Tag Archives: Switch

Battery, Charger, Contactor Switch, Fuse, Interior Light, Lights, Motor, Motor Controller, Speedometer, Throttle

Powertrain Upgrade

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Quite a bit has happened since the last post where the majority of my nights and weekends were focused on the CitiCar, and a bit exhausted by time I’m done for the day. The videos were still being posted, but I just didn’t have the mental willpower to write up a detailed account of what was done. here is a brief summary of the last two weeks.

Battery cables

2015 Chevy Volt lithium batteries and charger installed into car and connected in parallel with cables from an old EV and a few battery cables that I made myself from materials provided by a local CitiCar enthusiast.

Battery terminal side-brackets installed.

CitiCar battery cables

Main Fuse & Switch

Installed an ANL fuse box to hold the 400 amp ANN fuse. “Sculpted” the cover to make it fit over the thick 2/0 cables and lugs connected to it.

Installed a heavy duty switch to disconnect the power that could handle the large number of amps that the motor will draw from the batteries. Purchased some screws at the hardware store to mount the switch.

Continuing to add cables along the path from the positive battery terminal to a switch, fuse, contactor, etc. Cleaning battery acid from cable lugs donated from another EV.

Main Fuse & Switch

Fuse box mount

Created a backplate to mount a new 12 volt fuse block out of diamond plate aluminum, and mounted it into the car where the accessory battery had previously sat.

Wired up chargers charging wires. Zip-tied the extension cable going to the J1772 adapter along the cars frame. Ran 10 gauge wire to the front of the car, specifically to run the 12 volt DC-to-DC converter and to control the motor controller and contactors from the dashboard.

CitiCar Fuse Box Mount

Installing DC2DC

Wrapped power supply cable to the front of the car with split tubing to protect it.

Installed a 20 amp 12 volt power supply in the CitiCar to convert the batteries 48v power supply to 12v. At most, it can handle 240 watts.

Added a LED light strip with a switch.

Installing DC2DC

Powered Dashboard

Connect the dashboard to the 12v fuse block. Wire up the frame to the 12v negative. The cabin light is unable to get power. The original contactors are still activating.

Powered Dashboard

Wires and Switches

Painting battery cables red. Starting to prepare other cables to paint.

Comparing two separate motor reversing SW202 style switches. Changing from 12v coils to 48v coils to simplify wiring and reduce the need for relays.

Change the old 120v charger cable into an extension cord by adding a NEMA 5-20R receptacle socket. Added a second charging cable plug to the car so that the batteries can be charged via J1772 in the back, or 120v on the side by changing which cord is plugged into the back of the charger.

Wires and Switches

Painting Battery Cables

Painting battery cables with Plasti Dip to indicate how they are connected to the batteries. Added heat shrink where it was missing. Cut off rubber terminal covers. Wrapped up terminal ends with painters tape.

  • Red – Positive, and motor A1
  • Black – Negative, and motor A2
  • White – Motor Negative
  • Blue – Motor S1
  • Green – Motor S2

Painting battery covers.

Paintiing Battery Cables

Plasti Dip Battery Modules

Continuing painting battery cables and the battery covers on the 2015 Chevy Volt battery modules. Problems with using painting tape to paint two colors of Plasti Dip, as well as an unexpected early morning rain getting things wet. Cleaning up and painting battery modules blue for a more appealing look. Finish painting the battery cables.

Plastic Dip Battery Modules

Finish Battery & Cables Paint

Finish painting the battery volt modules and peel off the painters tape. Clean and neutralize battery acid on battery cable lugs.

Clean and neutralize acid on passenger side battery box floor. Start laying down thermal layer and toolbox liner.

Improve technique to peel painters tape from wet Plasti Dip to have nice hard edges.

Added some corrasion/oxidizing protector to battery cable lugs and battery box floor.

