It works. It bloody works. After a frustrating few days with it sort of working, and some minor mishaps (I shorted something on an unshielded 12v connection – but everything seems to have survived). A firmware downgrade (5.05 to 4.96 if you’re interested) has fixed everything. The wheels spin like a dervish now and the motor makes an absolutely wicked noise. My homebrew coupler seems … Continue reading BUZZING!
Progress has continued apace since my last update. Mostly on the wiring and plumbing, including for the vacuum pump and power steering. 12V Wiring Somewhere in my workshop are two fuse boxes. Where they are, I have no idea. So I’ve ordered yet another one. The way I sell it to myself is that I’m just stocking up on parts for the next project… I … Continue reading Wiring up
One of mine and my daughter’s favourite YouTube channels is The Post Apocalyptic Inventor. On a recent episode he used a cheap adaptor to restore a load of old power tools to life with modern batteries from a different brand. I’ve been sat on an old drill for ages, unwilling to throw it out because it was still perfectly good apart from its Ni-Cad batteries. … Continue reading Adding new batteries to old power tools
You know how it is with big projects: life gets in the way. So I won’t bore you with the details. But, things are flying again on the Z300 EV project. In bullets first just give me an agenda for my own post: All the welding on the rear quarters is done All the remaining mounts and brackets are finished The motor cooling loop is … Continue reading Monster update
Time for another monster update as it has been over a month since the last one. What have I done? Rear axle assembly Getting this apart proved a ballache. Lots of rusted nuts & bolts – was glad of new impact wrench. Brake lines were the worst. I ended up cutting most of these off. The calipers were pretty shot too. One was maybe rescuable … Continue reading Heating up
About 12 years ago the start-up I co-founded joined an accelerator programme. One of my takeaways from my time spent there (I was still running another business) was the phrase “JFDI”, short for “Just f***ing do it.” I think it is fair to say I have reached the JFDI stage on this project. In April we are getting a load of building work done. This … Continue reading JFDI
It has been a while since my last update. My inverter control board was off getting repaired, the cold weather, rain and snow made outdoor work either unsafe or unappealing, and right up until the break I was buried with work. But getting there again now. With everything else ruled out I decided to focus on my battery pack and charging. If you’ve been following … Continue reading Charging ahead
It turns out that the inverter board failing and me smoking some components (see last installment) was just the beginning of a week of technological disasters for me. My broadband router failed, wiping out a morning while I tried to cobble together a working arrangement until I could get hold of a replacement. In the middle of that, my web server (actually a virtual instance) … Continue reading Rebuilding enthusiasm
Yeah, it’s all borked. So, after the little success of last time, I was very keen to get the wheels spinning. And if I’m honest, I wasn’t cautious enough. And that’s being polite about it. I was a bit of a knob. Twice. With one battery pack hooked up, giving us 60V, we put the key in and gave it a twist. The inverter came … Continue reading Back to the bench
So, the wiring is now largely done, and it’s time to start testing High Voltage 35mm2 cable is pretty awkward to work with. Working my way around the car, I worked out the lengths I needed for each of the connections – battery box to junction box, junction box to inverter, inverter to motor – and cut lengths off before crimping on connectors using a borrowed … Continue reading In the cabin
