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The Fisker Hybrid fire you posted about wasn't from the EV components. It was theorized that it was from an exhaust component

Perhaps. But let me first talk about the fire that destroyed parked Karmas after they were flooded by a hurricane. They burned up because a short in the system, caused by conductive seawater. The ICE was not involved in that fire.

Now we can look back at the fire in the parking lot in Woodside, CA. Per the latest news, the fire was caused by a fan. In every standard car, the fan would not be under power when a vehicle is parked; and even then there would be a fuse. You can say that it's an outcome of a bad design, done by people who don't know a thing about making cars. (Outside of Henrik Fisker, we don't know who was and who wasn't good enough there.) Perhaps Karma's karma caught up with it.

It's the same that happened with Top Gear's review.

I did not mention that because, IMO and from what I know, it was a clear setup just for publicity and shock value.

I doubt that half the charge was 'lost', it was more likely under reported because the battery was cold, giving it the appearance of less capacity.

Per the evidence, it was lost. Tesla support people *thought* it was underreported, but all that the reporter did, per Tesla's advice, only led to further depletion of the battery. In the end, the car ended up on a flatbed. In hindsight, there was probably something that the reporter could do - like driving back to the supercharger right from the hotel. But he was advised to act differently.

Unless there's a spark it's not going to do anything

Tantalum capacitors will provide that spark aplenty.

I question the high discharge - water isn't that conductive

Water in rivers and ponds is quite conductive because it contains lots of salts that are leeched out of the soil. Agricultural runoff doesn't help either. In terms of the current, it all depends on how much surface is exposed to the water, and how much of that will etch away during the electrolysis. Of course, the seawater is an instant short.

There's far more than fuel from an IC car that will pollute the water.

There is very little of those other liquids, and many of them are alcohol-based, perfectly soluble in water. Only the gasoline has potential to harm the ecology. But when a car falls into a water, it's usually not damaged, so the gas tank will remain intact. Damage to fuel pipes will not result in pollution because the fuel pump is not running.

even if they don't trip DC doesn't electrocute people like AC does.

DC is just as dangerous as AC, on average. At those voltages (375V) the contact will result in 3rd degree burns (if you are lucky and the path doesn't go through the heart) or ... well, then you don't care anymore.

you might get a lithium fire underwater, but at least that's not horribly toxic.

Most of the Lithium will remain inside the battery, and the car will be lifted out of the water shortly. Any danger that comes from that battery will be short-term (emission of poisonous and/or explosive gases, and thermal effects on humans inside the car.) Water may not provide sufficient cooling because it is a reagent in the reaction that produces steam. Here is a good technical video that demonstrates what happens and what gases are generated. Here is the MSDS on LiOH - it will be in generated gases, and it will kill the occupants of the car if they breathe it in. LiOH has only a short window of danger, though, because it will quickly dissolve in water. Other generated gases will come

Yeah, I was impressed as well. I don't work in PLC, but I sure hope to design some low cost and open automated hardware at some point. I do hang out in some related forums.

For anybody interested in learning more about programmable logic controllers you might want to try

http://www.control.com/

Which looks like it uses an older version of Slashcode.

or

http://www.plctalk.net/

There is also a nice intro tutorial on ladder logic and PLCs in general under the "PLC Basics" sidebar at

http://www.plcdev.com/

So while I've got no hands-on experience, I've lurked around those sites for a few years and I have to echo what EdBob is saying. PLCs are hurtin for some open solutions and this project looks awesome because it integrates CAN Bus as well and that's going in widespread in the automotive sector which means economies of scale.

Very interesting story indeed. Glad I got away from Reddit for a minute to check on ol' Slashdot.

If you just want the position of two discrete valves I would suggest finding a used PLC on Ebay. Single box types (like an Allen Bradley SLC 150) that work with discrete IO only can be had for a little bit of nothing. Your biggest concern with costs would be the programming software so I would stick with brands offer it free of charge.

Without knowing what kind of budgetary firgure you are working with to implement this it is hard to get much more specific.

Stop sprouting total bullshit, remember Timeline?

Actually, Microsoft will not indemnify you for patent infringement for using their product.

Just FYI, it was a patent issue with the SQL Server case, not a copyright. There is a big difference... especially since the typical Free Software adherent tends to (as I do) feel that software patents should not be valid patents. If I had my way, MS wouldn't even have needed to license Timeline's patent on an algorithm.

I don't see it as illegal either, just hilarious.

They respect others IP rights except when they are sued for patent infringement, then they fight other's IP rights to the bitter end.

Or when they lie about others IP rights to their own customers.

Or when they steal others IP outright.

Sounds like you could use a Progammable Logic Controller, MatPLC is working on GPL'd PLC hardware and software. There is a mailing list. This sort of question could be posted there. Or check out A-List another good resource.