been building ebikes the last few years and learned alot about batteries, controllers and bldc motors. I build my own battery packs with lithium cells. I was thinking that a 48 volt system using lithium cells could get you 10 psi. Or go with 72 volts. I wouldn't even worry about the charging system instead just charge the batteries at home overnite like a Tesla. You could get like a 100 amps of power good for a few minutes of boost. In real everyday use you're only going to use boost for a few seconds at a time (otherwise you could lose your license in no time).
Maybe my system will fail forcing me into building my own But I hope not.