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

GRASS, PAINT, BRAKES, AND LOOKING BACK TO WHERE WE CAME FROM

No work so far this week on the Fiero EV project but that is not to say I haven't been busy! 

Last Thursday, the first grass cut was done with the rebuilt 1970 110 John Deere mower and my lawn got a crew cut. With no operator's manual, I had to search the internet to figure out how to adjust the deck height. Also I found some ideas on how to level the deck. Also, there may be a problem with one of the bearing assemblies, as it seems that one of the blades is cutting lower than the others. The blade bearing assembly goes into a fit on the mower deck and if everything is not clean, could go in crooked. I also remember one of the blade shafts having a little more play than the other two, so the deck may have to be removed and possibly a thicker washer used to remove that extra play.

MOWER DECK INSTALLED

FIRST CUT WITH REBUILT MOWER

It seems that the brakes wore out on both of my cars at the same time, so Saturday was spent installing new ones. I already had front rotors and pads for the Miata, so was able to install the new brakes in a couple hours. One down, one to go! I had to make a run to Autozone to pick up the rotors and pads for the Cavalier but upon returning home, had the driver's side whipped out in an hour. Good thing, because as soon as I had the first one done, it started raining. Anyway, not a problem because the driver's side was the one that was completely worn down and scraping when the brakes were applied. The passenger side can be done when the rain stops but for now, I will just use the time to pick up the supplies for the wall painting project.

NEW BRAKE PADS AND ROTORS

We are having new flooring installed in the kitchen and dining room but wanted to paint the walls first. The wall paper was removed last week and we made a trip to the paint store to purchase paint, brushes and everything needed to do the job. It is raining in Columbus, Oh this weekend, so today would be a good time to get busy on the project.

Inside EVs had an article about an EV Prototype that was built back in the 70's:

Blast From The Past: 1979 Chrysler ETV-1

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It is amazing to me that 40 years later, a power plant mechanic with no engineering background can build an EV for thousands of dollars that blows away a prototype that had hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars pumped into it. Of course, I was still using a slide rule when I graduated from an Electronics Repair Trade School in 1974.

The next project on the Fiero is to get the charger mounted back in the car. Since the PIC chip did not work to control the charger, I am going to use a Siemens contactor and a EPM-5740TVR, 4 Digit Red LED Volt Meter with dual relays to shut off the Zivan NG3 charger. I also bought some orange split loom to use with the 120 volt dc traction module wiring.

MATERIAL FOR NEXT PROJECT

So many projects, so little time!

Randy