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

A NEW DIRECTION

The box for the contactor, shunt, and fuse was a good idea but just did not seem to fit anywhere, so the mounting of these components was taken in a new direction. First a pattern of the battery was laid out on a piece of aluminum plate, holes drilled for the through rods, and cut to shape. The plate was bolted to the through rods on the battery module in the car and the components were laid out. Then the plate was removed and all of the components were laid out on a flat surface so the bolt holes could be marked. After drilling the holes, the components were all bolted to the plate and it was test installed on the end of the module.

COMPONENT MOUNTING TOP VIEW

COMPONENT MOUNTING BOTTOM VIEW

The shunt has two terminals  on each side so when the front battery module is installed, I will use one of these terminals to parallel the negative sides. A piece of sheet aluminum will be made to cover the gap between the battery and the mounting plate and a piece of plexiglass will be bolted to stand offs to cover the contactor, shunt, and fuse. It will be compact, out of the way and will allow the components to be viewed with out any danger of someone touching a conductor.

It is good to have found a place to mount these contactors and to have figured out where to bring in the power cable from the front of the car, at least to the negative side.Once the covers are made, the plate is mounted and all of the connections are made, I will start looking for a place to mount the positive side contactor, emergency/maintenance switch and tie in for the front module cable.

Thanks for visiting,