I’m overdue to post an update. The wife was out of town (which never happens) and I was homebound with the kiddos. Figured I’d take a couple of days off to spend in the garage and work on the GEM.
For strapping the batteries, I liked the idea of using steel straps but the kits were pretty pricy so I decided to go with poly. Got a setup off Amazon for around $180. Ended up putting 2 straps around each battery. I made them pretty snug. Not sure how tight you can go on these things and if there is a too tight? The corners seems to be bending so I figured that was good enough and didn’t want to crank anymore.
Next up was to strip the car of the stuff I didn’t need. Pulled the batteries, removed the old battery wiring, removed the 2 marine chargers, etc.
Out with the old and starting to put in the new stuff -
Connected the spoof… that was pretty straightforward when you get the wiring harness out of the controller. FYI - I’ve been following a bunch from this thread which is a very similar setup to what I have in terms of year GEM, Charger, BMS, and batteries.
Now it’s time to figure out the shunt mounting. I bought a block of UHMW Poly off ebay. Cut it down to the right size with a combination of my tablesaw and chop saw. Then it was time to put the dress press to work.
Counter sunk the bolts so the shunt bolts wouldn’t touch the frame… and the screws attaching the shunt mount won’t touch any metal. Think it came out pretty clean but I’ll let you guys be the judge.
Now it was time to dry fit the batteries and figure out which way to position them. Fit easily with the water jackets off but I’ll have to come up with some blocks to secure them and keep them from moving around. that will be one of my last steps
I’ve had a battery lug crimper hiding in my garage from boat projects a while ago, so I used that to make custom fit battery cables using marine grade 4g wire. Used red and black heat shrink to help me keep things straight when I’m hooking everything up.
Ended the day wiring up most of the batteries. Have the packs paralleled and the cables run from the controller B- to the shunt and the battery disconnect switch to the fuse.
Goal for tomorrow is to at least get a test drive in; stretch goal will be to get the delta-q mounted. I’d like to get the BMS in but let’s see how far I get. Figure I could always use the chargery charger and the BMS in the interim, Delta-Q last.
If you see I’m doing something screwy or have suggestions, I’m certainly open to them!
Will get another update out in a day or so.