NO BOOT

Sunday the tablet was configured to go into hibernation mode when power was removed from the micro USB port. The charger was hooked up to switched 12 volts, so when the key switch was turned off, the tablet would hibernate. When I went out tonight to test it, the tablet would not boot up. I brought it inside and plugged it into the charger for about 15 minutes, and  it finally booted up. So back into the battery set-up and in the advanced mode, there were settings for low battery level and critical battery level. I set the low battery level to give a warning at 20% and the critical level to shut down at 15%.  This should reserve enough power to allow the tablet to boot up after shutting it off with the key switch. It will probably be a good practice to shut the tablet down after turning the car off but just in case it is left on, should boot back up now.

BATTERY BASIC SETUP SCREEN

BATTERY ADVANCED MENU 

The radio/heater control center console was still bowed out on the sides a little, causing a gap on the right side when the face plate was installed, so clamps were used to try to pull them back in. Hopefully if it is clamped for a couple of days, it will hold the original shape.

RADIO/HEATER CONTROL COVER CLAMPED

Not a lot done tonight but it was something and I can start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel in getting the interior finished.

Thanks for dropping by,

Randy

MORE WORK ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

It was still a little chilly out this morning, when I finished the mounting for the Dell Venue 8 but the afternoon got up to the middle 50s, so work continued on the Fiero. The tablet was hooked up to a battery and some experimentation was done on getting it to charge while passing data. Originally, the tablet was designed to short the data cables when charging but Dell finally started offering a cable that allows you to pass data while the device is charging.

 It seems that the tablet still will not charge if you use a USB extension cable between the tablet micro USB port and the charge/data cable that Dell now provides. After the charge/data cable was plugged directly into the tablet, it started charging and I was able to see files on the thumb drive I had plugged in, so time to test it out in the car.

CHARGE LIGHT ON

DATA CABLE SHORT ADAPTER.

SERIAL TO USB ADAPTER FROM CONTROLLER

DELL CHARGE/DATA CABLE

SYNKROMOTIVE USER INTERFACE WORKING

The tablet is set up so the back light stays on when it is charging and when the ignition is turned off, it will go in sleep mode in 2 minutes.  The Synkromotive user interface has a couple of very nice gauge tabs, one with 3 large gauges and the other with 6 smaller gauges, so it would be easy to set up motor or battery volts and amps, along with the 12 volt system voltage. The user interface also makes it easy to set up minumum pack voltage and I know from past experience, this feature works well, as the car will not move until you go in and change the setting or charge the car. The minimum pack voltage can be lowered and a limit put on the motor amps and voltage, to function as a limp mode. The problem is, the day I ran my pack too low, I did not have a computer with me, so had to have my wife bring the other car and tow me home. The tablet will solve that problem.

The dash instruments and lights were give a final check and the top dash cover was installed, so another project is done. 

Finally, the face plate on the center console heater control/radio cover was clamped to a flat board and heated with a heat gun to try to remove a slight warp that is causing it not to seat correctly.

STRAIGHTENING THE FACE PLATE

Originally only the bottom and center were clamped down while heating but the top was warped a little also, so while still hot, the top of the face plate was clamped down too.

TOP OF FACE PLATE CLAMPED

A very productive day and finally some light at the end of the tunnel in getting the interior done, so I am real pleased.

On another note, some of my Son's friends want to stop over sometime in April to see the car, so I am considering having a cook out and having the Fiero back on the road so I can give rides and test drives. If any of you who are close enough would be interested in dropping by, shoot me an email at randy@cz-ev.com. I am close to Kirkersville, OH, just east of Columbus.  Saturday, April 25th is my tentative date, so mark in on your calenders.

Thanks for reading my blog,

Randy

SPRING!!

Work pretty much halted during February, as the weather turned bitterly cold, with temperatures in the low single digits and below zero many day. The garage was just too cold to spend much time in but it did present the opportunity for me to order a new center console radio and heater control cover and a couple of different mounting brackets for the Dell Venue 8.

The weather is  finally breaking and I can see the grass changing from brown to green, every morning when I look out the window. Finally I was able to spend some time out in the garage, working on fabricating a plate to mount the JLD404 and a bracket to mount the Dell Venue 8. My Son's fiance offered me the stereo out of her old Jeep that is fairly thin, so with any luck, there will be enough room in the radio opening, to get both the radio and the JLD404 mounted. Up to this point, I have not worried about a radio but now is a good time to address the issue.

The new Dell Venue 8 mounting looks like it is going to work out well.

DELL VENUE 8 MOUNTING (FRONT)

DELL VENUE 8 MOUNTING (REAR)

The bracket was made from aluminum sheet and may not be stiff enough but if that proves to be the case, a bracket out of sheet steel should fix the problem, so I am close to getting the tablet mounting problem solved and finally have a solution that ends up looking real clean.

It's still early Sunday morning, so hopefully I will be able to continue working today and post an update this evening.

Until Then,

Randy

CLIMATE CONTROL AND RADIO HOUSING

The old climate control center console housing had the open top for the oil pressure gauges, so I decided to get one with the closed top, off of EBAY. As is common with the console housings, the sides had come loose from the inner plastic shell, so it was time to get out some contact cement and some clamps, to attach the sides back to the inner frame.

CLIMATE CONTROL COVER (BEFORE)

CLIMATE CONTROL COVER (CLAMPED)

CLIMATE CONTROL COVER (AFTER)

The housing may need another application of adhesive, in a couple areas but as you can see from the last picture, it is much better that it was originally. 

Brackets will be made to bolt onto the top corners, where the bolts go through to hold on the face plate, to mount the bracket for the Dell Venue 8 Pro. This arrangement will give a much cleaner look without the big mounting stand bolted to the top of the housing.

