Bradley GT II EV Conversion » Lights

Deck Lid Latch

Administrator — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:15:31 +0000

On my way home from work I decided to stop by Little Dave’s place and see if I could salvage a switch off of the Bradley. I started to carefully remove the connectors from the switches only to discover that the switches fell apart. I gathered up all of the pieces and put them in my pocket. Then It occurred to me that The whole Instrument panel is held on by four screws. So I removed the instrument panel. I thought maybe I should get some connectors in case I needed them, instead I wound up carefully removing the entire wiring harness…and I didn’t have to cut one wire. Then I while I was under the back of the car removing the wiring harness I noticed the rear deck lid had the bracket and air cylinder I needed so I removed them as well. The rear deck lid stuff is now happily residing on EV1E and the panel is on my bench. The wiring harness is going in EV1E someday…maybe or maybe it will go in the Bradley it came from but for now it is out of the weather and safe in my shop.

Safety Should Be Loud

Administrator — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:40:02 +0000

Today I did a safety check on my wiring harness. Then I connected the rest of my interior dash lights and my turn signal indicator lights and tested the system. I must say that I am a musician and appreciate a good rhythm. EV1E has rhythm! When the directional lights are engaged she sounds like a metronome. Next I will secure the wire harness and hook up my windshield wipers.

Interior Lighting -OR- Yes, Ground Wires are Filled with Smoke Too

Administrator — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:01:44 +0000

Today I set out to accomplish two main goals. The first goal is to set up a central ground terminal so I have ground within reach of my fiberglass dashboard. The second goal is to hook up the dash lights. Both goals were accomplished. The ground terminal I found is the same kind you would use for your house wiring. By installing this terminal I have already eliminated a number of wires. I hooked up the dash lights to the light switch and they work. This I am thrilled about because I have had to use my cell phone at night to see how fast I was going. While I was in wiring mode… I decided to hook up my last gauge, the volt meter which tells me the status of my 12 Volt accessory battery and my DC to DC converter. I found a wire coming from my fuse panel titled “Gauges” and used that for my hot lead. everything worked flawlessly until I attempted to tuck some wires to close the instrument panel. That is when the main headlight connector shook hands with the small ground wire I used for the tiny incandescent lights in the dash. The result as you might guess was all of the smoke that was previously contained in the little ground wire was released like a Genie out of a bottle the wire turned bright orange. There was no damage to the big headlight wire. I fixed the damaged ground wire, tested the system and all is bright for EV1E’s future.

Lights Action and Something You Should Know About Flashers and LED’s

Administrator — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:23:21 +0000

So there I was with a complete assembled headlight circuit outside of the car, trying to see if I had hooked something up wrong. The moment of truth. I had the directional light going on the left side and now I was going to turn on the headlights to see if the directional lights would quit flashing AGAIN! For the last year this has been a problem. Not a huge problem since I didn’t drive at night much, never the less an ahem…. opportunity to see what kind of a trouble shooter I was. And now I was about to find out. Just flip the switch and… no wait there is no switch. Just touch the wire to the battery and… Looking over my shoulder towards the back of the car I could see the reflection of the corvette style LED tail lights we custom installed. One flash and… steady red light… the same thing on the right side. Just like when the headlight circuit is actually installed in the car. Good news! I didn’t hook up the lights wrong.
I kept going back to the flasher. I bought an electronic one for the LED’s. Finally I called my friend Little Dave. We went over every step I had taken and since Little Dave and I (mostly him) hooked up my signal stat we had common ground to converse and bounce ideas. Finally he came to the same conclusion I had. It must be the flasher, but why? Dave said, before you go out and get another flasher try putting a small incandecent light in the signal circuit. so I did… AND IT WORKED! So now the little incandecent bulbs in my indicator lights are what make the circuit work. LED’s don’t draw very much current that is why you have to use an electronic flasher. What I didn’t know however is electronic flashers require a certain amount of current to activate. There just wasn’t enough resistance in the circuit. It only took a very small incandecent light bulb but it does show how LED’s are very efficient as a light source.

Mission Accomplished! (for real)

Administrator — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:59:29 +0000

I drove my EV1E to work in daylight conditions and, back at night. A total of 56 miles, 26 of which was freeway driving. I didn’t push the pedal all the way to the floor but I still got 60mph on the freeway….A great day

New Look, LED

Administrator — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:29:42 +0000

These are not glassed in yet. I wanted to get the feel of them first. So far I like them. These are 68 Corvette tail light design turned upside down…Hey, “Whatever Works”

Preparing for Break and Light inspection

Administrator — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:19:48 +0000

Last time I made an entry I had driven to Atwater and back. My friend Dave followed me back home and made one comment. He said “you know when you use your directional light and push on the break pedal at the same time, both of your tail lights flash on and off.”
Enter the Signal Stat 900. Dave suggested I get a signal stat 900 as all of the functions for the lights takes place within the switch. This industrial strength signal switch has been used on 18 wheelers since 1947 and has been tried and true. I found one on Ebay for 19.95 (about 30.00 with shipping, and I’ve got to tell you, this is one of the best investments I have made. Worth its weight in gold. This switch and my friend Dave, saved me countless hours of frustration so now I have Headlights, Tail Lights, Parking Lights, Directional lights, and Hazard lights.

Lights, Action… Rolling

Administrator — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:29:54 +0000

I thought I would shed some light on this post… But seriously folks… (rim shot) I spent the day creating looms of wire and fortifying my installation. I have to hook up a horn, Bolt in the seats, figure out a latch for the hood, hook up the DC/DC converter, Install the Battery charger. I also want to get and laser accurate 4 wheel alignment.I have been up since 0430 this morning, it is now 2225 that’s 18 hrs. I will write more when I am more coherent.
Keep On Pluggin’

Tail lights, Directional lights, Brake lights,

Administrator — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:09:35 +0000

The really interesting thing about building an electric car is the wire harnesses. They are relatively small in comparison to an ICE vehicle. For example there are only three wires coming from the back of Evie to operate the the directional, Brake, and tail lights. Don’t get me wrong, there are many wires in an electric car, its just that the twelve volt system in an electric car eliminates the entire starting, and ignition system which uses some pretty heavy duty wires. Just an observation… I have been pretty busy working on Evie since the last entry. These are some photos which i promised earlier. The foam will be shaped and covered with fiberglass the same way the dam on the front was constructed. Since Dave picked up the front of the car by the dam when we flipped it I feel very assured that this is a strong and light weight means of attaching the top to the body. I have been charging my batteries and keeping them fresh. The charger is not mounted yet but it seems to work just fine. I purchased a pair of SAE approved directional lights for the headlight assembly. The lenses which were manufactured by Eddie at Sew Creative in Turlock CA, are just sitting on there. Eddie will make the final tweek when he does the interior. I am waiting on my light switch and i can finish the lights and get my brake and light certificate. Notice I moved the brake reservoir so that I could actually use it. Before, it was neatly tucked in the space under the lip of the hood. Looked great but in order to remove the cap you had to take the mounting screw out of the bracket and move the reservoir out and away from the lip, then remove the lid trying to keep the brake fluid from spilling and… It was a bad idea. I moved it so that i could just walk up and remove the cap to check the fluid level. The last picture is yet another front view of Evie. After Evie is registered, I will do some test runs with her and fix her up as I go along. After all this is a one off vehicle which I plan to keep and use as a daily driver.