Tag Archives: GPS

Burrell Brooks, Eastham, Fantasyland, Front Royal Town Square

Park Crawl

September 27, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Front Royal Town Square, Lions, Rockland, Trips

Rockland Park

September 26, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

A trip to Rockland Park is (or was) the next major milestone travel destination. Although the round trip is within the range of the CitiCar, there are many hills along the way, making the trip impossible.

There are two things going for me that make the trip possible. First is that there is a public level 2 charging station on the way. The second thing that helps is that the new Lester charger recharges batteries four times faster than what I was previously using. I had the day planned out earlier in the week.

The weather was a bit cool and looked like it may rain soon. A quick look at a local weather forecast indicated that it had rained in the morning, and that it should be clear for the remainder of the day.

A CitiCar with Spunk

On our way over to the charging station, I noticed rite away that the CitiCar had a bit more pep to it. I was getting speeds up to 35 mph under its own power. I’ve not seen that before in this little car. It’s almost like she is showing off, up for the challenge ahead of us. I’ve got a bit of a hunch that maybe the batteries were overcharged last night while I changed over to the new extension cords, restarting the charging cycles.

As I was about to plug the CitiCar into the charging station, someone stopped their car in front of us and asked how it does on gas. I replied that I don’t buy gas, and pointed to a sign on the building behind me that said Electric Vehicle Charging Station. They looked a bit shocked. I don’t think they realized that charging stations existed.

Teddy and I headed over to the walk-up window at checkers and got a small order of fries. With bits of French fries as a reward, Teddy gave people going through the drive-through lanes a show.

Pushing the Limits

This was it, we were about to go off further out of town than we had ever been in the little CitiCar with more hills to conquer and a small trek through a 55mph zone. Thankfully it was a two lane highway, so I wasn’t holding anyone up. The road to turn off towards the park felt further away than I had expected. Every hill and valley feels like a challenge. Turning onto the road, I went up a hill that just kept going on and on.

I hadn’t driven over railroad tracks before. I was getting a bit anxious about how well the car would take it. I think the car behind me was getting a bit of a kick watching us slow down and take the rails at a slow speed. It was worth it. The suspension and small tires on the CitiCar don’t do well crossing tracks.

Once we crossed over, we turned down the road into the park and everything was easy going after that. Although the limit was only 25 mph, we coasted as much as possible to preserve battery power since no one was behind us. There is a bit of a hill once you enter the park that wasn’t all too bad.

Rockland Park

We parked by the fitness equipment with a clear view of the mountains along the horizon. I led Teddy over to walk past the pavilions and a playground to get to the walking path.

Benches are peppered along the asphalt walking path through the woods

One of the things that I like about Rockland Park is the blacktop walking path. You’ve got a hard, flat, and level surface that even strollers could be pushed along without any obstructions (except getting to it). There is a Disc Golf course peppered throughout the woods. Smaller dirt paths through the course cross over the main path, and often have benches at various crossings.

The park has one major detriment to its serene atmosphere. Although Rockland park is large, you’ll always hear the humming and crunching sounds of the power plant nearby. The sound of children playing at a music park often brings more peace to the park, overcoming this background noise.

The path that leads down to the Shenandoah river will take you under some power lines

I was in such an adventurous spirit that I decided to take a path that I have always avoided. It goes under some high power electric lines. Listening to the air heat up around the electric lines gives me a fright with thoughts of being struck by a bolt of electrons, or having a device malfunction. I figured if everyone can walk through without damaging their phones, I should be fine. I just kept my focus on Teddy and we kept going.

A fork in the path makes you question yourself as to which way to go in life

The path had some nice views of the Shenandoah river. It went down to a fork and a little bench where the asphalt ended. Teddy and I headed left, as it looked like it would take us closer to the river. Sure enough, we got to the end with a little spot where we could sit on some old concrete blocks. The area could use a bench to sit back and enjoy the view.

A small spot was found to kickback and rest for a moment along the Shenandoah river

We watched a few boats pass and wave at us. Teddy would get a bit focused when each boats wake would reach the shore, making sloshing sounds in various places around us.

