MOUNTING THE D-SUB CONNECTOR

Since the 12 volt DC-DC converter quit working, another two were ordered from Light Object. While waiting on them to arrive on Friday, I decided to work on mounting the d-sub connector. As the metal on a computer where these connectors are usually mounted is much thinner than the plastic case of the instrument, they would not mount up with the coupling nuts that are typically used. The female connector had to be mounted to the outside of the housing and the holes on it, had to be threaded to 6-32 threads. Then 6-32 studs had to be made from some small brass bolts to screw into the connector holes with nuts installed on the inside of the housing. This should give me a solid mounting of the female half of the connector and will allow me to plug the male half in and then fasten it with two more screws on the outside of the housing. 

TYPICAL D-SUB STANDOFF

OUTSIDE OF THE CASE VIEW

INSIDE OF CASE VIEW

The addition of the screws on the inside of the case will probably require that a little more of the cluster light dividers be trimmed but I am getting closer to having the it all back together and back in the car.

More this weekend,

Randy

NO BODY TOLD ME

Yesterday evening the instrument panel was tested and true to form, the dual panel meters did not light up. Monday after taking my wife to the doctor, I started trouble shooting the wiring and found that the bottom four wires on the female connector were backwards. No problem, just unsolder and put them back in correctly. A couple of the extra male prongs from the crimp d-sub connector were used on a 9 volt dc adapter to plug into the d-sub female connector on the new wiring harness but the panel meters still would not power up. Voltage readings were taken on the exposed metal on the top of the IDC connectors and there was no voltage, so on looking up the IDC  (insulation displacement contact, found that an insertion  tool is required. After looking around the garage I decided to try to use a male spade connector and was able to stand up the IDC connector and after aligning the spade up on the wire, was able to tap it with a hammer until you could actually feel the wire insert into the slot.

2.54 MM to IDC CONNECTOR

Great, time to try again, just wish the guy at Mouser would have told me you needed an insertion tool when he recommended the connector. This time, one meter lit up so the DC-DC converters were switched and sure enough, the other panel meter lit up and must have been damaged when the wires were desoldered. These DC-DC converters seem to be very delicate, so I order them by two so I will always have a spare.

ONE METER LIT

I really wanted to get the instrument panel back in the car this weekend but at least I am getting closer. 

Until next time,

Randy

JUST ANOTHER BUSY SUNDAY

This morning I slept in until 8am, as I had waited for EVTV to load and did not get finished watching it until 3am. Saturday female d-sub connector was made up with the wires coming from the traction and 12 volt batteries, in addition to 12 volt switched power for the instrument panel digital volt/amp meters. The connector just did not turn out good. I can't see, haven't soldered for some time, and was really never good at soldering anyway, so the d-sub connector looked like crap!

D-SUB FEMALE CONNTECOR

FIRST ATTEMPT OF SOLDERING

As you can see, solder flowed onto the flange and I burnt the insulator between the pins. Not real pretty but I guess, it was good practice.

The first thing Sunday morning, a trip was made  back to Radio Shack to pick up another d-sub female and also a male connector, as the store I went to Saturday did not have the male. Radio Shack is high for these connectors but I wanted them this weekend and of course, there is not shipping charge if they are picked up in the store. Ok, I had the connectors I needed but also picked up some thinner gauge solder as this should help with the solder overflow onto the connector flange. The second problem I had was my inability to see the little connector where the wire needed to be soldered, so made a trip to Dollar General and picked up some stronger reading glasses to magnify the connector when it is being soldered. 

READING GLASSES 

It turned out being a beautiful day in central Ohio, so to help with seeing the solder joint, a little work bench was set up on the Better Place box that is sitting outside my garage so I could work in sunlight. To make sure I wasn't missing something, a Youtube vides was watched and I did pick up the tip of putting a spot of solder on the iron first and then putting it on the joint to transfer the heat to the connection. Everything worked, as my second attempt resulted in a much better looking connector.

FEMALE D-SUB CONNECTOR 2ND ATTEMPT

Now onto the male connector inside the car. By now I was getting a little more comfortable making the solder joints and in no time, had all of the connections made.

