It's the Little Things

Continuing the refinement process, I added two little neoprene bumpers to the motor hatch in back to stop the rattling - not much to see there. Also devised a way to lower the soft top without pulling all the snaps off the back (which is a real pain, literally). Securing the folded top with velcro straps keeps it from flapping around in the slipstream.

The straps are attached to the spare tire supports by simply wrapping the velcro around the support tube.

The corners still tended to lift at speed, so another velcro strap on the diagonal from the folded top frame to the spare tire support got that under control.









The evTD is taking part in the "Maker Faire" show this weekend at Austin's Palmer Events Center. This show is about DIY activity of all sorts. Because it will be a crowd that isn't familiar with electric vehicles, I wanted to complete something I started eight months ago and never quite got around to. You may recall that I originally configured closed boxes to contain the miscellaneous electric bits where the most positive and most negative cables attach to the pack. In the crunch to get the project finished for EVCCON, I took a shortcut and attached the shunt, fuse, and current sensor directly to the front platform.

It seemed OK for EVCCON where everyone is knowledgable about circuits and wouldn't be touching exposed 230 volt connections, but I felt it needed to be "finger safe" for a more generalized audience. The negative component box was pulled off the shelf and configured with the shunt, fuse, and current sensor inside.

I remembered why it didn't get done the first time - I needed to re-build the current sensor link so it was about an inch longer and had the gland nut in place before crimping on the lug. With that done, it went together nicely.

It fit the space well and tidied up what had been a busy looking, somewhat cobbled up area. With the cover installed it looks almost like I planned it that way.

The other new item you'll notice is the maintenance switch on the upper platform. It's become apparent that the DC/DC converter needs to run full time to keep up with the "always-on" 12 volt loads; the GPS speedometer, radio, BMS, and JLD 404 amp-hour meter. The maintenance switch gives me another way to disconnect the pack in addition to the emergency contactor.