Teddy makes walking small paths a bit less intimidating and warns animals to stay away

We headed back on up to the fork. Teddy seemed to be leading the way, excited to come back the way we came. We continued down in the other direction. I could hear golf balls being hit. It eventually brought us to a golf course where the path becomes shared with golf carts. I looked on a satellite map and couldn’t see if any of the paths would lead around, back to the park. Instead, Teddy and I headed back to where we came from.

On the way back under the power lines, I felt more confident walking under them. We continued on our original path on the main loop and walked up onto a white tailed doe on the path. The deer just looked at us. After Teddy started barking, she took off.

Charge

We got back to the CitiCar and headed back to the charging station. The battery was down to 70%. A person came up to ask about the car just as I was about to get Teddy out. We are getting stopped often to talk about this car. I went over some details of how I am able to charge an antique car from the 70’s at a public charging station. I got a combo meal at Checkers while we waited for the car to recharge.

Main Street

It was time to go back home – or was it? There wasn’t much else to do today and the battery meter was reporting a 100% charge. I decided to head over to Gertrude. Along the way, I made another split decision to run on up to the town square instead. While walking around, I noticed a new store is opening called, I want candy. I also grabbed a photo of some painted garden poles outside The Studio – A Place for Learning.

After walking around for a bit, I decided to stop into Lions park and let Teddy have a little walk and quick drink out of Happy Creek. We were shortly on our way back home.

The total cruise was a whopping 15.7 miles – 41% further than the CitiCar’s previous record! With free charging, the average price per mile was brought town to 2.1¢.

Destination	Trip	AH returned	Charge Time
Home	0
Charging Station	2.8	6.8	00:23
Rockland	5.5
Charging Station	8.0	8.9	00:31
Town Square	12.0
Gertrude	13.1
Home	15.7	54.6	03:29
Total		70.3	04:23

Views of Rockland Park

In Other News

Moving the GPS receiver from the dashboard to the front, under the CitiCars’ “hood” area has greatly reduced the time it takes to acquire a signal. It appears that the aluminum frame does play a big part of disrupting GPS signals.

Charger

Moving Chargers

September 25, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

Teddy and I headed over to Gertrude in the CitiCar late in the evening. It was getting into the twilight hours, and we had our lights on. Arriving back home and hooking up the charger, I noticed the cover for the contacts was fairly warm. I’m concerned that there is some arcing going on, or too many amps are passing through. It could also have something to do with the proximity of the new charger next to it.

Back to Front

I removed four of the 12 volt battery chargers in the back of the CitiCar as well as their quick disconnect plugs from the battery terminals. I moved the last 12v charger to be next to the accessory battery. I sat the Lester charger next to it as well. I got underneath the car and ran the charging wires from under the seat to the front of the car. While I was down there, I ran an extra set of wires to the front to hook up my battery meter.

Chargers moved to front of car along with a battery meter.

I no longer need to open up the seat to check the voltage. The Lester charger bumps the voltage so high that the volt meter no longer operates until the batteries stop charging. Unfortunately, the wires and chargers look like a giant rat nest.

High Current

The charging app had settings for the cable size at 12 gauge. I have a smaller 14 gauge wire from the battery to the terminal bus bar, but the app wouldn’t let me select a smaller size. To work around the problem, I added an extra 14 gauge wire to both the positive and negative busbar terminals.

Two 14 gauge wires are used to support the current of a 12 gauge wire

I’ve noticed that the wires for the power strip and the Lester charger tend to heat up. The Kill A Watt meter shows a 20% higher wattage being used than the charger is rated for. My goal is to wire up the outlet in the front of the CitiCar to a standard household outlet, and remove the power strip. I’ve also noticed a smell of spoiled eggs when charging. I keep leaving the garage door open just to feel like I’m doing something that might be safer.

I’ll need to wire up a J1772 inlet into the same line, but first I need to find a 12 volt charger that can sense if it is connected to 120 or 240 volts.

Interference

I saw a video on YouTube where someone was demonstrating the effect aluminum has on detecting GPS satellites. I moved the speedometer GPS sensor to another part of the car.