D-SUB MALE CONNECTOR

So as to keep with the tradition of going out to the garage, falling down drunk and playing with high voltage, a break was taken and I had a couple of  Stone Ruinations. Ok, I wasn't falling down drunk but 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

STONE BREWERY RUINATIUS

After my little break, I am going to start reassembling the instrument cluster, so may post later tonight.

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy

FABRICATING THE MOUNTING FOR THE VOLT/AMP METERS

Saturday my wife and I met my family in Coshocton to go on the Fall Foliage tour. We skipped the last two farms on the tour and went to the Roscoe Village Apple Butter Stirring Festival. That pretty much took up Saturday so no work was done on the Fiero.

ROSCOE APPLE BUTTER STIRRIN'

Sunday morning was chilly but started warming up around 9am, so it was time to start on reworking the instrument cluster to incorporate the Volt/Amp digital meters. Right off the bat, I could not find a socket or nut driver that fit the small screws holding the face plate on, so drove over to Ace Hardware in Baltimore, OH to pick up some tools. Before EVCCON I picked up a 1/4 inch drive metric socket set so after finding out the socket I needed was 7/32 picked up a 1/4 inch drive, inch socket set and some inch nut drivers. 

Templates were made for the face plate to mount the meters and the terminal spacing to plug into the existing contact clips that were removed from the instrument cluster that origanally came with the car. The hole locations were transferred to a piece of aluminum sheet metal and were drilled out, then a template was made for the meter and was cut out on the plate with a Dremel cutoff wheel. The plate edges were cleaned up and the meters were tested for fit.

METER MOUNTING PLATE

Then focus turned to making a contact plate so the original contact clips can be used to connect the meters. The holes from the template were transferred to a piece of plexiglas and were drilled out. After another trip to Ace Hardware, brass screws were located in the holes and screwed into place. The contact plate fit like a glove and should work out great.

OLD CLUSTER WITH CONTACTS REMOVED

NEW CLUSTER WITH CONTACTS

STUDS ON BACK OF TEMP AND FUEL GAUGES

CONTACT PLATE

CONTACT PLATE MOUNTED

FACE TEST FITTED

The dual Volt Amp meters are not isolated, so I have to use a 12 volt dc-dc converter to power one of them up to make sure the pack negative is not tied to the 12 volt negative. The leads on the dc-dc converter are very small and require soldering the wires onto them. This can be done but twice not I have had a solder joint fail and the wire come loose, causing the meter not to work, so found a connector that the dc-dc converter will plug into that has connections that you push the wire on to connect them. I believe this will be a much more reliable way to connect the wires to the DC-DC converter and will make the operation of the Volt/Amp meters much more reliable.

DC-DC CONVERTER CONNTCTOR

Next weekend the wiring will be started so I am digging up the instrument cluster schematics and diagrams to find the wires that will need to be spliced to be able to use the original connectors.

More next week,

Randy

ZOMBIE 222

Tag along with Zombie 222 owner Mitch Medford as he prepares the car for the Texas Mile!

ALIEN MOTION BATTERIES

2 Day Sales Event!

Get a FREE AME4 Balance Charger 

with a purchase of anAM8-XP or 

AM12-XP Alien Motion® Battery

IGNITION AND INSTRUMENT CLUSTER WORK

Yesterday I worked on the top opening cylinders on my Wife's SLK230 and was able to get it to go up and down by filling the pump with hydraulic fluid. There is a leak in the passenger side top cylinder so there just was not enough fluid to make the top go up and down. Of course this meant I had to make a trip to the Mercedes dealer in Columbus, OH as that is the only hydraulic fluid I have found that will work. The seals still need replaced in the cylinder but that can wait until after we go on the Fall Foliage Tour in Coshocton, OH, next weekend.

So that left Sunday open to work on installing the new ignition switch and removing the instrument cluster. The steering column was dropped and the new ignition switch went in smoothly. Next the screws were removed and the instrument cluster was removed. Upon inspection, the ground wire had come off of the small dc-dc converter for the 12 volt meter, so that is why it had quit working. It is my hope that the new circuit board will solve the right side instrument cluster lights not working and  will also fix the trip counter, that currently is not working. I want to find either a plug or a circuit board with a plug for the 12 volt dc-dc converters, as soldering the wires to the small terminals is hit and miss at best.

