Thursday, January 15, 2009

Instrumentation pics

As of tonight, I've got the ammeter wired in and the other wires tinned and ready to go.

The actual plugs need some proper adhesive, at the moment they're just held there with gasket glue. I'll buy another tube of liquid nails or super glue tomorrow.



















Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Instrumentation progress

For the last few days I've been putting the finishing touches to my instrumentation. I have the ammeter and voltmeter installed in the dash-box and the challenge was to wire it up efficiently.

I decided not to wire the instruments directly to the car, since this would cause problems if I needed to remove the dash-box (which I probably WILL at some stage). So that means I need to utilise some plugs.

I reviewed the entire range at Jaycar and Dick Smith Electronics and settled on some large auto-style plugs. I had considered using some square "pin & socket" ones that you make up yourself, but I've had a bad experience with them previously (not being able to match up the plug & socket inside the frame) so I went with pre-wired plugs.

The 4 pins are aligned in a 3-1 style, with 3 pins and a socket on one plug and 3 sockets and a pin on the other. To eliminate the potential of accidentally plugging voltmeter input into the ammeter, I used alternate plugs on the box. So the "A" style is for the voltmeter and the "B" style is for the ammeter and never the twain shall meet!

Now that the box is almost complete, I'm very happy with the results. I'm just waiting for the glue to dry before I get busy with the soldering iron, heatshrink and hair-dryer. I'll post up some pics when it's all done so you can see the results.

Winning the oil end-game

It's a few years old now, but still quite a good read. I hadn't realised the impact that increasing efficiency would have on oil consumption.

You need to register to download the PDF, but that only takes a second.

http://www.oilendgame.com/ReadTheBook.html

Friday, January 9, 2009

A Current Affair - EV conversion

Electric Car Savings
Electric Car Savings


A very nice, clean conversion. Pity the hostess had to make the stupid "Don't try this at home" comment at the end.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Hybrids impress with economy










From today's courier-mail:

"Barnett Couriers has achieved a 32 per cent fuel saving in its initial three months of operation with a Hino 714 Hybrid.
So impressed is the company that it has ordered a second vehicle.
A back-to-back comparison with a similar-sized truck on the same route has shown a reduction in average fuel use from 27.8 litres to 18.8 litres per 100km.
The hybrid has returned a saving of $560 in direct fuel purchase over 3 months."