Finish Battery & Cables Paint

Battery Box Liner

Line the battery compartment of the CitiCar with toolbox liner. The liner is preferred because it is non-conductive. The frame of the car is conductive and wired to the battery negative, so this helps prevent a short in case a battery positive wire accidentally touches the frame. The thermal barrier may help with battery temperatures and a little extra padding for bumpy rides.

Drivers side was neutralized. Corrosion protector was removed, as it left an oily residue and wouldn’t be suitable for applying adhesives to keep the toolbox liner attached.

Battery Box Liner

High Voltage Stickers

Created some battery labels to warn about high voltage, and to provide details about the batteries.

Creating High Voltage Stickers

Drivers Side Batteries Installed

Re-installing the drivers side painted batteries, main switch, and fuse after lining the battery box with toolbox liner.

Drivers Side Batteries Installed

Battery Terminal Caps

Cut motor mounting brackets down further with new diamond cutting wheels. More battery cables were installed. Created caps to protect exposed terminals from moldable plastic that melts in warm water. Installed shunt in a different position for easier access to plug in wires.

Battery Terminal Caps

Powertrain Test

Wired up the motor and motor reversing switch. Setup switch and diodes on the front of the car to activate the contactors and let the motor controller know if the vehicle is moving in reverse.

Powertrain Test

CitiCar Runs Again

Troubleshoot contactor activation. Reverse direction of Forward/Reverse diodes. Got the wheels to spin (and in the correct direction). Go on a test drive.

CitiCar Runs Again

Alltrax Troubleshooting

Configure motor controller to accelerate faster, adjust voltage limits, and provide more amps to the motor. Since the motor was just replaced, I topped off the differential fluid. The speedometer wasn’t turning on, so I replaced it with a spare that I had laying around. Drove into town and ran into problems on the way back home with a burnt fuse and a disconnected high-pedal switch on the throttle.

Alltrax Troubleshooting
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Charger

J1772 Inlet

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J1772 inlet socket on a CitiCar

The J1772 inlet has been installed onto the tail end of the CitiCar. I no longer need to unlock the trunk and drag out a socket on the end of a long cord to plug in.

The body of the car only offers a few places to put the socket. My original goal was to install it next to the exiting inlet for power from the house. The area surrounding it was obstructed by the door hinges on the inside, or had “electric” written in vinyl on the outside of the car.

I settled for a ridged area by the passenger tail light in the back. There are holes by the contactors that were originally used for the battery and motor cables. I can thread the cable from the adapter to the charger.

CitiCar J1772 Installation

Removing Wires

A fuel gauge from a CitiCar reads from 14 to 19 volts

I removed the three wires from the battery compartment all the way to the dashboard. One was already identified as being for the volt meter. The thicker wires were discovered to lead up to the charger.

While I was at it, I removed the volt meter and found that it had a round hole in the dashboard behind it as opposed to a square hole to match its shape. The hole is too small for the AiLi volt meter. I would prefer to keep the original volt meter and try to control the voltage fed to it with an Arduino to represent the capacity rather than the voltage.

Wiring Harness

Wires brought back to the battery box through a split loom

Wires were thread from the font of the car to the battery compartment through a split loom zip-tied to the aluminum frame. I drilled a hole slightly behind and to the left of the throttle to pass all of the wires through. They connect up to the motor controller and the reversing switch. Short extensions were setup for each connection so that I don’t need to reach into tight spaces to disconnect the wires.

Fix spliced wire with a network keystone jack

When I was trimming the excess split loom tube within the CitiCars battery box, I cut through one of the cables still inside. It was the AiLi battery monitor cable. The cable contains 4 tiny wires, surrounded by strands of what appears to be another line acting as a shield. I had some left over networking Cat6 connectors and keystones and wires up each side to make a solid connection.

Battery monitor still works after fixing wire with network connectors

I was able to hook one of the Chevy volt batteries up with a dc-to-dc converter and a light to confirm that the AiLi meter was reading the correct voltage and change in current as I flipped the switch on and off.

This wasn’t so bad after all. I would have probably ended up doing this anyway. The wire was too short to reach the shunt to begin with. Now that everything has a network connector, I can create an extension cord to reach the shunt in its final position.

Racing Use Only

Racing switch panel

One of my favorite pieces of flair is the racing switch panel for a car that can’t go faster than 35 mph. I got out my old label maker and labeled the different switches. Each switch is a project on its own.

AMPS

The “AMPS” is the “User Mode” wire on the motor controller to let it switch driving profiles. A driving profile can change the maximum amps the motor is allowed to draw.

START

I’m considering how to approach this. I have the CitiCar play a sound of an engine revving up to race, or play a random list of custom sounds.

RUN

The run switch is to turn on the 12 volt DC-to-DC 12 volt converter to use the lights, fans, horn, etc. The car will not operate without this being flipped up.

3SPD

The is going to setup the car so that the motor controller only sees three different positions when the throttle is pressed. It will also allow the original contactors to activate. It will mimic the speed and sound of the original motor controller in the CitiCar.

RDO

This is the power to turn on the radio and amp.

In other news

I ordered some battery side terminals that another C-Car owner has proposed.

I purchased another SW202 switch, but with 48 volt coils. I will no longer need to use relays to provide 12 volt power to the coils.

I’ve composed a document asking the community for help setting up a maker space and talked to a couple people about it.

Hello,

I need help setting up a “Maker Space” within, or near the town of Front Royal, Virginia.

A maker space is a collaborative workspace with a wide variety of equipment available to use that would otherwise be inaccessible to the general public due to costs, electrical requirements, zoning, noise, ventilation, and space. A maker space may consist of a wood shop, machine shop, electronics workstation, 3D printers, computers, embroidery machines, and even Lego building blocks. This educational building’s purpose will be to have fun making stuff, and learn from others making stuff.

I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1994, majoring in Industrial Design Technology on a scholarship. I long for the days having access again to a large workshop with a very wide range of industrial equipment. I also went to Mineral County Technical Center in West Virginia for Carpentry, and loved the computer lab along with the art, shop, and mechanical drafting classes throughout middle and high school. My profession took off with the information technology (IT) industry programming software, but I have always retained my creativity making things at home.

Like many others, I often find myself justifying the need to purchase a new tool, machine, or a large surplus of supplies that may have limited use to me. Afterwards, these products collect dust in the garage until someone “borrows” it, to then collect dust in their own garage. As tools, materials, and past projects accumulate, it becomes difficult to find space to store them while keeping my workspace clear of debris.

Some maker spaces not only provide a workshop, but also rent out storage and artist spaces for your own personal work area or show room within the building, providing members 24/7 access. In addition, many offer classes and training, including STEM educational programs.

I can not do this alone. I have a goal, but this is bigger than me. My intent is to set this up as a non-profit organization. Because a maker space can expand and offer such a wide range of equipment and materials to adults and children, I am looking for help from the community.

● Form a board of directors and a mission
● Draw out makers already within the community
● Identify community needs & interests
● Provide ideas & imagination
● Find funding & sponsorship
● Consolidate and acquire equipment, tools, and materials
● Find a location for light industrial use

Please contact me if you can help,
Lewis Moten
(###) ###-####
********@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/lewis.moten

Lewis Moten, October 15, 2020, Maker Space Proposal
Contactor Switch, Motor Controller

Bend Over Backwards

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Fabricating Mounts

The A311 angle brackets are in the way of the cable in between them

Yesterday I was about to work on running a cable from the main contactor to the Alltrax motor controller B+ terminal. I was using one of the short wires that I received from a local enthusiast of CitiCars. The A311 angles were in the way when trying to bend the wire.

A311 angle brackets bent over to allow cable to pass over them

I spent a great deal of time bending the tops down backwards over the SW202 motor reversing switch. Part of the problem was bending the brackets while they were still in the car. The other part was that I just didn’t have the tools available to do it properly. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t clean, but I got the job done.

Now that the brackets are bent over, they provide an additional surface to mount things to. They seem a bit high in where they are bent. The cable itself is under too much stress. I’m reconsidering how to attach it in the most beneficial way.

Bending the mounting brackets

PlugShare

I’ve been using PlugShare to find charging stations. They let you pick your car from a list, but I had to choose “Other”, which just showed a tarp over a sedan. I sent customer support (Ticket #70359) a request a couple weeks ago to let me choose a custom name other than “Other”, along with my own image of the car.

They got back today and added a “Sebring Vanguard Citicar” option, and asked if it was compatible with J1772 connections, to which I replied:

Stock model from the 70s is only compatible with level 1 chargers. A lot of us CitiCar/Comuta Car owners have been modifying them with J-1772 adapters, lithium battery, and chargers that support up to 240v.

PlugShare app displying Sebring Vanguard CitiCar recognized as a type of electric vehicle

A few others on the C-Car Facebook group confirmed that they too were able to add their CitiCars and got a kick out of it with plenty of excitement. It feels like these little cars are getting a little bit of validation in their place in history.

Fuming Mad

TLDR; gas smells bad

Ramble

I haven’t been to a gas station since February. Partly due to the fact that my primary vehicles were inoperable for awhile. A dead battery due to just not driving the car, and the SUV had problems trying to shift it out of park. Both vehicles are up and running now.

I had an in-person doctors appointment and decided to take the hour-long trip in my car since it gets 45 miles to the gallon compared to my gas guzzling SUV. I only drive the SUV occasionally to keep the battery charged and to pull my RV – but camping is canceled during the pandemic.

Anyhow, I’m running on, getting off topic.

Fumes

So my car had maybe 70 miles left, so I stopped to get some gas. I could smell the gas station! I hadn’t smelled anything like that since I was a kid. I thought the smell went away when everyone switched to unleaded gasoline. And the smell was stuck on my hands afterwards.

So yea… I just found it curious.

Rant

Don’t sit behind a Ford Mustang GT at a drive through. The fumes and loud noises are unbearable. I just kept imagining how much money the driver was spending to get me high. Every drive-through has cars just idling, wasting gasoline. One of the largest parts of a car is dedicated specifically to making the engine quieter. The mustang had two tail pipes and it was still very loud when idling. It makes me wonder how much louder the engine could get without it.

Big Rebuild

Seeing the bare copper in the wire that rubbed against the asphalt has made me rethink things quite a bit. I haven’t driven the CitiCar since then. Given my other vehicles are working now, I’m considering taking that giant leap and start replacing everything, starting with the motor.

The weather is still good for working outside. I also believe that I have everything that I need now. Wire, switches, monitors, batteries, charger, adapter, motor, controller, contactors, etc. I need to push this project forward.

Other news

My racing switches arrived today along with another tiny radio head unit for Bluetooth and microSD cards. The switches mounting plate looks like it is too high to put it where the stock radio is usually installed.

Switch mounting plate is too tall to put into the area for the radio

Speedometer

Charged

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I suspected the last time I went to the charger, it stopped supplying power because I may have turned off the power strip. It was time to give it another go.

Five battery chargers for 12v car batteries in the back of a CitiCar

I moved the battery chargers into the back of the CitiCar. I zip tied wires going to the outlets, and made sure I could see them all face up. Everything is setup for a quick change between J1772 charging, and charging from a standard house outlet.

Teddy and I hopped into the CitiCar and took off for the charging station. Driving around with the new turn signal switch, things felt much simpler. Who would have imagined how much luxury a fully operational turn signal switch would add to a car?

The thing that got to me was that after all of the care I went through to align the steering wheel correctly yesterday, it still wasn’t aligned. I couldn’t wrap my hands at the 10 and 2 positions, and my mind kept wanting to level it off. The car pulls to the side when hitting the breaks, making the problem worse.

Misaligned steering wheel

Just like the last time, we saw the red Tesla and parked next to it. I connected to the charging station and confirmed everything had power before we headed over to Checkers for some lunch.

After picking up our food, Teddy and I sat on the grass in the shade of a tree. It was a great day. Nice weather, light breeze, with sounds of people and nature in the background.

The CitiCar was still charging afterwards, which confirmed my guess as to why the charger stopped supplying power the last time. It wasn’t due to a low power draw – but rather, I bumped the power strip to the off position.

I proceeded to take Teddy for a little walk. When we headed back to the car, the Kill A Watt meter showed that we got 0.2 kWh in 47 minutes. That is almost a mile added to the car. I now have a baseline to improve charging speed.

We drove over to Lowe’s and picked up some stud fasteners as a possible solution to bolt our switches and the motor controller into the car.

When I got home, I made sure the car was driving in a strait direction. I took a look at the steering wheel. I found an easier way to remove the cap without any tools. Once I took off the wheel, I rotated a plastic ring on the switch to line up with the steering wheels bolt, and placed the wheel back onto the steering column in the correct position.

Speedometer

The speedometer that I installed in the CitiCar came with a button to switch between the trip and lifetime odometer. I hadn’t installed the button yet. Instead, I’ve been resetting the trip odometer by grounding the end of the external button wire with the edge of the cigarette lighter. It looks like I’m trying to hot-wire the car when I bend down to grab the wire and line it up.

Grounding out speedometer external button wire on cigarette lighter

I decided it was time to make life simpler on myself and install the button that came with it.

Now that the charger is no longer bolted inside the car, I can stick my head in the area and look back up at the dashboard from behind. I was able to confirm that there weren’t any wires on the bottom right of the speedometer. I drilled out a 15/32″ hole, fairly slowly. The aluminum dashboard panel in the CitiCar is fairly thick.

The tricky part now was to connect the button up. The metal tabs are small. The spade connectors that I have are too large. My goal was to solder some wires onto the switch and put spade terminals on those wires.

Terminal melted off of a plastic button

Not every goal is met. I’ve been out of my thin soldering wire for some time. The terminal melted off when I began to heat it up with the tip of my soldering iron. I looked at a few videos online and found that I should have threaded the wire through the hole first, then twist it tight, and proceed to heat up the wire instead.

I found the same exact 12mm waterproof momentary push button switch and ordered aa pack of 15 with five colors. I’ll be able to make 14 more mistakes before I order more.

For now, I plugged up the hole with the defunct button. I’ll continue to use the cigarette lighter to reset the trip odometer.

GPS Speedometer with an external button
How to remove the steering wheel cap on a CitiCar

Steering Wheel

Jiggly Lights

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Whining Motor

Manual speedometer gear housing for a CitiCar motor

On our lunchbreak, we started to take off in the CitiCar. There was an odor and a whining noise. It suddenly changed its pitch to be a bit more frantic. Since I removed the speedometer cable last night, I had a hunch that it was the speedometer gear housing that was still on the motor. It was probably a combination of spinning the metal shaft, the entire gear housing, or a combination of the two. After removing it, Teddy and I were zipping off to the park without any more whining.

We were followed into the park and asked about the car. A brief conversation ensured before Teddy interrupted with “Nature’s Call”. After our little walk, we then got custard where someone chimed that they had a Tesla, and thought a CitiCar wouldn’t be useful in Miami, Florida. After learning that the cars were manufactured in Florida, they clarified that they couldn’t use it on the highways.

I was able to clock in a new record at 10.3 miles on the trip odometer as we arrived back home.

High Beams

My high beams continue to turn on while driving, and sometimes on their own while parked. One of the C-Car owners shared an image of a turn signal switch that might be compatible. I found an imported after-market turn signal switch for a Triumph Spitfire 1977-1980.

CitiCar stock Lucas UK turn signal switch vs aftermarket Triumph Spitfire 1977-1980 turn signal switch

I was able to take off the steering wheel cap using a wrench. The nut underneath was not tight at all. I suspect I was following in the prior owners footsteps. The steering wheel lifted off without any effort. The turn signal switch had a screw underneath that kept it secure to the steering wheel column. After loosening the screw, the switch lifted up most of the way, but was held back by the wires. I was able to have enough room to slide it off of the steering wheel spline.

A piece of plastic that broke off of the high-beam switch

The switch was missing a piece of plastic that was later found setting inside the steering wheel columns cover. The original CitiCar turn signal switch could not be repaired.

Spade connectors crimped to turn signal switch wires

I cut it free of its wires and matched them up to the new signals wires. The new switch had separate wires for the high beams, and the flash. I was able to join the two wires so that they both operated the high beams.

Once the wires were connected, I discovered that the high beams would no longer work unless the regular lights were on. I’m used to the high beams always coming on regardless if the lights are on, so it feels a little odd.

When assembling the steering wheel, I paid close attention to the self-canceling signals. This has been a problem that I’ve had in the past where the signals don’t seem cancel – or at least, not always. Now they do. I believe the prior owner didn’t pay attention to the correct orientation when putting the wheel back on the steering column. When placed upside down, you would have to turn further left/right before the signal could be canceled. Merging into lanes without much turning of the wheel would have no chance of being canceled.

The CitiCar steering wheel with an after-market turn signal switch

In one sense, it almost feels like I have a new car. The turn signal was a constant problem where I would have to actively check often if the high beams came on, and verify that the signals switched off. I would previously go for a walk in the park and come back to see that my high beams came on, draining the battery.

Original steering wheel stalk vs after-market stalk with symbols

I really wish I could have fixed the original switch, or at least use its stalk on the new signal switch.

In Other News

The Tucson EV J1772 to Zero adapter arrived. It had the correct plug for my charger and my EVSE was able to communicate and supply power through it.

I got a phone call this morning that the part for my SUV didn’t arrive at the dealership. Saturday will be very busy, so it may not be repaired until Monday.

CitiCar Turn Switch Replacement
Parts

DC/DC Toggle Switch

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5A Buck Converter
LED Power Toggle Switch

I’ve been receiving more products in the mail lately and figured I had better start experimenting with them before I get overwhelmed with too many things. Tonight I decided to learn how to wire up a switch to my DC-to-DC converters and light up the LED within it using the 12 volt output.

Bench Power Supply

I had quite a few adventures trying to get it setup with the buckey converter first using a bench power supply. I had experimented previously setting up the buck converter in my car after replacing some fused, but without a switch. I took it one step at a time.

  • Light up the LED with 12 volts from the bench power.
  • Light up the LED with the buck converter.
  • Turn the voltage regulator on and off with the button.
30 Amp Step down converter

I made a few mistakes, but I was able to get it working in the end. The buck transformer is only setup to deliver 5 amps over 12 volts, for a total of 60 watts. The next test was to try out a DC-to-DC step down converter capable of 30 amps over 12 volts as 360 watts. This converter was a bit special since it had a wire for a key switch.

It has a minimum of 48 volts that it will work with. My bench supply only delivers a maximum of 32 volts. The rest of my adventures were out in the garage wiring it up to my cars batteries.

I had a very difficult time with the instructions. There were two main issues that held me up. The one that held me up the most was the diagram of the key switch leading to the 12 volt output supply with yellow and black wires. The written instructions were a bit off as well regarding wire thicknesses. The actual wire harness did not match the photo on the instructions regarding red wire sizes relative to each other.

I made a few corrections and posted them here as a reference for anyone else who may be considering this device, or have already purchased it and are just going nuts trying to figure it out.

Pro Chaser DC-DC Step Down Power Converter
Corrected diagram with notes

For your viewing pleasure, watch me as I tried to figure this out.

Join me on my little lab experiments. I’m setting up a system to support stepping power down from 48 volts to 12 volts with a switch that lights up. Initially using a buck converter, progressing to a converter with a key switch. These are usually used for boats, golf carts, small solar batter banks, etc. I’m using this for my tiny electric CitiCar.
Mailbag

Mailbag

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A few packages arrived over the weekend for modernizing the CitiCar. The majority of items that arrived support the 12 volt accessory power supply using the batteries that drive the motor, instead of a separate battery.

Fuse Block

The majority of fuse blocks look the same to me. It all comes down to choosing between having a standard number of six fuses or twelve. The car has seven fuses, so I went with the larger size.

Some of the features I like are that the LED’s will turn on to indicate that a fuse has blown. Another thing I like is that the negative terminals are all at the top. It came with a variety of 24 blade fuses, stickers, and a cover.

12-Way Fuse Block With ground, 12 Circuit ATC/ATO Fuse Box Holder with negative bus, Protection Cover & LED Light Indication, Bolt Terminals, 70 pcs Stick Label, For Auto Marine, Boat,With 24 pcs Fuse

Voltage Reducer

I previously purchased a Buck Transformer that could supply up to 5 amps at 12 volts. It worked, but the amps were lacking in what I needed.

I found a DC-to-DC power converter that could step voltage down anywhere from 48 to 120 volts, and bring it down to 12 volts. The output current is rated at 30 amps.

Besides the amps, I like the ability to disconnect the power easily with the connectors that the provided, and the added feature of having a key switch turning it on so that it doesn’t drain the battery while the car is not being used.

Pro Chaser DC-DC 120V 108V 96V 84V 72V 60V 48V Volt Voltage to 12V Step Down Voltage Reducer Regulator 180W 15A for Scooters & Bicycles Golf cart (30A 360W)

Power Switch

I wasn’t too happy when I saw sparks in my previous experiment with converting a high voltage to 12v using the buck converter. In turn, I found this power switch that I can press to toggle it on and off.

I’m going to see if I can run two different voltages through it if the LED terminals are separate from the switch terminals. I’ll wire up the LED directly to the Buck 12v output, and let the switch terminals control the 48v feeding it.

I picked out this switch because it came with a wired harness that could be disconnected easily, and the LED lights up. From what I saw, the LED and the switch could be wired up in multiple ways.

Quentacy 19mm 3/4″ Metal Latching Pushbutton Switch 12V Power Symbol LED 1NO1NC SPDT ON/OFF Black Waterproof Toggle Switch with Wire Socket Plug (Blue)

Portable EVSE

I’m setting up the vehicle so that it can recharge and public charging stations that support J1772. This EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) takes power from a 120 and 240 volt wall outlet and provides a Level 1/2 power supply to my vehicles onboard charger.

At 240v and 16 amps, I could charge up to 3.84 kW. Using just 120v over 16 amps would be 1.92 kW. My current battery setup takes 12 hours to supply 3 kW. However – they are lead acid. With the new Chevy Volt batteries, I’ll be able to charge much faster, and have a demand for more watts to be supplied.

Being portable, I can put this in the back of the car and charge up at a friends house or a friendly business willing to let me have a few kilowatts.

I got this specific kit because it came with a case, supported 120 & 240 volts, had an adapter to work with both NEMA 5-15 and 6-20, hook to hold the cables, and a holster to hold the end of the plug when not in use.

Megear Level 1-2 EV Charger(100-240V,16A) Portable EVSE Home Electric Vehicle Charging Station Compatible with Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Fiat, Ford Fusion (NEMA6-20 with Adapter for NEMA5-15)

Dash Cam

This one is a bit of an experiment. I’ve been interested in dash cams for a few years with all of the odd things I see on the road, but never jumped into actually getting one.

This camera was fairly cheap and I figured I’d try it out as a learning exercise. I don’t expect much from it, but for using it with the CitiCar, I think it might be perfect. If anything, I’ll have a few videos to post on YouTube.

Besides the cheap price, it seems to have gotten good reviews on YouTube and the quality appears to be reasonable.

AUKEY Mini Dash Cam 1080p Full HD Dash Camera with 1.5” LCD Screen Car Camera with 170° Wide-Angle Lens, G-Sensor, WDR, Motion Detection, and Clear Night Recording