NEW IGNITION SWITCH

INSTRUMENT CLUSTER REMOVED

OLD AND NEW CLUSTER

Until next post,

Randy

MOVING FORWARD

Many people have asked me when the Fiero conversion will be done and I always reply "Never, there will always be something that can be improved." 

The shift linkage came out of adjustment the last two days in Cape Girardeau and could only be shifted into 1st, 2nd, and reverse. Upon returning home, the linkage was finally able to be adjusted to go into all four gears. 

SHIFT CABLE ADJUSTMENT

My next project is to replace the ignition switch, as the switched power going to the traction pack meter stays on when the key is turned off sometimes. A new switch was purchased from Parts Geek and arrived on Monday.

NEW IGNITION SWITCH

Since the steering column has to be dropped to install the new ignition switch, I figure it would be a good time to install the new instrument cluster. The circuit board on the old one is broken in a couple places and the dash lights on the speedometer side do not come on. The circuit board and connections on the new cluster look to be in very good condition and will hopefully fix this problem.

NEW (USED) INSTRUMENT CLUSTER

The seals also need replaced in my wife's SLK230 power top cylinders, so I have quite a bit of work on my plate that will need to be shared with working on the Fiero, not to mention a little paint trim work in the bathroom and kitchen. It would be nice to just focus on the Fiero but as the saying goes "A happy wife makes for a happy life," so I guess these other projects will just need to be worked in!

Until next time,

Randy

EVCCON 2015 WRAP UP

Michael Brown, a retired IBM employee, now residing in Thailand, made Cape Girardeau and EVCCON a stop on his world tour this year. Every year I go to EVCCON with the intention of doing daily blog posts about the event but have always found that others have already done write ups and that there is really no need to duplicate their efforts. Below are Mike's daily blog posts covering this year's event:

EVCCON 2015 Day -1

EVCCON 2015 - Day 0

EVCCON 2015 - Day 1

EVCCON 2015 - Day 2

EVCCON 2015 - Day 3

FINAL EVCCON 2015 WHISKEY TOAST

A special thanks to Brian Couchane for the ride to and from EVCCON for me and the Fiero! Brian is always lending a hand to other EVers and even brought his generator all the way from Ohio it the back of his truck, so those drag racing at Dyno Dom's in Siskin, MO would be able to charge between runs. Again many thanks Brian!

Also the help getting the vacuum leak on my brake line fixed by Aaron Lephart and his father was greatly appreciated. They went to the local NAPA and picked up some different clamps while I finished breakfast and would not even accept any payment for them. I appreciate the help guys and look forward to seeing you next year!

The week always goes so fast and I sit here in my hotel room wishing that I was getting up tomorrow and going to another session filled day at the EVTV garage instead of loading up the car and heading home but I guess that will just need to wait until next year!

To another Great EVCCON,

Randy

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

In May of 2009, while searching the internet for alternate fuel vehicles, I came across a video done by Jack Rickard of Cape Girardeau, MO,  that featured a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster replica, electric conversion. At the bidding of Jack's then partner, Brian Noto, weekly EVTV Shows started being produced by June of that year. Needless to say, I was hooked and started attending the yearly Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention (EVCCON)  from that year until now. This year the weather cooperated and  a barbecue was finally held at Jack Rickard's home, overlooking the Mississippi, River; The location of the original weekly video productions.

The ORIGINAL EVTV GARAGE

So when when I walked into the driveway from the fire pit and saw the door of the garage open, it took me back to the the beginning of the EVTV weekly show , the source of the many great memories I have of past EVCCONS and of most of the knowledge I have gained about electric cars, over the last 6 years.

THE ORIGINAL EVTV GARAGE

INSIDE THE ORIGINAL EVTV GARAGE

JACK'S STILL

There were many absent from EVCCON, renamed The EVTV Open House this year but for me and a group of die hards, we got a real trip down memory lane!

My dream was always to be able to bring a car to the show and life is short, so you never really know if you will ever be in Cape Girardeau again, but this year my dream came true!

Long live your dreams,

Randy