Tag Archives: Eastham Park

Burrell Brooks, Eastham, Fantasyland, Front Royal Town Square

Park Crawl

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Eastham Park

A little resting area by the Shenandoah river in Eastham park

Teddy and I slept in today and woke up late. After grabbing a meal, we headed out to Eastham park in the CitiCar.

Another great day. We grabbed a bench and watched a few people float by on canoes. Front Royal was designated as the “Canoe Capital of Virginia” in 1999. We are often seeing people in canoes when we walk along the river. One couple had a dog with them, but Teddy wasn’t paying much attention to its parking.

We headed down the trail and I let Teddy loose for a little bit in the dog park. Afterwards we continued down the path until we reached an area that comes down to the river itself. Teddy drank a bit of water and dipped his toes in, walking around for a bit. Afterwards, we head back to the car.

Oddly enough, the GPS speedometer couldn’t get a clear signal. We drove for roughly a half mile before the speedometer started working. With a clear sky, this is a bit concerning. I may have to move the antenna to the outside of the car.

Panoramic view of a little resting area by the Shenandoah river at Eastham park

Charge

Charging at Jack Evans Chevrolet

I had a goal this weekend to see if I could find and use the level 2 charger downtown. It is in a certified pre-owned Chevy dealership. On a Sunday in rural America, the place was fairly empty. I found the DC fast charger, but I didn’t see any compatible plug to charge the car.

I looked at a few photos and reviews and found that they have three separate charging stations scattered between two buildings. I found the one I needed with the J1772 plug was by the main entrance. I plugged in, heard a click, and saw that the CitiCar was charging away.

I decided to take a walk over to Main Street while the car was charging.

Confederate Monument Controversy

Controversial Confederate monument

I took a look at the Confederate monument in front of the court house. I saw it was on the ballot last week when I showed up to the registrars office for early voting in the presidential election. There is a vote to move it to another location. I hadn’t paid much attention to it before, or even knew of its existence. It appears that it isn’t of any specifically recognizable general.

I Want Candy

Store front on Main Street of I Want Candy in Front Royal, Virginia

I saw that a new shop was opening up on Main Street yesterday. The storefront is fairly unique compared to other buildings in Front Royal in that it has a curve to it that wraps around the corner. Teddy and I went in today to have a look around.

Pick your favorite candies and pay by the pound

They have a bunch of bins where you can pick a variety of candy and pay by the pound. I kept seeing different candy that I had long forgotten about when growing up. I had to stop myself and consider that I could leave some candy for next time.

C&C Frozen Treats

Carousel horse themed entrance to C&C Frozen Treats

We went into C&C Frozen Treats next. There are many murals around Front Royal, and the owner of the shop had someone decorate their entry way with the carousel horse theme found inside their shop.

There were only two dairy-free flavors left, and the only one that was safe for Teddy was the spiced cake. I ordered a scope for both Teddy and myself.

Town Square

Dairy-free ice cream for two in the park

Teddy and I headed across the street to the town square. Teddy was looking up at me on the whole trip over to find a seat. He knew he was going to get a treat at any minute.

I poured out some of the candies on the checkerboard table and started having a meal fit for two kids at the ripe age of seven.

Teddy will do anything for a treat, and he put on a really good show for everyone watching. The comments I most often hear is how people wish their dog could do what he does. People are often surprised that he knows the difference between his right and left. One of my favorite tricks is to trop a spoon full of ice cream, and then look away and start eating. Teddy will keep focused on me until I say “release”.

Burger King

After having our desert, we headed back to the CitiCar. We were almost up to a full charge, so I decided we could continue our little joy ride and cruise on up to South Street. We were stuck in the Burger King drive-through for about twenty minutes. By time we got our food, I was ready for a change of scenery and eat somewhere else.

Burrell Brooks Park

The charge from the dealership gave us a lot of battery to run around town with. I decided that we could take the CitiCar to Burrell Brooks Park. I hadn’t taken it there before because it’s simply too far.

The park has a small walking path with fitness stations peppered along it. There is also a playground, music playground, and basket ball court. It looked like a Childs birthday party was going on at the pavilion. Teddy and I found a bench at the far end of the park away from everyone else. The meal was satisfying. I took Teddy on the path around the park before we started heading for home.

Fantasyland Park

It was starting to get into the twilight hours and I was debating if we should go home, or stop by Gertrude Miller Park. I didn’t’ have an accurate reading on the batteries state of charge, and I knew I could recharge at a pavilion. Along the way, I turned on the lights and after a brief moment, they went out.

A CitiCar parked at Fantasyland Park

I was debating if I should go strait home without any lights, since it wasn’t too dark out yet. I pulled off into the Advance Auto Parts parking lot and decided to play it safe rather than be sorry. I pulled out the voltage meter and looked for a 30 amp fuse. I already knew which fuse to check, and how many amps it should allow. After two minutes, we were back on our way.

Rather than stopping at Gertrude Miller or Lions Park, I decided to go for the parking lot in between the two parks. I parked the CitiCar under a large tree next to Fantasyland Park.

We didn’t stay long. I took Teddy over to Happy Creek and let him wade a bit in the water. We walked around for a little bit before hopping back into the car.

Back Again

Just as we were almost home, one of our neighbors walking their dog waved at us. I turned around and zipped on over. Although he was stuck in the car, Teddy and his friend were super excited to see each other. Although the car sounds fairly noisy to me, my neighbor commented that it sounded like someone on a bicycle. This revelation came as a bit of a shock to me.

Teddy is exhausted from having too much fun

We said our good byes and I zipped back to the house and guided the CitiCar into the driveway. Teddy was a bit exhausted. We had been to one park after another, and a few stores the entire day. When I see him twitching in his sleep, I imagine he is having wild dreams chasing squirrels and rabbits through the woods.

In Other News

  • From the advice of other C-Car owners, I’m considering changing the button for Secret Hyperjets to be red.
  • A 12 volt charger arrived that works on both 120 and 240 volts AC power
  • I didn’t make any progress on the window this weekend…
Front Royal Eastham Park
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Trips

Teddys Day

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Eastham Park

Trail behind dog park at Eastham park in Front Royal, VA

A large part of Sunday was spent walking throughout Eastham park. Although they have a large dog park, the one for large dogs is currently closed. It was a clear day and very enjoyable to walk along the Shenandoah River. With a large number of squirrels darting around, Teddy was alert and ready for the chase.

The next stop was at McDonald’s. Meals are eaten outside, often setting on the curve next to the CitiCar. Teddy is learning not to beg during meals, but he earns a nice reward at the end.

Setting in front of a CitiCar, Teddy is tempted to eat a Big Mac

The trip home from the dog park on Sunday was a bit of a fright. Although there was power, the CitiCar would not supply power to the motor. In town, it’s fairly easy to find a spot to pull over and park to diagnose the issue. It was suspected that the contactor fuse may have blown.

Upon inspection, the main fuse looked fine. The wires from the 12 volt battery were made more secure the other day after a loss of power disconnecting wires from a hard turn. The main power wires from the 12 volt accessory battery looked fine as well. The repairs were holding it in place.

A quick hop into the car to confirm the issue was still present revealed that it went away on its own. As the key turned, the main contactor click could be heard. It is thought that maybe the switch on the brake was stuck in position, preventing the main contactor to be activated when braking.

Shorter Trips

It’s now known that the CitiCar starts to get exhausted around ten miles. Rather than setting destinations to push the limits, rides have become more casual. It’s great knowing that certain destinations are within range. There are many parks, restaurants, and events on main street accessible within just a few miles. Having success at a charging station adds to the freedom to go anywhere… within an extra mile.

The battery chargers have been left connected to the batteries while driving around in the CitiCar. The time to setup for charging has been simplified to connecting the power strip to the main power in a house, or to the J1772 power converter.

Steering Wheel Adjustments

There have been a few problems with the steering wheel alignment since the turn signal switch has been replaced. Each time that it appears to have been fixed, the next trip reveals a little more fine tuning is required. It’s now to the point that the steering wheel is rotated by one or two splines after each trip.

Misaligned steering wheel
Still misaligned steering wheel

In the middle of adjusting the steering wheel, Teddy finally caught a squirrel in his own yard at home. It was difficult to break his concentration. He finally had to be pulled off and go inside to calm down with a treat and let the squirrel get away.

Controller Mounting

The next goal is to get the contactor switch, motor controller, and forward/reverse switches installed under the seat. They don’t need to be wired up just yet. A mounting bracket arrived this morning, and there were a few metal angles purchased at the hardware store to help fasten things into an area in front of the motor. Each step is being worked through and planned out. One of the problems that has popped up is that the bolts with the solenoid mounting hardware are too long.

Layout of motor controller and contact switches on both sides of angle brackets
Angle brackets to bolt down to the battery box floor
Layout of motor controller and contact switches on both sides of angle brackets
Mounting screws are too long to secure solenoid to the mounting bracket

Other News

Tomorrow is Battery Investor Day for Tesla. It was an excuse to take the day off of work. An extra $500 was invested into the company this morning. The unrealized value is roughly half of what is needed for a Cybertruck reservation.

After two repairs by a tow truck driver and a neighbor, the SUV shifter cable has been replaced by the professionals. It was noticed that the rear passenger window is unable to be opened from the front driver-side buttons.

The buttons arrived for the GPS speedometer. Installation continues tomorrow.

There is an issue arising from a battery monitor that I purchased in China at the beginning of August that hasn’t arrived yet. The seller claims it has already been delivered, but the post office claims they haven’t received the package yet.

Trips

Boston Cream

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I’ve been getting out more and going off the diet. I’ve gained back 15% of the weight I’ve lost so far, visiting restaurants that I hadn’t been to in a long time, and raiding the fridge. It’s a guilty pleasure, and I need to find some motivation to get back on the diet. I also need a few more destinations other than fast food restaurants.

I took Teddy back down to Eastham park, and he got to play with two dogs. It’s been months since he’s chased another dog, and his tongue was hung out most of the time. Still trying to test the limits of the car, I decided to take a detour to Dunkin’ Donuts and pickup one of my favorite snacks – Boston cream doughnuts. The woman at the drive-through offered Teddy a “Pup Cup”. It didn’t last long.

New GPS Record

With a total trip of 9.5 miles, the little trek tied with the current record during the Custard Package Dropoff… with the old speedometer. Once I can break the record, I’ll no longer have that old vs new speedometer accuracy to complain about. I know without a doubt that today’s trip was the furthest the car has gone, but I want an accurate reading that can beat the inaccurate one. I’ll keep trying to push the car further.

The batteries still had 48.1 volts when we arrived home. The battery meter indicated that they had a 52% charge. I believe with 12 volt batteries, I should generally avoid going down below a 50% charge.

Energy usage over time

Since I had 23 trips last night, I updated the chart to be less noisy with 46 columns and growing. The new format makes time relative, so you can see a long line from the end of July to the middle of August when the motor was out of the CitiCar. Today’s trip is not on the image here.

Comparison of energy usage on trips relative to the total miles on each trip starting with a full charge.

I had started recording the data to determine if longer trips would affect the amount of energy per mile, and to see what effect my changes have.

Improving Range

It appears that the energy usage was fairly high at first, and then settled down. I attributed the improvement to changing my driving style in the CitiCar, and adjusting the brakes. It seemed to level off for some time, averaging around 275 wH/mile until recently.

TPMS display in CitiCar

In recent trips, I am now seeing peaks matching up with each other in both total miles and wH/mile. I originally believed this might be due to the accuracy of the speedometer installed on September 5. There are matching peaks and valleys just before that, which may actually be related to when I installed the TPMS system and inflated the tires from 20 psi to 35 psi. The ride is a little harder at times, but I now believe that the tire pressure has made the most difference.

Energy on Long Trips

The total miles traveled now looks as if it may have an impact on the watt hours used per mile now. This is probably due to the energy consumed during different phases of a lead-acid batteries charging cycle the further the battery is discharged. I’m uncertain, but I believe more energy is used during the bulk phase. The further the battery is below an 80% charge, the more energy will be consumed to return it to a full charge.

PhaseSoCVoltageCurrent
Bulk< 80%IncreaseStable
Absorption< 100%StableDecrease
Float100%StableStable
Over simplification of lead-acid charging cycle

Warning Signs

On a side note, I noticed the brakes had a bit of a high pitch twice during today’s drive. Hopefully it’s nothing, but I’m noting it here in case it continues and it’s something to reflect on. I hadn’t noticed any other change in the brakes handling on hills or level roads. The weather was a clear sunny day.

Charging Results

The numbers are in. I caught the chargers just as the last one turned green.

Charging Time10 hours 28 minutes
Charging Speed0.91 miles per hour
Mile Time1 hour 6 minutes
Kilowatt hours2.30 kWh
Mile watts242 wH
Mile Cost2.5¢
Trip cost23.3¢
Charging statistics
Charger, Interior Light, Trips

Final Destination

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A few things are moving forward with the car. I’ve been taking little trips to parks around town fairly often.

