Quote:
Originally Posted by retepsnikrep
Well thanks to Seb & Art who acted as guinea pigs, and bought my first two prototype chargers I have put my money where my mouth is, and ordered 100 power supplies from China last week.
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This guinea pig finally had the time to install the charger leads in the IMA battery compartment following Peter's instructions. I would like to report on my experience.
I had no way to drill the 18 mm. hole necessary to mount the charger socket. Peter suggested a step drill bit. I found an 8 - 20 mm step drill bit ("stegborr" in Swedish) that worked perfectly. The first attachment shows this bit and the location of the socket hole which I located lower and more to the left than in the photo in Peter's instructions. I wanted this socket to be as accessible as possible which I think my low left location accomplishes.
As Peter's instructions suggest, connecting the charger lead to the resistor was the most difficult step. I found that detaching the large orange positive and negative leads improved the difficult access somewhat. The second attachment shows my
Insight Service Manual being put to good use holding the stiff leads bent back out of the way.
I had a very difficult time unplugging the existing lead from the resistor. I finally approached it from between the seats of my Insight which provided better access than from the rear of the car. The pip/button that must be pressed to release the plug is difficult to press while wearing a rubber glove on one's hand. The pressable portion of this button is on the wire end of the plug. The unpressable portion is on the open end of the plug. So if one tries to press the entire raised area, the pressable portion of the button may not be pressed sufficiently. So one needs to concentrate on pressing the raised area just on the wire end, not on the open end.
Another problem I had was plugging the existing plug into the spade on the piggy-back connector after I had plugged the piggy-back connector into the spade on the resistor. The piggy-back connector spade would bend when I tried to plug in the existing plug. I was afraid that multiple attempts might break the spade off the piggy-back connector. So I unplugged the piggy-back connector from the resistor, plugged in the existing plug to the piggy-back connector first, and then plugged the piggy-back connector into the resistor spade.
The third and fourth attachments show the routing of the charger leads near both ends. I attached these leads to a couple of locations using plastic ties and routed the leads in front of an aluminum beam that runs across the bottom of the battery compartment. The leads seem free to move in this location, so I don't believe that they are being pinched.
The final attachment shows the socket access after the battery compartment has been closed. It should be easy to plug in the charger without standing on one's head to see the socket or without trying to plug it in by feel.
I haven't tried charging my battery yet because my car will remain parked until Sweden feels that they have enough info to allow me to drive to their import inspector. Today, I had to buy a 90-day insurance policy for over $200 even though I already had a 30-day insurance policy for which I paid Swedish Customs about $125! The first insurance policy covered me on my 50-mile drive from the port to my apartment. The second policy will cover my two trips of less than 5 miles each between my apartment and the inspector. I cannot drive anywhere else. Jeez! After I have made an appointment with this inspector, I will charge my battery the day before my appointment.
The charger prototype that I have is a black box in more than one way. There's really no way to determine whether charging current is actually flowing into my battery. I wish this charger had an ammeter so that I could monitor the charging process instead of merely assuming that after 24 hours of charging that the process had completed. I'm hopeful that such an improvement will be tested and approved so that I can retrofit my charger.
