One real concern I have with this change is the schedule. In previous years (and I've been involved with several art car builds at this point, all of which are big enough to require a team of at least 5 every-weekend builders) we could be almost certain that a well designed vehicle would be approved...

To me this provides unregulated voltage to the battery bank. You'll fry it. You need that regulator in play. The regulator is definitely in play, with the car running both banks are getting an even 14.5V, without the ~0.7V drop I was led to expect from earlier comments. I hope you have installation...

I'd like to see how you manged to wire that up (four wire regulator?, connecting to stator, field, battery and ground?). The alternator on this only has STA and I believe only three pins on the regulator are in use (this regulator - http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Valucraft-TruGrade-Voltage-...

Over the weekend I installed most of the charging system based on the above input, using a 200A battery isolator. However I didn't notice the predicted voltage drop, both the starting battery and the deep cycle's appear to be getting 14.5V from the alternator/isolator. The base vehicle is a 1982 For...

Thanks for all the information above, this discussion has been very useful for my planning purposes. I'm starting to put this system together this week so I'm sure I'll have more questions as the build process moves along...

What's the vehicle's alternator current? Your vehicle's alternator should be upgradeable to one that provides higher current, so it produces more current for charging both its starting battery and a 12VDC bank of batteries (and running the loads attached to the battery-bank). Hint hint. If you don'...

I'd forget the other chargers and go with the alternator, it'll put out so much more current than the little solar panel or battery charger that they would hardly be worth it. If your engine has room, do what I did and mount a second alternator running in parallel. The original A/C compressor mount...

We're in the process of building an art car, the lighting and some other parts of which are going to be running off a bank of 12V deep cycle batteries (probably four of the standard Costco variety). I'm reasonably familiar with charging such things off a solar setup as I've built a similarly sized s...

I'm currently investigating putting together a remote control console for a project we're building this year. The console and the project itself are going to be arduino controlled and my first desire would be to use XBee modules to communicate between the console and the project controller, as the c...

I've read that an abrasive blade with a chop saw could do this, but that the single speed nature of my saw might now cut it. Any thoughts on that? I've also been reading that a reciprocating saw (ie Sawzall) might work well, I actually have one that I haven't used in ages that I could get new blades...

Some friends of mine are planning to use my small basement shop to put together a dome, and looking through the plans the two things I see as being the biggest pains are: * cutting 100+ lengths of EMT * flattening the ends of the EMT For cutting EMT I typically use a typical hand tubing cutter, but ...

That would be awesome, let me know. If you're not local to me (SF bay area) I'd happily send you a check for shipping costs.

I'm missing a pocket knife that was lost either Monday or Tuesday (August 29th or 30th). The knife is a locking flip out style, with a partially serrated blade, about 6" in length when closed. The handle is polished steel, and has holes passing through it (think large holed swiss cheese), and the lo...

I'm a big fan of shit that comes in cans and can be eaten with or without reheating (which probably derives from my years in the Boy Scouts as a youth). My favorites: - Chef Boy'R'D meat ravioli - Any "chunky" style soup - Vienna sausages - Beanie Weenies Things along those lines pretty much handle ...

While my beetle can handle most of the gear needed for my GF and I, it can't also handle two bicycles and 9 days of water for two. I've got a rental van reserved if necessary, but would rather save the $$$ that it would cost if someone can give me a hand. So, I'm looking for luggage space from the S...