Got me an Insight...

[NoD~]

I'm trying to knock down as much as I can while I'm motivated! lol

I checked the rear brakes, the pads looked good enough. Bled those out while I was at it.

Got new brake pads for the front coming. New idler on the way as well (already got the belt). Might not need replaced, but it's $15 to just get it over with, so figured it was worth doing.

Grid charger his about 172v and has been hovering around there for a while now, so I'm guessing that's where it's hitting the ceiling. Still need to figure out the discharge system.

I also found an easy fix to the trunk lock actuator. I took apart my driver's door one that I pulled out (that still worked) and, whatya know, same motor! So, swapped them and now it locks and unlocks just fine.

[Daox]

Nice work with the actuators!

[NoD~]

I went for a drive after a few hours on 172v. It's never given me that much constant assist! And never did IMA light on me, either. I gave it all it had. After the gauge dropped 1/2-1/3 of the battery, it dropped pretty quick from there. Once it his about 2 bars, I stopped using it and got it home. Sat around 155 volts (after a bit of recharging on the way back). I will let it get a full charge again and repeat this process to hopefully bring some balance back, but I have WAY more faith in this process after today's drive!

I also pulled the rear tail and did some measurements to find LED replacement bulbs that will fit.

-Reverse light will go up to 1" longer than a stock bulb
-Marker/Brake light will go up to 1 3/8" longer than a stock bulb
-Turn light will go up to 1/4" longer than a stock bulb

So looks like Reverse and Brake lights can be demons in size, but turns are gonna have to be short. Visually, it looks like the front turns can be up to 1/2" longer, but I haven't actually measured it yet.

(How I measured is I took the stock bulb in the socket, measured that, then shoved my measuring tape inside the hole of the assembly to find maximum depth, then subtracted the two. Stock bulb rounded up and total depth rounded down, to give a bit of headroom, though the measurements were pretty tight.)

Now it's time to shop around and see what my true options are now!

[NoD~]

OK, so I've been trying to get some stuff done on this guy...

-Pulled the rear wiper (not the motor, yet)
-Removed the EPS controller (now no notification lights on the dash! woot!)
-Removed intake resonator box
-Changed belt + pulley on engine AC/Water pump system
-Changed transmission fluid to BG SyncroShift II (old fluid unknown, but looked decent still)

Upcoming shortly...
-Brake pad change out
-Fix rear bumper bottom (no buttons, hangs down like a parachute!)
-Rear MM swap
-Upper & Lower Grill Blocks
-Passenger mirror delete & interior mirror install
-Discharger setup, do some deep cycling
-Block heater & Trans fluid swapout
-Clutch fluid bleed

I have a lot more planning in the pipe, but lower priority stuff.

Question: Is this belly panel on the passenger side supposed to resemble a ruffled potato chip?

[Xist]

Warped from heat?

[Ecky]

Nope, that looks off. Should be basically flat.

[cowmeat]

Turtle's looked just like that. I screwed some flat steel bars onto it to hold its shape before adding the belly pan

[NoD~]

Grid Discharger thrown together...



Two 60w bulbs in series. Charger tapped for the 12v to keep the fans going for good measures.

It discharged from 155 to around 142 over about 3 hours last night, so figured it was safe to go to bed and check it in the morning. Morning came (7 hours later) and no bulbs on when I went to the garage. Checked the voltage, 5v! Wow... I was hoping to swap those bulbs out to something smaller at 120-90 volt range, but guess I missed my chance. Charging now... well see what it does.

Also, I bought a postage scale to start taking accurate measurements of weight on things I remove/swap. I'll get a link going to the spread sheet in the first post.

[Daox]

Yeah, the discharge curve of batteries is really not linear. Once they get outside of their normal SOC range, they drop like a brick. Here is a discharge curve for a nimh battery I found here. You went from the red mark on the left to the red mark on the right in those 3 hours.

BTW, what charger/discharger design did you go with? I need to make one too.

[Ecky]

I'm hoping to draw a diagram for my updated design in the next day or two.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/512771-post330.html