In other news

Rather than splitting out my biweekly deposit through weighted positions in my portfolio, I decided to throw it at Tesla. The companies stock usually does so well that my deposits usually go to everything else that is underweight unless I manually intervene. I feel like I’m playing catch up. It’s nice to finally see the number of shares rather than just the price going up for a change.

Radio

Bluetooth 8-Track with GPS

August 9, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten Leave a comment

I feel this is a bit absurd, but I figured out how to wire the 8-Track car radio into an Android head unit for the CitiCar. It’s “old vs new” where the two radios work together in epic proportions.

The Android Car Radio Head Unit

The 8-Track car radio can pickup both AM and FM, where the Android tablet is only compatible with FM stations. I like the older way of doing it instead of the digital radio app that they provide on the tablet.

Made in China

The Android tablet is strait out of China. Going under the hood, I was running into odd phrases and in some cases, a full screen of Chinese writing without an ounce of English.

Chinese app iFLY

I had to uninstall apps such as one that had a logo of iFLY that kept changing my settings to use a Chinese keyboard at each boot-up. I still need to go over all apps to verify how much I trust them.

As a programmer, there were a few things of note that I did when digging around in the app. Here are a few of the default passwords I gathered, and things I did to get more access to the system.

Developer Mode	Android Settings About vehicular platform Click build number 9 times
Developer Options	OEM unlocking: On
Factory Settings	8888
Engineering test debugging	26959910
Bluetooth: Car BT	0000

Accessing the Android system for configuration

Wiring Harness

Not all wires are labeled on a radio harness

I learned quite a bit about wiring with most modern cars today. The CitiCar itself does not have a radio. It is often displayed as an option that you can have added onto the base models price.

Being inexperienced with wiring a car radio, I was confused when I saw a bunch of wires, where only some of them were labeled, and even then – the labels didn’t make much sense to me.

I couldn’t even power the device on when I hooked it up. I saw it draw power for about minute, followed by a trickle. I learned that the thin red wire is wired to the key so that the device powers on when you turn the key to the accessory position.

I found a ton of videos online describing the standard colors for radio speakers, illumination, amp, antenna, and battery power. I still had some trouble with other wires. Here is a list of information I have learned.

First, I’m assuming that it needs a 25 amp fuse for both the speakers and the device/GPS/camera. The four speakers outputs are rated for 45 watts each, for a total of 15 amps on a 12 volt system. The device itself has its own 10 amp fuse plugged into the back.

Wire	Label	Connection	Switch
Thick Yellow	POS	Battery Positive	25 Amp Fuse
Thick Black	NEG	Battery Negative
Thin Red	ACC	Battery Positive	Accessory Key
Orange	ILL DIM	Battery Positive	Headlights or Dimmer Switch
Pink	BACK	Battery Positive	Reverse Gear
Blue	ANT	Power Antenna
Blue +Stripe	AMP	Amplifier
White		Speaker Positive	Front Left
White +Stripe		Speaker Negative	Front Left
Gray		Speaker Positive	Front Right
Gray +Stripe		Speaker Negative	Front Right
Green		Speaker Positive	Rear Left
Green + Stripe		Speaker Negative	Rear Left
Purple		Speaker Positive	Rear Right
Purple +Stripe		Speaker Negative	Rear Right
Orange +Stripe	KEY	Battery Negative	Steering Wheel Control 0-5k Ohm
Brown +Stripe	KEY 2	Battery Negative	Steering Wheel Control 0-5k Ohm

Wires on a 12 volt car radio

Steering Wheel Controls

Breadboard of universal steering wheel controls (SWC)

I’m not quite sure if it was the most fun, but it was the most interesting experience I had trying to figure out how the key wires worked. These are for your universal steering wheel controls (SWC). I learned that it’s a very simple system that looks at a resistance value up to 5k Ohms between either “key” wire and the ground wire, which triggers the device to execute a command mapped to a specific resistance (or close to it).

After playing around with various resistors, I found the device was able to determine the difference between the following:

1	39	82	150
18	56	100	…
27	68	120	5,000

SWC Resistance Sensitivity

I gave up by time I got to 150 as it seemed as if it could tell the difference between all of the last few resistors. The lower differences in resistance are the hardest for it to determine. At minimum, it is advised to step at least 20 ohms between each of your control values.

I may look into making a 3D printed device sometime to control the device, or buy a generic wireless steering wheel add-on that can be strapped onto the CitiCar steering wheel.

Of special note is that the two key wires appear to have the same behavior. Putting the same resistor value on both wires, the system will react the same way. My understanding is that this second wire is to allow passengers in the vehicle have control over some of the radios functionality as well.

8-Track Audio to RCA

RCA Male Plug with Screw Terminal

I picked up an adapter with an RCA Male Plug on one end, and a screw terminal on the other. I was able to connect some wires from the 8-Track into the screw terminals. Then I simply plugged in the RCA jack into one of the RCA female plugs on the Android tablet to be available as an audio input device.

I’m still waiting for my remote control cable for a round Kodak projector 5 pin male plug to insert into the 8-Track radios plug. It will be easier to take the radio out of the car for maintenance in the future.

Pyle 2-Way 180 Watt Car Speaker

I purchased a pair speakers a few years back when I built a bar-top arcade. I went ahead and found the same speakers and purchased two sets for the CitiCar. I don’t know where I’ll put them just yet.

The last part of the equation was to hook up the speakers. The quality was much better than my test speaker. They are adequate for the car itself. The media tablet only puts out 45 watts to each speaker. 180 watts is more than enough to handle the power in such a small space.

Custom Logo

I customized the display to show the Sebring Vanguard logo from my CitiCars hubcap during boot-up. After much troubleshooting, I found that I needed to use a 1024×600 pixel bitmap using a color depth of 24 bits. I used the same image for my wallpaper as a PNG file.

PNG file for Sebring Vanguard wallpaper
* Convert to 24-bit BMP format to use as a boot-up image

You can also set the boot animation. I’m often running into a wall trying to set it up. I’ve just recently got something working.

I’ve made a file that conforms to the bootanimation format. The latest thing that I did seems to have fixed the problem. I created a folder path to “/oem/media/bootanimation.zip”. I then went into the logo animation settings to select it. I’m a bit confused over it, but hey – progress. It may also be due to having the device in developer mode as well.

Version Notes

The device itself seems to be an unmarked/unbranded item. The plain brown cardboard box itself is marked as “Made in China” FCC CE and recyclable logos on opposite sides. It has no other details except a small label A2628KT on the top. Mucking about under the hood, I found a few things of interest, mostly regarding version numbers. The device itself thinks everything is up to date.

Android	9.1
XY Auto	3.1 (8227L)
CAN Pro	3.0 (8227L)
MCU	3.1 (8227L)
Model	8227L_demo
Security Patch	November 5, 2017
Kernel	3.18.22 gangll@zx-PowerEdge-R730 #5 Thu Oct 17 10:26:20 CST 2019
Build Number	android-trunk-m0.AC8227L-V1.0
Box Sticker	A2628KT

Version information behind

Video

I made a breakthrough this weekend setting up an 8-Track to play through an android head unit. Now I have Bluetooth, GPS, radio, backup camera, steering wheel controls, and more!

Product List

Double Din Car Radio GPS Navigation Android Head Unit 7″ HD Touch Screen Indash Car Stereo Support Dual USB, AUX in, Bluetooth, WiFi, FM, Mirror Link with Rear Camera (2G+32G)

讯飞输入法 (iFLY App)

8-TRACK AM Vintage car audio RADIO original

Joe Knows Electronics 1/4W 1% 86 Value 860 Piece Resistor Kit

MCIGICM 10pcs Breadboard 830 Point Solderless Prototype PCB Board Kit Protoboard MB-102 for Arduino DIY Electronics kit

Push Button Switch Waterproof On-Off Light Wired Switches 12V for Motorcycle/Car 5Pcs (Black)

CO-RODE Tact Button Switch 6x6x5mm Pack of 100

Lever-Nut,Wire Connector,Assortment Pack Conductor Compact Wire Connectors, (PCT-212(40 PCS) PCT-213(40 PCS) PCT-214(20 PCS) PCT-215(20 PCS) 120PCS)

Tekpower TP3005T Variable Linear DC Power Supply, 0-30V @ 0-5A with Alligator Test Leads

AUSTOR 840 Pieces Preformed Breadboard Jumper Wire Kit 14 Lengths Assorted Jumper Wire for Breadboard Prototyping Solder Circuits

4″ Car Sound Speaker (Pair) – Upgraded Blue Poly Injection Cone 2-Way 180 Watt Peak w/ Non-fatiguing Butyl Rubber Surround 110 – 20Khz Frequency Response 4 Ohm & 3/4″ ASV Voice Coil – Pyle PL42BL

100ft 16-Gauge Audio Stereo Speaker Wire Cable, 100 Feet

Lot of 8 Track Tapes Vintage Cartridges Various Artists With Nice Case Untested

STAINLESS STEEL REMOVABLE MAST ANTENNA VINTAGE ANTIQUE CARS + TRUCKS RETRACTABLE

WGCD 20 PCS Phono RCA Male Plug to AV Screw Terminal Plug Connector Audio Video Adapter

Remote Control Cable 5 Pin Male (Round/Kodak) Cutoff 5 Wires 22 Gauge 12 ft

Universal Car DVD GPS Player Wireless Remote Controller, Steering Wheel Remote Control Button for Car Navigation DVD / 2 din Radio Bluetooth Steering Control

Kalevel 120pcs Breadboards Jumper Wires Male to Female Jumper Wires Male to Male Jumper Wires Female to Female Jumper Wires Kit Long Ribbon Cable 20cm (m-m, f-f, m-f)

KAIWEETS 10PCS Electrical Alligator Clips with Wires Test Leads Sets Soldered and Stamping Jumper Wires for Circuit Connection/Experiment, 21 inches 5 Colors (10 PCS)

Peter Frampton Music

Update

I got “Car Settings” to do something. I’m beginning to think that KEY 1 and KEY 2 should be connected to the CAN bus. Here is how to make car settings show a screen for your specific car (If you had a Raise Electric Car JRYG-M2)

Car Settings \ Factory Settings [8888] \ Protocol Settings \ Raise \ Electric Car \ JRYG-M2 (can ID 1034001)
Car Settings \ Set into car
see display screen…

Parts, Trips

Re-Fuse to Fix

July 30, 2020 Lewis "Lewie" Moten 1 Comment

I’ve been talking with a few people in CitiCar and Comuta-Car groups and to someone at D&D Motor Systems to replace the motor that I’ve got. The model numbers of the motor and axle that I have do not provide enough information alone.

Dana spider axle and motor on a CitiCarv

For anyone going down the same route, here are the numbers that I see, that you can use for reference. The motor has some details on its plate, but some of the details are worn. I am unable to see the serial number at the moment:

Manufacturer	General Electric
Voltage	48V
Wound	Series
Horse Power	6
RPM	4000
Amps	125
Class	F
Time Rating	INT
Model	5BC 49 JB 327 C

Motor plate information

Numbers 820178-4, 5, and 20 appear on the axle. Another number appears as 815107X, but it may also be 8/5/07X or 8/5107X or 8/5107X.

The number five appears in the center of a circle, tilted on its side, with eight dots around it in odd positions filling eight of ten spaces.

There is also a letter “D” with a letter “W” inside of it.

I need to pull the motor off of the Dana spider axle to see inside and identify the motor coupler, spline, or shaft it will need. I’m not at all a car guy, but that’s the lingo I keep hearing. I’ll just pull it off, snap a few pictures, count things, and make some measurements with my calipers. How hard can it be? After all, I’ve watched David Brunson install a motor on his Comuta Car, so I’m certain that I am an expert mechanic now.

I wasn’t sure if removing the motor involved axle oil spilling out. I was told no, but then a few people chimed in and started offering tips on how to replace the axle geese. I figured while I’m working in that area on a 40 year old car, what bad could come from fixing something that ain’t broke? It felt like general maintenance that should be done every X-thousand miles or X-years, whichever came first. Sure enough, the owners manual had something to say about it:

SIX MONTHS AFTER PURCHASE AND EVERY SIX MONTHS THEREAFTER
Check differential fluid level. Use 90 weight Hypoid gear oil. Fill to top. In cold weather lighter weight fluid may be used. It is not advisable to mix different weights. When changing types of oil, flush system. Use no lighter than 30 weight oil.
CitiCar 1976 ½ Owner’s Manual, Sebring-Vanguard, inc. page 22

I’m under the impression that the “every six months” is just topping off what’s already there, but this thing is so old, I’m wondering what I’ll find inside. I think I can just drain the fluid and fill it back in. If I need to crack it open, I’ll have everything on hand, just in case.

I previously had no clue what a differential was, but apparently it is something inside the rear axle. I watched a video by CitiCar Tom rebuilding his Terrell differential for a different axle than mine. I watched another about replacing differential fluid and ordered everything I didn’t already have, and got a nice 20% discount.

Supplies	Part #	Price	Discount
Mobil 1 Synthetic Gear Lubricant LS 75W-90, 1 Quart	26101	$13.99	$2.80
Permatex Ultra Black Maximum Oil Resistance RTV Silicone Gasket Maker (3.35 oz)	82180/82150	$8.49	$1.70
Performance Tool Multi Use Pump	W1145	$16.99	$3.40
CRC Brakleen® Break Parts Cleaner Non-Chlorinated (14 wt. oz.)	5088	$3.59	$0.72
FloTool Standard Duty 7 Quart Drain Pan	OP-112EMI	$3.49	$0.70
TEQ Correct 2 Ton Hydraulic Trolley Jack	TQ924	$41.99	$8.39
		$88.54	$17.71

Order from Advance Auto Parts

DC to DC

The other night, I had a few supplies come in. One was a DC-DC Buck converter from 24/36/48v to 12v. I was hoping I could hook it up so that it would work in both the 48 and 24v mode that the car runs in.

I had two sets of wired 12v sockets. I cut one of them in half and spliced the buck converter into the middle. I ran down to the car, hooked everything up and saw/heard an unexpected spark as the wire made contact. Nothing blew up.

I also got one of the cheapest 12v car devices I could find that was still a little useful, but I wouldn’t mind having it blow up if something I did would destroy it. I found a volt meter with 2 usb ports. I plugged it in and it showed 12.7 volts. Everything worked in both the 24 and 48 volt configuration.

Given that I saw the spark, I knew this would always be on, even when nothing was plugged into it. I went ahead and placed an order for a fancy latching switch button that lights up when the power is on. It comes with a pre-wired socket, and I believe I can setup the LED to run off of the 12v supply while the 48v power only flows through the switch itself.

In the mean time, I installed the other socket onto my accessory battery.

5A 60W 12V 24V/36V/48V to 12V Converter Buck Transformer DC-DC Converter Non-Isolated	$13.99
13.1ft Adapter Plug Socket with Eyelet Terminal	$12.99
Lever-Nut Wire Connector Assortment Pack Conductor Compact Wire Connectors	$29.98
Dual USB Car Charger 4.8A Output Cigarette Lighter Voltage Meter	$9.99
19mm 3/4″ Metal Latching Pushbutton Switch 12V Power Symbol LED	$9.99

GPS Speedometer

I purchased a little T600 Universal GPS Smart HUD. This thing is more of a curiosity to play around with, but I got it because I needed a battery monitor, and I like some of the features it came with.

This thing feels and looks cheap. It simply gives you the bare bones of features it advertises. The most fancy display has a round swoosh below your current speed.

I had to configure it first to bring the speed adjustments down to 100% and offset to 0 mph. I also played around with the three colors that it shows text in.

Speed	Speed Alarm	Distance
Voltage	Voltage Alarm	Duration
Cardinal Direction	Altitude	Clock

The features I like of the T600 Universal GPS Smart HUD

Leaving Home

Teddy and I started our trip to pickup some supplies to change the cars axle oil, and to pull the motor off to take a closer look at the spline for the shaft of a new motor. As we pulled into the parking lot, there was a police car strait in front of us. Sometimes I think they are going to make up an excuse to pull me over just so they can have a closer look.

We wern’t at the store for too long, as it was an online order for pickup. It started to rain a little when we took off. I took Teddy over to Gertrude Miller community park on the way home. It got really dark, windy, and rainy very quick. I started wondering if the wind was strong enough to blow the car over.

