RANGE TESTING AND SETTING UP THE CHARGER

Where did the summer go! In addition to trying to get the Fiero ready for EVCCON, I have been trying to work on the kitchen and bathroom and a 1998 Mercedes SLK240 was purchased last month that is requiring a little work to bring to a reliable running state.

1998 SLK240

Last weekend I helped Brian Couchene put up some ceiling panels in his workshop. While we were working the Fiero was charged and after supper, we pulled the Fiero on Brian's dolly, to make sure it would fit. I drove home 23 miles from Brian's and then put another 15 miles on the charge. The voltage was still at 122 volts but  I am still not sure what the range is with the second module installed. Today, I put another charge on the batteries and the modules took 58 amp hours. I am expecting the modules to take at least 80 amp hours to charge from when they are almost discharged but have never come close to that when charging. As voltage is not a very good indicator of the level of charge and I really don't like being hauled home on the back of a flatbed, I am having a little bit of a problem determining how fare the car will actually go. Also, after hooking up the Zivan NG3 charger and before starting the charge, I noticed that I was discharging at 10 amps. The IOTA DC to DC converter was unplugged from the battery modules and plugged into a 110 volt ac extension cord and the amps dropped to zero. When I was at Brian's, he noticed that the heater fan was running all of the time, so with the ignition on, that may be where the 10 amps is coming from, as just the meters and contactors should not be pulling that much juice. I am going to dig out the schematics and find out if the fan can be wired to turn off when in the off position.

A new light switch was ordered, as the left headlight does not seem to be getting power to the closing relay. The headlight will stay up when the lights are turned off, then sometimes hours later will magically go down while just sitting there. Same with the speedometer lights and parking brake warning light. They will work for awhile then not work. Wiggling connectors or wiring does not cause them to flicker, so I am at a loss at to where to look to find the connections problem. I may just order a new ignition switch just to make sure that is not the root cause of the problem. I also purchased a different instrument panel, as some of the copper was peeling off of the circuit board on the one that is currently installed. I will need to take the new instrument cluster apart and do some modifications to get the meters installed but that will be this winter.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy