FULL SPEED AHEAD.....DAM THE TORPEDOES!!!

My trimmer has a plastic hose to push gas into the carburetor when pumping the primer. The hose was old and had cracked in two, so I took it down the street to a repair shop to see if they had the hose. The guy came out and told me that they did not work on small engines and didn't know of any other shops that did either, so I brought it back home and went on the hunt for a tube that may work. I noticed a #10 cable with a thick jacket and proceeded to pull the wire out of it. I did some fitting and cutting to get the right length and after installed, the trimmer started right up and was able to accelerate again. Good thing because my yard really needs a good trimming. It is really hard to get things worked on anymore and it seems we pretty have a throw away mentality anymore.

After getting the weed eater squared away, I  started with putting the HiPower batteries back in the car and hooking all the connections back up. Wouldn't you know, I still have a ground fault but now it is only 65 volts. I followed it around the pack and it changes polarity at the last cell on the negative side of the pack. This is leading me to the front to back power leads, controller, motor, or possibly the DC-DC converter. Just before I started disconnecting leads, a small package arrived.

PACK BACK IN

Light Object is amazing on their shipping as I ordered the DC-DC converter on Wednesday and it was here Saturday, with just standard USPS first class shipping. Having wired up the first one incorrectly, I went to the Light Object website and found a more detailed description of how it is wired.

WIRING LAYOUT FOR DC-DC ISOLATOR

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE LEADS ATTACHED

Light Objects is a little lacking on the documentation sent with their products but usually has everything you need if you search their website and sure enough, after poking around was able to find a write up with a couple of pictures. As new meters were ordered that may have a different connector for the power side, I only soldered the 12 volt wires to the new DC-DC converter and will solder the measurement side after the new meters arrive. Most of the meters I have ordered are shipped via China Courier Service and it seems like the Slow Boat From China Syndrome! The meters are not scheduled to arrive until June 26.

Enough waiting around, I started looking around the garage for materials that could be made into the rear firewall bulkhead. Finally a dimmer switch was spotted with a housing that looked like it may just work. The rivets were drilled out and the dimmer electronics were removed. Then the search was on for a piece of  sheet metal to cover the hole in the firewall and mount the housing to. Finally I came across a small square (well almost) piece of metal that would work. One edge was cut a little rough so I got out my grinder and evened up all of the sides. Then a hole was put in the middle with a hole saw, a coat of black paint was applied,  and a weather proof  cable gland was installed. Then a hole was put in the housing with a hole saw and the housing was bolted to the plate. The assembly was mounted over the hole in the firewall with a couple of self taping screws. Ok, I am on a roll now so started feeding the network cable, 12 volt shunt cables, and 6 more wires to use for the speedometer.and anything else that may come up later.

BULKHEAD INSIDE VIEW

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

FRIDAY THE 13TH

My workload was a little lite and the weather wasn't bad, so I decided to take a half day vacation to work on the Fiero. This week a new dual meter arrived to replace the one that quit working and I decided to test the one that was used on the 12 volt system that was not showing an amp reading. A headlight was wired to the shunt and the meter connections were made on the test bench and after a small puff of smoke, the meter went dead. It is discouraging because at least they both lit up when they were in the dash and the 120 pack ammeter was actually giving me a reading. I thought the low voltage and high voltage sides were isolated on the meters but when I hooked the ohm meter between the grounds, there is a dead short, so a 12 volt to 12 volt isolation dc converter will need to be added to the circuit. I found different dual volt/amp meters and ordered a couple of them. So the meter project is in "Hurry Up and Wait" status.

VOLT AMP METER

On to the heater circuit. The fuse arrived last week and I got on the internet to try to find a holder. The only holder I could find was in a breaker switch, had to be ordered by the case of 40, and was $150, so my $6 fuse was going to cost me an arm and leg to install. Back to EBAY where I bought an inline fuse and holder for a solar system that will work. Again, "Hurry Up and Wait."

FUSE AND HOLDER FOR HEATER

Diodes are going to be needed to run power for the solid state relay that is being used  for the heater so the element will not be energized unless the fan is running and 3 of them were ordered from Radio shack. Once again "Hurry Up and Wait."

NTE5812HC - RECTIFIER

A successful test was done on the solid state relay when the 12 volt control circuit was hooked up and an ohm reading taken across the output side. The indicating light lit up and the reading dropped from 100 mega ohms to around 3k ohms. I am figuring you need the high voltage hooked up for it to actually pass current so am not concerned about the reading.

After burning up the meter, I figured it is time to update the schematic so when they go back in the dash I won't hook up the wrong wires again. The red wire from the positive side of the traction pack also runs to the center of the console for the JLD404 and it was hooked to the low voltage positive wire coming off of the shunt. Since the dual meters do not seem to be isolated, it ended up smoking the power supply on the high voltage meter. Thank goodness these meters aren't real expensive!

DUAL METER SCHEMATIC

The wiring really needs to get finished so I can continue on with getting the interior back together.There is still the JLD404, Dell Venue 8, tachometer, and speedometer wiring to go before the center console and seats can go back into the car. Then I need to come up with a bulkhead to run the wires through the rear firewall. So much work, so little time!

Until next post,

Randy

TIDYING UP THE ELECTRICAL

Saturday morning, readings were taken on the shunt holder studs and after finding resistance to ground, the shunt and stands were removed. New shunt holders were ordered from EBAY but the old rubber plugs were re-installed with an insulating washer to try to get ride of the resistance to ground.

SHUNT HOLDER

SHUNT TERMINALS ORDERED ON EBAY

Then the volt/amp meter shunt wires were checked and both had K ohm readings the chassis ground. The meter that no longer lights up was hooked directly to 12 volts and it still did not light up, so it is apparent that when the positive side of the 12 volt shunt was hooked up to the 120 pack voltage positive side of the meter, it blew something in the power supply. I then checked the continuity of the good meter and found that the power supply ground wire and the high voltage side of the meter's grounds were a dead short, so these meters are not isolated. I have new meter ordered from EBAY and ordered a 12 volt to 12 volt isolation DC-DC converter to isolate the meter' power supply ground from the traction pack ground.

DC-DC 12 VOLT ISOLATION CONVERTER

Then the solid state relay was mounted on the firewall and the control and negative side of the pack voltage wires were connected. I ordered a 20 amp, 120-180 volt dc fuse from EBAY that will go on the positive wire going to the traction pack. A micro switch will be added to the heater control to energize the solid state relay.

SOLID STATE HEATER RELAY

Also a new driver's side parking/blinker lamp socket was installed.

NEW PARKING/BLINKER LAMP SOCKET

Not a bad day, considering I also fixed my son's Fiance's speedometer and tachometer problem, helped clean the house, and took everyone to dinner at J Gumbo's. Hopefully all of the parts are on their way to fix the remaining problems.

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy

WIRING DUAL AMP VOLT METERS

After getting back to work from the Holiday, my work load was light and the weather outside was great, so ended up taking a day and a half off to work on the Fiero.

By Wednesday evening one of the duel meters was working, so I did a short video.

PACK DUEL METER WORKING 

Later on Wednesday evening, I started putting the LED lights in the instrument panel. The lowest wattage bulbs were not bright enough, so had to go with higher wattage LED bulbs. Then I blew a fuse while trying to get one of the bulbs in, so will need to go get some fuses.

Thursday morning I called Hebron Scrap and confirmed that they were open. The said they were, so the car was loaded up and off I went to unload some junk. Surprisingly, I got $63.00 for the pile that had accumulated in the Better Place shipping crate, so I put it in my fund to buy new leather seat covers.

Then a shunt was placed on the negative side of the 12 volt battery and connections were made to the lower duel meter in the instrument pane. While trying to remove the drivers side, front blinker light socket, my arm touched the battery pack and chassis ground, giving me a little jolt. Great! All I need is a battery leak to ground. When I was hooking up the low voltage duel meters, I hooked the red wire to 12 volt positive. This was a mistake because actually the red wire hooked to the pack 120 positive side of the shunt, and I fear with the ground leak, blew the high voltage meter 12 volt power supply. Anyway, only the lower meter is working now, so I ordered another meter from EBAY. When the proper wires were hooked up on the 12 volt meter, It read 13.8 volts but I could not get a current reading. Not sure if power is feeding through the dc-dc converter ground and not actually going from the battery, but I will need to do a little more work to try and get a reading of some kind from the 100 amp shunt on the 12 volt system. 