The trip home was… interesting. The roads were wet. The rain was pretty hard. I had the wiper running along with the lights. I saw my voltage on the accessory battery was down to 12.0v. I even tried the defroster to see if I could defog the window. When I turned on the fan, I didn’t feel any air coming through the window vents. The simple fix was to use my hand to wipe down the window. I’ll have to look into what I can do to defog the windows later.

Dead after arrival

As we pulled into the garage, I turned off the lights. Since I was playing with the GPS HUD, I flipped the switch for the lights back on and see how much they impact the accessory battery.

Nothing.

I suspected that a fuse had blown. I grabbed my multi-meter and tested all seven for continuity. I found the bad apple. When I matched the position up to the cover plate, it was labeled as a fuse for the break, turn signal, and horn. I turned on my turn signal and it worked. I pulled out the fuse… still works. I’ll need to re-label these fuses later. Even if I was reading the panel upside down, the other label indicated it would have been the controller.

Luckily for me, one of my first investments in the car was to purchase a variety of fuses and throw them in the back of my car. The cover plate indicated a 20 amp fuse would be adequate for the lights. I replaced the fuse, and all was well with the world.

I took a look at the burnt out fuse and noticed it was rated for 30 amps! My speculation is that the previous owner put that in there because they got tired of replacing 20 amp fuses. Since this happened at the tail end of the trip, I’m guessing that the wiper motor had too much trouble as I entered the garage. Since it wiped away all of the rain, there was a great deal of friction to continue.

In the meantime, I have a DC fuse block on order with sticky labels and LED’s that light up when a fuse is blown. I’ll add the lights and windshield motor to my list of things to upgrade later.

Accuracy

Regarding the GPS HUD, there were a few things enlightening about it. The speedometer on the car was reporting 4 miles faster than what I was actually traveling at. I was able to set my phone next to the GPS monitor and confirm its accuracy. I thought I was going amazingly fast the other day pushing the car to 33.5 mph, only to realize now that I was going under 30.

On a related note is that the distance I have driven on the odometer is much higher than this new gadget is reporting. There seems to be a large discrepancy in just a few short miles. When I punch my routes into Google Maps, It’s sitting in the middle of the other two.

Waypoint	Odometer	Distance	T600	Google
Home	1,088.9
Advanced Auto Parts	1,093.0	4.1	3.5	3.7
Gertrude Miller Park	1,094.2	1.2	1.0	1.1
Home	1,097.4	3.2	2.8	3.0
Total		8.5	6.3	7.8

With the battery voltage meter, I felt better to see how the lights and a wiper affected the voltage with a general idea of the batteries health. I would still prefer to see a capacity meter of some kind with a percent, colors of red/yellow/green, and a bar showing how much is left.

I used the altitude feature to get an idea about how high the hill is to get out of my little neighborhood. The top of the hill is at 648 feet above sea level, and the lowest point is at 508 feet. Every time I go on a little trip, I’m starting out with a 140 foot tall hill.

I know it’s super cheap, but here are some other things I wish it had

A separate set of leads to connect to your battery – monitor 48v battery voltage while connected to a dc-to-dc 12v converter
A switch to turn it on
Buttons on the front
Better sticky pad. It keeps pulling up from the dash
GPS coordinates
Ability to save trips coordinates to an SD card

Recharge	Energy	Cost	Max Duration
Rate	kWh	9.85¢	0.55 mph
Total	2.32 kWh	23.6¢	14:44
Per Mile	273 Wh	2.8¢	01:44

Cost to recharge CitiCar batteries

Eastham Park

Charge

Confederate Monument Controversy

I Want Candy

C&C Frozen Treats

Town Square

Burger King

Burrell Brooks Park

Fantasyland Park

Back Again

In Other News

A CitiCar with Spunk

Pushing the Limits

Rockland Park

Charge

Main Street

Back to Front

High Current

Interference

In other news

Made in China

Wiring Harness

Steering Wheel Controls

8-Track Audio to RCA

Custom Logo

Version Notes

Video

Product List

Update

DC to DC

GPS Speedometer

Leaving Home

Dead after arrival

Accuracy

1976 ½ Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar