Maiden Voyage was a go!
Hood on, tires pumped and away we went.
Right around 7:00 we backed her out of the garage and went for a quick trip down the street. The car moaned and ground about not being moved in 1.5 years but it at least went. Our first design flaw was uncovered as the motor and transmission promptly rotated towards the passenger side about 5 degrees. The shifter can only go into first and second right now. I know a way to remake one of the motor braces to have more resistance to rotation pretty easily – weekend project I guess.
Overall we went about a mile and my wife got to go for a ride. I’ll edit and upload some videos soon.
We’ve also experienced another surplus in the budget. My wife bet my brother a quarter it would work and won!
Afterwards the pack voltage was the same (173) as before, so it didn’t drain too much which is certainly good given the short distance. We might get 15 miles out of the pack yet. I’m anxious to see what a fully charged pack and solid mounts would let it do. I didn’t get on it too hard but it zipped along ok in 2nd.
The regulators gave me a little concern because they were all showing red meaning undervoltage since last charge. I realized (I think) that they must have sagged during acceleration (V=IR) and increased current draw below 10 V. Most of the green lights flashed at me though as the voltage came back up. I’ll check them all out tomorrow and make sure all my connections are good.
Whew.