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Electrolux Update

Long time no post.

After traveling around the world in November for work, Christmas has now been and gone.

4 weeks ago I found the tops of the contactors (relays) that connect the 48 volt battery blocks together were loose. Since then the electrolux has run almost perfectly. I am not sure a bouncing contactor could cause the "Earth Fault" but this is the only thing I have found wrong.

the pre-charge contactor in the VFD is sometimes not closing properly, but that causes an under voltage alert.

So all in all things are going well. Fingers crossed.

I have now traveled over 1100 km and am wearing the EV grin as I see the petrol prices steadily increasing.

I'm go'in on a bear hunt... and Friday the 13th.

I have been traveling for work this month and am currently in the US, in NJ. I took a Sunday drive today to the High Point State Park and the Delaware Water Gap. When I was driving through some beautiful autumnal bush I saw a guy stopped taking photos of a bear. Never having seen a bear in the wild, I had to stop and take a pic.

Also, I stopped for a snack at Blairstown Diner. Its claim to fame is that it was one of the locations for Friday the 13th. Here is a shot of the Diner and the 'Canyonero'

Blue Toung Lizard

This Blue tongue wandered past my office door today. Its nice to see some wildlife around.

Ive got some good news and some bad news

Bad news first. The ute is dieing with the 'Earth Fault' on the controller pretty much daily this week. After running faultlessly for over a week.

The good news is that I may be isolating the problem to a connector in the drive.

Time will tell.

A New Look At An Old Design The Prehistoric Alignment Of World Wonders

This is fascinating reading! at least for those that enjoy geography, math & history.
Ancient civilizations were way smarter than we give them credit for!
I wonder how this fits with biblical timelines and history. Presumably post Noah (2400BC) / Tower of Babel (2300BC)
"Great circles are straight lines that go all the way around the center of the earth. The equator is a great circle. Meridians of longitude that cross over the north and south poles are also great circles. For every location on a great circle, it's antipodal location is also on the circle. Other than the equator itself, any great circle crosses the equator at two antipodal locations, 180° apart. Other than the equator and meridians of longitude that run due north and south, any great circle reaches it's maximum latitudes at two locations that are 90° of longitude east and west of the two locations where the great circle crosses the equator.

Easter Island, Nazca, Ollantaytambo, Paratoari, Tassili n'Ajjer and Giza are all aligned on a single great circle. Additional ancient sites that are located within one tenth of one degree of this great circle include Petra; Perseopolis; Khajuraho; Pyay, Sukothai and Anatom Island.

Near Ollantaytambo, Machupicchu and Cuzco are within one quarter of a degree. The Oracle at Siwa in the western Egyptian desert is within one quarter of a degree. In the Indus Valley, Mohenjo Daro and Ganweriwala are within one quarter of a degree. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur and Angkor temples in Cambodia and Thailand are within one degree of the great circle. The Angkor temple at Preah Vihear is within one quarter of a degree."

The Improbable Research Awards

Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK

Ig Nobel Prize

Tesla ride

Here is a pic of me in the Tesla Roadster a couple of weeks ago.

0-100km/hr in 3.8s :)

Orange cable bad / Clear cable good.

I swapped the motor cable in my ute last weekend on the advice of a few people with a lot of experience dealing with variable frequency drives. The ute has been running for a week trouble free so I am hoping that the new cable has solved the intermittent "Earth Fault" error that was happening.

I originally wanted this kind of cable but was unable to locate any at the wholesalers. I found what I needed only after asking to look through their supplier catalogs.

The cable is distributed by Bambach Wires & Cables. From TLE the part number is BAM45903CRS in case anyone is looking for some. The construction is 3 x 10mm^2 3 phase, with 3 earths ~2mm^2 and a foil and braided shield.

Make sure the cable is terminated correctly at the motor using a metal gland that contacts the braid and as per the VFD manufacturer's instructions at the drive.

As the fault was very intermittent, I will be satisfied this has solved the problem if I don't experience this problem for another 2 weeks.

Here is a photo of the cable.

Back to square one

After installing a spare current sense board in the ute's speed controller, it tripped with an earth fault again on Sunday.

Might have to get hold of another motor for testing.

Walking to work does me good, except when there is a massive dust storm over Sydney!