[thingstodo]

The target for the week is to get all of the pieces arranged on my garage floor, get things wired together, and to make sure everything works.

The High Voltage Junction Box (HVJB) should have finger-safe guards on it to prevent accidental contact with the 72 VDC. It's just a chunk of plywood, sort of like a backplate, so I don't have a junction box to mount it into, either.

The Low Voltage Junction box (LVJB) does not really need to be finger-safe, but there should be some sort of cover to prevent a dropped wrench from shorting things out. Again, it's just a chunk of wood.

I have some clear and some tinted plexiglass of various sizes, most are large enough to soften and bend into U shapes to cover the bus bar. But that's a LOT of work and I don't think that this is the last time that I'll need to re-arrange parts to make additions. I`ll do that for the final design so that it looks neat and professional ... but I`m not there yet.

As is my custom when I`m looking for inspiration when solving a problem, I went for a walk around the yard (OK, not quite the whole yard - the path through the snow that goes to each shed and the garage). I found some tempered glass, but that would be even MORE work to use. A few clear plastic jugs that could be forced into service if required ... but nothing that shouts - THAT`S IT... Then I tried the basement. My wife bought some clear plastic Rubbermaid containers that stack together. If I can make the HVJB and LVJB backplates fit into the bottom of a clear container, then I can use one cover and the whole thing is finger-safe! THAT`S IT! Minimum work is always nice.

So I did a trial fit of the backplates, to stack it all together. A bit of a problem - the HVJB is long and narrow where the container is shorter and wider ... I guess there is SOME work required ...

So I re-arranged the HVJB from battery pack + on the far left and B+ to the controller on the far right to more of an L shape. The B+ terminal to the controller comes out nearest you (bottom?). It still doesn't quite fit into the bottom of the container, but it will clear the top portion and allow the next container to stack inside - good enough.

The LVJB was on a larger backplate but only required a 'trim' to have it fit into a clear container.

The wiring between the HVJB, the LVJB and the controller will be quite short when it is installed in the Motor Module. I don't have a 40 inch wide plate to mount everything on. So I stacked the LVJB on the bottom, the controller in the 'middle' of the stack, and the HVJB on 'top' since it has a manual disconnect switch that I need access to.

I set up the batteries in 3 sets of 2. A longer cable between - on one pair and + on the next pair. The connection between the batteries in each pair was + on battery 1 to a 6 inch cable to a fuse or a switch, then another 6 inch cable to the - on battery 2. A short *ALMOST* anywhere should blow a fuse .. or as close as I can get, anyway.

Connecting up the high voltage cables was an issue - the clear container does not allow for the cables to enter and exit and sit correctly while still stacking ... and when I get the cables to fit onto the IN and OUT terminals, the cables won`t exit at all. SIGH! I guess the next iteration I'll change it around again. Maybe I can get all of the larger cables out one side and that will allow clearance? Or maybe I should find an easier solution?

The LVJB cables can exit correctly, but the cable that I had lying around ended up being about 6 feet long, so I did not need to stack it beneath the HVJB. So I spread things out. I used 5 foot long cables to connect to the controller so everything is well spaced and easy to see. I can still use the clear containers to be finger guards when this all gets installed inside my test car.

I'll post some pictures and a video of the setup working on the floor when I get the pictures trimmed down far enough to upload. The video will have to be a link to Youtube.