Project Wagovan - Electrical

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
11/16/2018 at 17:44 • Filed to: project golf ball, wagovan

Electrons are scary. They run in the reverse of the direction we expect them too (because we had a 50/50 shot and we blew it) and do all sorts of magical things. In the Wagovan, however, they weren’t doing much of anything until yesterday.

When I bought my project Wagovan, seller sort of failed to mention it didn’t come with a battery. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ($42!) from Pep Boys, but didn’t put it in... until yesterday.

First off, I went ahead and painted the battery tray. It wasn’t super rusty, but with the car not running and the battery out already, now seemed like the time. Two coats of “rusty metal primer” and two coats of “truck bed liner” and we’re in business.

That done, I checked the resistance between the positive and negative: 65 Ohms. Not great, but the rising resistance means I’m reading though some non-restive loads (capacitors and inductors) and the reading being non-zero means I don’t have a dead short. So... cool?

Battery in.

Nothing burst into flames . Good sign!

Key in.

Beep beep beep beep.

I gnition on.

Beeeeeep beeeeep beeeeep.

Holy crap I missed that Honda beeper noise! Such nostalgia.

So yeah, subsystems check:

Low beams - OK

High beams - OK

Turn signals - 3/4 OK

Brake lights - Forgot to check

Reverse lights - See above

Dash lights - OK

Fuel gauge - OK? Seems to be reading empty, but it does rise from the stop.

Blower - OK

4WD Solenoid( s) - OK!!

Dome lights - OK

Trunk release - OK

Radio - OK

Speakers -1/4 OK but sounds like it is playing through a paper cup

Horn(s) - INOP :-(

Overall: Not bad!

I’m working on an update for the fuel system work, but as apparently my Oppo posts are some of the first results when you google the Weber kit I’m using, I feel like I need to up my game a little, so I need to go home and take more pictures.

With enough caffeine and motivation, I might be able to crank this think this weekend!

Doggo for your time.

DISCUSSION (4)

MM54 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
11/16/2018 at 18:10

They run in the reverse of the direction we expect them too (because we had a 50/50 shot and we blew it) and do all sorts of magical things.

My start in electronics back in high school was in tube theory, in which it’s vital to realize that the electron flow is from the cathode to the plate; much to the dismay of some of my EE professors in college I very well know which way they move and this caused problems sometimes. While classmates struggled to figure out how a FET works in the first place, I kept getting the source and drain all crossed up because I want an anode and cathode. Gate? You mean grid!

Just Jeepin' > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
11/16/2018 at 18:38

I have a short in an important but ultimately not critical circuit.

Or I don’t, because it’s been fine for 2 days now.

I really hate wiring. Or I don’t because it’s actually pretty cool to do it right. Except when it’s vital to not do it wrong.

Made worse by the fact that I only vaguely know what I’m doing.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Just Jeepin'
11/16/2018 at 18:57

A short? Like blowing fuses? Or a gremlin, as in weird behavior sometimes but not all the time?

Just Jeepin' > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
11/16/2018 at 19:06

Blowing fuses. Sometimes. No obvious pattern.