Hopefully I can get the meter that is probably blown out of the instrument pod by removing the face, as I am not thrilled about the possibility of taking the instrument pod out again.

The right angle micro a/b USB arrived today, so I will also need to work on getting the USB wire run to power up the Dell Venue 8 Pro.

MICRO A/B RIGHT ANGLE USB CABLE

A refurbished Powerlab 6 was ordered and should be here in a couple of days to do the second bottom balance of the Better Place module. All of the cells have been brought down below 2.8 volts but have drifted back to 2.85 or so. The Powerlab 6 will allow me to set a much tighter voltage range and I can let it set and cycle at a low amperage drain to try an being them all in line. I have a multi cell cable but am not sure if that will allow me to bottom balance 6 at a time, so will need to play with the Cellpro for awhile to see if that will work. If any of you have used a Cellpro with the multi cell connector to bottom balance, shoot me an email at randy@cz-ev.com

Thanks for stopping by,

Randy 

MOONSHINE FESTIVAL

Friday night we took my son and his fiance to the New Straightsville Moonshine Festival. New Straightsville, OH was an old mining town where the minors had gone on strike for more wages and ended up setting the underground coal on fire, more or less shutting down the mining operation. After the mines shut down, the locals turned to making what was considered special moonshine because of the quality mountain water. The moonshine became very sought after, both nationally and world wide. Because of the notoriety of the moonshine, the state of Ohio granted New Straightsville a special permit to operate a still during the annual festival, as long as the liquor was not consumed and discarded after production.  Once a thriving town, now New Straightsville is a remnant of the past. 

MOONSHINE FESTIVAL SIGN

STILL

When we arrived in New Straitsville, all of the free parking was taken but one of the local residents was allowing visitors to park for $3.00. Not wanting to walk a mile, we pulled in and gave the owner his fee. We were parked next to a 1965 convertible Corvette roadster and notice that the owner was packing a 9mm pistol. Now this is a pretty good deal. In Columbus, it would cost me at least $5.00 to park and I have never been provided with an armed guard to look after my car. Only in New Straitsville!

Ok, you are wondering what a moonshine festival has to do with electric cars. Well the Friday night feature of the moonshine festival was a garden tractor pull on asphalt. I have seen tractor pulls on dirt but never on asphalt. The tires squealed when taking off and again as the engine was bogging down at the end of the run.These were very customized garden tractors, with most of them having body mods, chrome wheels, and show quality paint jobs. While walking down one side of the street I saw a guy sitting on the steps of one of the businesses, watching the tractor pull and thought to myself, I know that guy. When returning, I saw him again it and it dawned on me that I had seen his videos on Youtube.  It was Greg Grubb who runs a conversion shop in central Ohio. I approached him and said is your name Greg? He answered yes and I told him I had seen his videos on Youtube and had contacted him awhile back. We discussed EVs for awhile and he told me his wife pulled garden tractors. So that is what a moonshine festival has to do with EVs. You can see his Youtube videos at  GREG GRUBB YOUTUBE CHANNEL

ASPHALT GARDEN TRACTOR PULL

Ohio has legalized making moonshine (not technically moonshine because it is legal) and the Straitsville Special Moonshine Distillery has opened it's doors in the town. I got one of the jugs from the first batch and although only 90 proof, it is rather tasty, especially with a little cider added.

STRAITSVILLE SPECIAL MOONSHINE

Last week the garage was cleaned and all of the scrap metal put in the Better Place shipping crate, so Saturday morning I decided to take it to the scrap yard and turn it into cash. I checked the hours on the internet to make sure they were open and sure enough, their hours were listed as 8 am to 12 noon, on Saturday.. All of the scrap metal was loaded in the car and off I headed off to the scrap yard. A truck, loaded with old aluminum siding, was ahead of me as we drove down the dirt road to the salvage yard but when we got the the entrance, the gate was closed. I drove through Hebron, Buckeye Lake, and Baltimore, OH but the other scrap yards were all closed down, so I headed back home. A couple hours shot and a bunch of work loading and unloading some heavy scrap metal, wasted.