VENUE 8 MOUNT ON OPEN TOP HOUSING

Although not exactly sure how the new mounting bracket will be configured, it has to be better than the big mounting I tried to use originally. 

Thanks for visiting my blog,

Randy

EVTV BUILD DATABASE

Not much going on with the Fiero EV build last week but did decide to post the build on the EVTV Database. The pictures I have are not that great so I went back through my picture archives and finally found a few that will work for now.

1985 FIERO GT EV CONVERSION

This weekend all of my time was spent cleaning carpets and finishing up all of my Christmas shopping, so nothing new on the build. Looking forward to a new year and finally finishing up the conversion.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy

ONWARD HO!

I just finished watching EVTV this week and thought the Taiwan trade show piece was rather good. It was also good seeing Jack driving the EV Thing and looks like it is finally close to a finished product. 

Yesterday the interior trim pieces were installed and the seat belts were fastened down. Everything went fairly well except I got some sealant from one of the panels on the new headliner. Not much but you try so hard for perfection when you are restoring a car that little things like that are rather discouraging. 

SIDE PANELS AND SEAT BELTS INSTALLED

No time to cry over spilled milk, on to the instrument panel and placement of the Dell Venue 8 Pro. After rearranging, and rearranging some more, I kinda of hit the wall, so went inside to get on the internet and to think some more about how to get all of the components to fit in the space available. After some consideration and looking on the internet, I came up with a mount for the Dell Venue 8 Pro. Instead of using the center console pod, a plate will be made to cover the opening and the tablet holder will be mounted on the new cover. After thinking about it, this will allow me to use the camera in the Venue 8 Pro to get driving video and will allow me easy access to be able to remove  the tablet when the car is left unattended. 

TABLET MOUNT

The plan now is to mount two duel meters in the instrument cluster, one for the pack voltage and amperage and one for the 12 volt voltage and amperage. This will keep most of the instrumentation in one place and will allow me to use the dash space above the center console for the Venue 8 Pro. This meter will mount in the available space and the same meter will work for both the traction pack and the 12 volt system. I will use the 100 amp meter with a 1000 amps/75 mv shunt instead of the 100 amps/75 mv shunt that would normally be used. Just add a zero to the reading and that will be the pack amps.The measured side is is also isolated from the power supply, so there will be no need to add a small DC-DC converter to isolate them from each other.

VOLTAGE AMPERAGE DUEL METER

SCHEMATIC FOR ABOVE METER

I have been putting of starting the bottom balance of the better place cells but thought today would be a good day to start. Two quartz spotlights were hooked up across the module and the pack is draining as I am writing this post. I have had quite a bit of interest in the one module I am willing to sell, but so far, now one has been interested in it at the $1500 price I put on it. That is really not bad as if you were to buy one of the remaining packs that turned up at EVTV, it would be around $2200 per module.

After the batteries were hooked up and discharging, I went back to the center console restoration.  The vinyl had swollen on the sides of the center dash enclosure, making unsightly gaps between the face plate and the edges. Glue was squirted between the vinyl and plastic frame and clamped into place with the face plate in position. If this works, the other side will be glued this afternoon. Then the console cover will be painted the new dark gray interior color that the instrument pod and glove box will be changed to and everything should match when finished.

CENTER CONSOLE COVER

Still looking for a good drivers side 1985 Fiero GT seat but may still get get a set of leather seat covers to install. I sent an inquiry to a salvage yard that had seats for a Fiero but they did not specify if they were for a GT.

Just 3-1/2 months until EVCCON and would really like to have the care there this year. Still trying to figure out how to transport it there without breaking the bank.

Until Next week,

Randy

NEW HEADLINER AND MORE!

My son stopped over today and helped me install the new headliner. Everything went well except I cut the sun visor holes too big and the brackets do not overlap the material. I will need to make a plate to extend out a little to cover the gap between the brackets and the headliner. After the headliner is attached to the roof, there is a channel around the sunroof that the material tucks into. After a few tries, we finally got the rubber trim started into the groove, pushing the material into place and after getting around the first corner, had a pretty easy time getting the rubber trim in place. 

HEADLINER INSTALLED

The sun visors are done except for sowing the edge. My son's fiance is going to sow if for me but she needs to get thread and a larger needle first. I took the sun visors to a local upholstery shop but was told that they were in too bad of shape to be redone. Not! I am really surprised how lazy a lot of local businesses are. The owner wasn't even at his shop but was down the street goofing off at a body shop. Anyway, I got some cardboard and cut a new pattern, cleaned and painted the metal retainer, and put the press board in a vice between two boards to take the warp out. Then cut the cardboard, and material before using contact glue to put everything together. They look great and it is good knowing that I did something in a couple of hours that a professional turned away. 

REPAIRED SUN VISORS

The Plugable USB 3.0 docking station that I ordered last week, arrived today and will allow me to have multiple USB inputs to the Dell Venue 8 tablet. I was able to get the Synkromotive user interface installed and the USB driver for the adapter that plugs into the controller. I took the Venue tablet out to the car and was able to connect to the controller. Actually, I did not even need the docking station to connect but will  use it for the final set up to allow me to have multiple inputs, sound outputs, and charging.

PLUGABLE USB 3 DOCKING STATION

Next a little clean up to get ready to start working on the dash wiring and figuring out where and how to mount the meters and tablet. There is a ton of molding to re-install but I want to take the seats out of the car and clean the carpet before putting it back on.

Most of the major purchases have been made for the car, so now it is just a matter of getting everything back together and installed in the car. With only around 4 months until EVCCON, I will need to kick thing up a notch, if I want to be able to take the car.

Thanks for visiting,

Randy