POLAR VORTEX

It has been below zero in Ohio the last few days, and when I went to work this morning, the coffee left in the cup on my work bench was frozen, so no work the last couple of days.

Before the big freeze, I was able to install a new lead acid motorcycle battery on the 12 volt system and am hoping this will help to stabilize it under a heavy draw on the main battery pack. The LiFePo4 Ballistic Battery I was trying must have bit the dust when the parasitic load ran it down to zero volts so I needed something inexpensive to use until I can get another lithium battery for the 12 volt system. 

AUTOCRAFT MOTORCYCLE BATTERY

The controller battery pack voltage limit was also moved up to 90 volts and the fault voltage setting left at 60 volts. This seems to have cured the controller tripping problem as on my last test drive I was able to go through the gears and give it plenty of throttle with no problems.

After working on the wiring on the left headlight, the blinker and paring light on that side would not work, so I put in a new bulb. It still did not work, so I started checking from the socket to ground and was getting a high resistance to no continuity from the ground connection in the plug to the frame. The wiring diagram was dug out and it appears that both blinker/parking lamps are connected back to the same frame ground. I am suspecting the wire came loose from the connection inside the connector when I was putting the loom back on the wires.

TURN SIGNAL/MARKER LAMP SCHEMATIC

The nylon cable clamps I ordered from Waytek Wire also arrived so as soon as it warms up a little or I decide to get some propane for the heater, I will tidy up the battery cable connections going to the controller.

NYLON  CABLE CLAMP

The speedohmeter and tachometer are still not working so after finishing the blinkers and battery wires, will start working on them.

Last week my clutch slave cylinder went out on the Miata, so I took it to a local mechanic who does good work and is very reasonable. When I brought it home, it was working great, but when I went out to start the Miata tonight, it would not start and the clutch was out again. It had just been sitting so am not sure what is going on but I guess it's always something.

Until next post,

Randy