It was still a little chilly out this morning, when I finished the mounting for the Dell Venue 8 but the afternoon got up to the middle 50s, so work continued on the Fiero. The tablet was hooked up to a battery and some experimentation was done on getting it to charge while passing data. Originally, the tablet was designed to short the data cables when charging but Dell finally started offering a cable that allows you to pass data while the device is charging.
It seems that the tablet still will not charge if you use a USB extension cable between the tablet micro USB port and the charge/data cable that Dell now provides. After the charge/data cable was plugged directly into the tablet, it started charging and I was able to see files on the thumb drive I had plugged in, so time to test it out in the car.
CHARGE LIGHT ON
DATA CABLE SHORT ADAPTER.
SERIAL TO USB ADAPTER FROM CONTROLLER
DELL CHARGE/DATA CABLE
SYNKROMOTIVE USER INTERFACE WORKING
The tablet is set up so the back light stays on when it is charging and when the ignition is turned off, it will go in sleep mode in 2 minutes. The Synkromotive user interface has a couple of very nice gauge tabs, one with 3 large gauges and the other with 6 smaller gauges, so it would be easy to set up motor or battery volts and amps, along with the 12 volt system voltage. The user interface also makes it easy to set up minumum pack voltage and I know from past experience, this feature works well, as the car will not move until you go in and change the setting or charge the car. The minimum pack voltage can be lowered and a limit put on the motor amps and voltage, to function as a limp mode. The problem is, the day I ran my pack too low, I did not have a computer with me, so had to have my wife bring the other car and tow me home. The tablet will solve that problem.
The dash instruments and lights were give a final check and the top dash cover was installed, so another project is done.
Finally, the face plate on the center console heater control/radio cover was clamped to a flat board and heated with a heat gun to try to remove a slight warp that is causing it not to seat correctly.
STRAIGHTENING THE FACE PLATE
Originally only the bottom and center were clamped down while heating but the top was warped a little also, so while still hot, the top of the face plate was clamped down too.
TOP OF FACE PLATE CLAMPED
A very productive day and finally some light at the end of the tunnel in getting the interior done, so I am real pleased.
On another note, some of my Son's friends want to stop over sometime in April to see the car, so I am considering having a cook out and having the Fiero back on the road so I can give rides and test drives. If any of you who are close enough would be interested in dropping by, shoot me an email at randy@cz-ev.com. I am close to Kirkersville, OH, just east of Columbus. Saturday, April 25th is my tentative date, so mark in on your calenders.
Thanks for reading my blog,
Randy
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