Half a loaf is better than none
Sunday, 19 Dec 2004 Ghia
I've managed several small work-on-the-Ghia sessons this month. I haven't gotten a whole lot done, but at least it's something.

Here's a brief list of progress made since the last post.
  • The battery regulator heat sink can be moved by loosening the nut and moving the heat sink to a different hole. This clears the mounting hole on the circuit board, so I won't need to do any grinding.
  • Rich Rudman replied to my list of questions regarding the regulators, so I have a better idea of how they should be installed and used. He hasn't replied to my followup questions, though.
  • I've given up on the allthread hold-downs for the batteries. I measured how long they had to be and they were exactly eight inches, so I bought 32 8-inch 5/16 bolts from Fastenal. They work perfectly, and take up less room than wing nuts or homemade knobs, leaving more room to mount the regulators on top of the batteries.
  • Made contact with Randy Holmquist at Canadian EV and inquired about their prewired electrical boxes, containing all manner of parts such as contactors and relays. I can order up what I want and they'll build it, and I can just bolt it in and hook it up. Jonathan has one and it's great -- very nice and neat. They also have an electric heater and one remaining DCP DC-DC converter, which I'm considering purchasing.
  • Jonathan came by to visit and check out the charger and regulators. He was favorably impressed. He also really likes how I am managing to fit 16 batteries into a Ghia. We talked about how to mount his controller in the Ghia when I'm ready for it. I'll need to replicate his heat sink since he doesn't have another one.
  • Built brackets to hold down the front shelf. They're just four one-foot long pieces of angle iron that will bolt together in pairs, one on the inside of the wheel well and one on the inside of the front trunk. The pieces inside the trunk will hold down the shelf, the ones in the wheel wells will stiffen the body and help prevent things from tearing loose in a wreck.

So now it's time to focus on Christmas. Here's a little piece of Eldritch Christmas Cheer for you to enjoy, courtesy of my favorite webcomic Penny Arcade. I can't wait for the rest of the story.
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