Gene versus Rat update, and photos

Rat update - no rat this morning. Empty trap, empty sticky pads. Maybe if I clean out the acorn mess the rat will notice that things need dirtying up again.
Photos - here's some:

And I do have a stowaway...

Here's something you blog watchers can follow along with - who knows, it may go viral!

A few weeks ago I found a pile of chewed up acorns on the base pan of the motor compartment. Some animal had been eating in there, obviously. I vacuumed them out. Next day, same thing. Vacuumed them out again. And the next day, and the next...

I was getting tired of this. How was he/she/it getting in and out? There is a gap between the base pan and the bottom of the transaxle bell housing and I figured that this was where the critter was gaining access. I found some garden screen in the garage and covered up the opening. Did it work? No way, more acorns the next day.

I got some gopher pellets from the garage (we do seem to have a little of everything in there) and made a little pile. Did it work? Nyet. Pellets scattered around, more acorn mess. Guess they weren't tasty enough.

OK now this is getting to sound a little like Bill Murray and the gopher in Caddyshack (which I have not even SEEN, BTW). With a smirk on my face I decided that this had become somewhat of a personal challenge. My task is to outsmart the little whatever-it-is. I got a big ol' rat trap from the garage (yup, got those too), smeared some peanut butter on the trigger pad, and stuck a few peanuts in it for good measure.

Did it work? Nope. More acorns, trap still set. They were fresh peanuts, even. I figured this would eventually work, so I started checking it daily, moving it around a little in case the bugger had a set routine. Still acorns.

Then a couple days ago I opened up the hood to check on things, and there he was, looking at me. A rat. A few moments of man/rat eye contact, and he scampered off - behind the controller bulkhead! The single most inaccessible place in the whole car. I needed a new strategy since the trap wasn't working, and I was thinking about some new kind of poison. But then I realized that if this intruder ate poison and then went back behind the controller bulkhead to die, it would be stink city. Not what I want for my beautiful shiny newly completed electric car. So I got some mouse/rat sticky traps from Lowe's (apparently we were out of them in the garage) and set them out. Clever, huh.

Took a look this morning - more acorns, sticky traps still just like new. I'll try to update daily.

2011 update...

I know, been a long time since the last update...

Lots of progress that has gone on. The car is pretty much finished, with the exception of the traction battery pack. Recent activities:

• 12 volt fuse blocks and harnesses
• Motor compartment finished
• Motor compartment component relay board under rear seat built and installed
• 12 volt battery cables, mounting, fusing, and top-off charger under rear seat
• Temporary dashboard structure fabricated and installed
• Temporary dashboard faceplate instrumentation installed and wired up
• Carpets, door panels, window cranks, rear view mirror, and sun visors installed
• Front seats installed
• Headlight high beam control box installed
• Charger door interlock switch installed

The 12 volt fuse assignments were created on the fly, with some functions ganged up on the same fuse to save space.

The motor compartment has everything in it - motor cooling blower, controller liquid cooling system, and moisture protection covers for the Zilla and Hairball.

The motor compartment component relay board uses the Hairball main contactor control signal to fire off an intermediate relay that enables the main contactor, motor cooling blower, controller cooling system, and cooling system fans. Once the Hairball gets the Start signal from the iginition switch, and determines that all systems are functioning, it will turn on all of these things. When this happens, all the fan and pump noises will start. This will probably be the loudest thing about the car, except for tire noise when it's moving.

The 12 volt battery is an Optima blue top AGM, with a big honkin' ANL 100A fuse to protect all wirning.

The temporary dashboard structure is made out of wood and will hold the dashboard faceplate, that contains the (left to right) Link10 (always on), Speedometer with status LEDs, digital 12 volt system voltage meter (always on), digital RPM counter, DVM for motor amps, DVM for six LM34 temperature senders (locations TBD), the controller Valet switch, the rear window defroster switch, the Hazard switch, and the 12 volt accessory socket. I didn't add any heater or defroster hardware - I decided that I could use a portable heater/blower that could be placed where desired and powered off of the accessory socket (when not using a cell phone charger etc.).

Carpets, interior accessories, and the front seats all went in without a hitch.

The headlight dimmer switch is on the turn signal lever, and provides a short to ground whenever it's pulled towards the driver. To avoid having to hold the lever in the pulled position to keep the high beams on, I built a control box with a flip-flop for a pull-on, pull-off action. The box has a 2N3055 transistor driver for the high beam relay.

The charger door interlock switch is a microswitch mounted on a bracket that is activated by the position of the charger door (which used to be the gas cap door).

What else - oh yeah, pictures! Need to upload those next...

Also, I mailed off a check to Elite Power Solutions in Phoenix for the traction batteries and BMS. I'm going to use the 100ah 4-pack Lithium Ion GBS batteries. I decided to skip over the AGM idea and go for the gusto.