Things are a bit exhausting as of late with life. After hitting a loss of 100 pounds, I’ve put 10 pounds back on. One of my neighbors was able to fix one of my cars, so now I’m able to go further than five miles from home now. Work is work, but work gets done.

I couldn’t find my glasses the other day, so I dug out a spare set and drove to the park, only to find my glasses that I had left under a tree during my last visit. So… stress and exhaustion somehow play a mix into life.

So on with the car news.

I was able to wire up the motor and spin it using the controller. In addition, I was able to wire up the SW202 switches for both forward and reverse. Some diodes arrived so that I can wire up the throttle switch for both positions without activating both switches at once, but I haven’t put them in-line yet.

I’ve been having a pretty bad time crimping with heat shrink terminals. I suspect its the ratcheting crimping tool that I am using. It said it was for heat shrink, but I’m having my doubts. I’m looking for a better tool to do the job as well as a ton more terminals.

I’ve been on a few trips recently. The latest trip was 239 wH/mile and was recharging the car at 0.92 miles per hour. I found that I could shave off a half mile when traveling to Gertrude Miller Park if I just park at Lions Community Park instead. The two parks are side-by-side, and I usually walk between the two on my visits. While driving, it doesn’t seem all that far, but a half mile shaved off the trip lets me finish recharging a half hour earlier.

I’ve got everything. Almost everything. I’m still waiting on the battery monitor.

Other than that, it’s been a lot of planning, trying to wrap my head around the wiring. I’ve got two different voltages that I’m hooking up in the system. I’ve learned a bit about relays and diodes, and worked out how to let certain things still operate such as blinker lights and the radio without the key.

Besides relays, part of the trick is to use switches that can support two separate circuits. I keep ordering the wrong switch for the gear shift. I first got an ON/ON switch and realized it didn’t have an off position for “neutral”. After that, I got an ON-off-ON switch, but didn’t realize it was a momentary switch. Hopefully, the third time will be what I need.

Here is the initial setup I’m thinking about along with notes of what is going on in this mess.