Replaced most of the external bulbs with LEDs this morn. For those unfamiliar with modern LED bulbs, I took a comparison photo. LED on the left, regular bulb on the right:
[IMG]photoshare.shaw.ca/image/b/2/5/307842/fireflyevconversion00075-0.jpg[/IMG]
Get the
right LED bulb, and it will be at least as bright as a normal bulb.
Or, in my case, you might get bulbs that are notably
too bright.
(give me a break; I was trying a new bulb format)
Still need to order some more; I'm not satisfied with some of the bulbs up front. And I have the 3rd brake light & dome light sitting on my work bench, as they will be getting "panel" (dome) LEDs. You can get the idea from these pics of when I put them in my '95:
Why is this important enough to do asap? Well, it helps that it's pretty dang straight forward/simple, but the main reason is to cut down on battery draw ASAP. I've had to recharge the main battery already, which I pulled out to do, and had a temp 20ah SLA in there for the two brief driving tests which has already needed recharging.
Ok, it could have kept going, but I didn't want my field current to drop too far during the tests.
The proper battery can go back in, now that it has been charged and has a small BMS to control the charging. That will come next.
Which reminds me, I have to decide how I'm going to manipulate the field voltage/current. Its not bad with just 12v on the field, but it would be particularly beneficial with 2nd gear take offs to have more torque. And I might want it for hill climbing too.
I have various options within reach, and others which I could order easily enough. I think I like the idea of controlling it manually...and the clutch pedal is just sitting there doing nothing useful. I'd be all over that idea with the stuff I have on hand, but a 50/100a controller is overkill, in my opinion. I only need half that. I'd rather not use a sledge hammer where it's not necessary.