On to the car. The bottom balance continues, and I have about 12 cells to go in the first bottom balance. The remaining work needing done before installing the dash was surveyed and the wiring harness for the dash meters was started. About 2 pm, I kind of hit the wall.,as I was a little overwhelmed with the wiring, soI went inside and ended up taking a nap to collect my thought on how to proceed. About 5 pm, I went back out to put different connectors on the instrument pod gauges, and finish running the harness from the front battery compartment to the instrument pod. It is in place now with all of the connectors made up, so all that is left is to run a harness from the motor compartment for the 12 volt system. The Venue 8 Pro was mounted in the holder and the mini USB was connected to help figure out how to run the wiring. Then work was done on getting the solder off of the speaker connections and putting connectors on the wires, so they can be easily removed if the dash needs to come out again. Even though I got a bad start, quite a bit of work got done on the wiring by the end of the day. Even though I was in a 2 year electronics technical program in high school, wiring remains my weak spot, and progress on the car slows when I am wiring.

HARNESS WIRING FOR METERS

INSTRUMENT PANEL WIRING FOR METERS

SPEAKER CONNECTORS

Tomorrow we are going to my parents but hopefully there will be more work done on the car, Sunday evening and Monday because I am really anxious to get the interior back together and the first Better Place module mounted.

Mission accomplished for the day, it was time to relax a little and sip on some Straitsville Special moonshine applejack!

Until next time,

Randy

BETTER PLACE BATTERIES

This week one of the modules from the Better Place battery pack was removed.

FIRST MODULE THAT WAS REMOVED

Yesterday, the other two modules were removed and placed in the garage. The shipping crate is now filled with all of the parts that were left over. As I reported earlier, the pack looked in new unused condition but the bolts holding the base to the crate were all missing, meaning the pack had been out of the crate in the past. The dates on the tags on the modules were dated 06/26/10, so the modules are almost 4 years old. The voltages ranged from 124.6 volts to 125 volt and are the lowest of any I have seen so far. That is still in an acceptable range, so we will see how they look after some testing.

REMAINING TWO MODULES REMOVED

I received a new 200 volt digital volt meter today and it is quite a bit smaller than the meter the origninal builder had in the instrument panel, but I believe I can make it work. To be able to install the same size ammeter, I may have to order a 100 amp 75 mv meter and hook it to a 1000 amp 75 mv shunt. It should read the correct amps but you would just need to know to add a zero to the meter reading. Since the face plate has a larger hole cut in it than is necessary for the new meter, I ordered a new face plate. All of the instruments need to be hooked up and tested before I can put the instrument panel back in the car.

My son and one of his high school class mates have a video game website and asked me to do a pod cast with them on the EV Fiero conversion. We had a great time and I will include a link in a future post if anyone is interested. In the future I want to have them help me host a webcast to answer any questions about the build. 

My son's fiance is very good with needle and thread, so tonight she was recruited to help with the interior. The head liner needs replace and I have material, it just needs sown together to have enough.

Some pictures will be added later.

Randy

RIPPING OUT THE INTERIOR

Well, actually I am trying to be a little more careful than just "Ripping" but with the console and instrument panels out, it sure seems like a pile of pieces and parts. I am down to removing the dash cover, and the trim pieces around the windows, side panels, and trim around the sunroof. Then I will be able to reupholster the headliner. I am going to paint all of the trim pieces as they are re-installed and then before putting the dash cover back on, do all of the wiring under the dash and tidy it all up. 

REMOVING INTERIOR

PIECES AND PARTS

The ammeter is working and have it and the volt meter both mounted in the pod and powered up. All that will need to be done is mount the shunt in the car and run the wires to the instrument pod. Spade connectors were put on the wires coming off of the meters so I will be able to just plug everything in.

VOLT AND AMMETER

I am also looking for blue LED panel meters to mount in the dash. I can still find the CX102 panel meters in red LEDs but need to find blue LED meters with the same cut out to fit the holes that are in the instrument panel.

CX102 PANEL METER CUT OUT DIMENSIONS

Mounting locations still need to be found for the Dell Venue and the JLD404 as the available space on the dash is mostly taken up because of it's modular design.

Until tomorrow,

Randy