Traffic Light Sensor

On my way to Chimney Field park, I was stranded at the light. The light cycled through its traffic pattern eleven times before it turned green for me during fairly busy traffic. I’m under the impression that the CitiCars aluminum frame isn’t able to trip traffic light induction sensors in the pavement. Someone mentioned in the C-Car forums that motorcyclists with this problem will get strong earth magnets to attach to the bottom of the frame.

Pot Box

I took a look at what I had to work with to find an appropriate spot to place the pot box. I prefer to keep the existing throttle switch so that I can swap between and original 3 speed and new gradual controlled driving styles.

Looking around, I found it difficult to find a spot to bolt the pot box. The floor is made of plastic, and even if I removed the original speed switch, I’m uncertain where I could bolt the pot box. I have an idea of using a bicycle cable for brakes/gear shifting so that I can put the pot box anywhere, but the cable itself still needs a place to secure it.

Charge Controller

I unbolted the charge controller, disconnected all the wires, and removed it from the car. The thing is heavy, weighing in at 26.8 pounds. Inside is a giant winding of copper and a little circuit board with an interlock switch to prevent the motor from operating when charging.

Original On-Board charge controller

On the back, I saw the previous owners name, company, address and a note:

Please Fix Low Voltage about 36v Book says should be 57½v

It’s comforting to know it wasn’t just me having a hard time getting the charger to work properly.

I had a bit of trouble determining how to wire the car back up to operate without it. Once I figured out what wires connect where, I crimped some spade terminals that fit very loosely into two of the original female connectors.

The CitiCar cabin light shining bright

One unintentional side effect is that my cabin light now works. Apparently it wasn’t hooked up to the charge controller properly. The connector looks a bit… melted or deteriorated.

Eastham Park

My primary usage of the car it to take Teddy for walks at various parks and events around town. My ultimate goal was to make it to Eastham Park because it has a Dog Park. The Royal Shenandoah Greenway runs through the park along the South Fork Shenandoah River. Not only is it far compared to my limited range, but there is a long and large hill to go back up a half mile on the way home.

Either due to my weight loss, driving style, 24/7 battery floating charge, “breaking in” the batteries, or a combination there of, the cars range appears to be improving. I decided that since I had free time this weekend, I’d give it a go and push the car to its limit.

Eastham Park trail under railroad tracks

It’s been a misty day with light rain at times. My shoes got fairly wet. There weren’t many people out, so Teddy had the whole dog park to himself. We also walked up to the end of the path at the high school before heading back. I let Teddy walk around in the South Fork Shenandoah river as well. On the way back, I could see people walking around and peering inside the CitiCar.

Loss of Power

The last part of the trip home today was an adventure in itself. As I made a hard left at a traffic light, the two loose spade terminals disconnected. The main contactor switch disengaged, and I lost power to the motor and lights – including the hazard lights. Fortunately I was in the slow lane, rarely used, highly visible, and pulled as close to the rail as I could before the car stopped.

I leaned over, connected the spade terminals, and was back on my way. I rewired a more secure connection after I arrived home. Eventually I need to rewire the whole car.

Although I’m going to upgrade the car to have a DC-2-DC system on board for my 12 volt power supply, I’m also considering using the small 12v battery I have now as a fail-safe backup for the hazard lights, signals lights, and flash relay. I feel that out of everything else on the car, I absolutely need the lights to signal that I’m having a problem if power is lost.

Longest Trip

I made it home without any other issues. This felt like one of the longest trips I’ve been on. The GPS speedometer is accurate compared to my prior one, so the trips appear shorter compared to prior trips. My old speedometer often registered 4 miles faster than my actual speed.

My trips to the town square are 0.8 miles less with the new speedometer (8.7 miles is now 6.9 miles). In all, my trip via GPS was only 8.6 miles, but I suspect the original speedometer would have registered just under 10 miles for the maximum distance on one charge. I arrived home with 48.3 volts at 54% charge.

Future Driving Goals

  • Cruising Speed (self powered)
    • 35 mph
    • 40 mph
    • 45 mph
  • Destinations
    • Checkers + Public Charger
    • Pet store
    • Rockland Park
    • Winchester
    • Dicky Ridge Visitors Center
  • Events
    • Parade
    • Car Show