Thanks @grantwest for the details on the BMS.
Thanks for the vote of confidence @BadBrad. Any spare time I have is going into the GEM right now. It is addictive.
These heat shrink solder sleeves are pretty handy by the way, when splicing or repairing wires. You can see where I used them to make the solar control extensions 6+4 pins on each end.
Just to clarify, the GEM main breaker at the fuse box under dash was off so nothing of the original GEM system was electrically connected at the moment I closed the big cutoff switch. UNLESS, I am mistaken and the breaker only isolates certain systems (such as 12v).
Connected in the box as follows:
Battery negative >> Current Sensor >> 750A cutoff switch >> 250A Gem Fuse >> all of the following to the post on the load side just after the fuse: Inverter, solar, 5v supply, and big 2ga wire to original GEM.
Battery positive directly connected to the same 4 things. Inverter power switch was off but not to assume it does not have some sort of internal components active, solar is powered from a solar panel so it was not on. 72v to 5v supply was connected & on immediately as it does not have a power switch. I plan to switch each of 3 LED strip zones independently. I could add a switch for the whole 5v supply but it draws very little at standby with no load.
Again, I am just a little nervous to use the cutoff switch or connect/disconnect a wire to any given component in the box with that spark & pop.
May 20Thanks @grantwest for the details on the BMS.
Thanks for the vote of confidence @BadBrad. Any spare time I have is going into the GEM right now. It is addictive.
These heat shrink solder sleeves are pretty handy by the way, when splicing or repairing wires. You can see where I used them to make the solar control extensions 6+4 pins on each end.
Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond.
In Reply To
May 20You guys have been busy today. The car is going to be awesome. Thanks for the info on the Rj9. I just wanted a spare before I start chopping up the one I have.
Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond.
To unsubscribe from these emails, click here.
Those wire connectors look pretty nice. Is it a crimp ring in the center and then when you heat shrink does it make it water tight?
It is basically a heat shrink tube with a ring of solder in the middle and a strip of glue at each end. You just use a heat gun to melt the solder and shrink and seal the tube. I like them because I do not enjoy soldering (I know, blasphemy)
Ive seen those connectors adverretised and thought too good to be true. Now I’m going to order some.
Those are so much better then the crimp kind. I hate those. You never know if you crimped to hard or not enough. Thanks for the review 
About 75% finished with wiring, still a few ends to connect… Most of it is in liquid tight conduit that runs underneath and some of it is in split loom flex conduit. I used marine grade and UF cable too so it should be well isolated and protected.
Wiring for the LED lights is completed and I just finished installing the first LED strip in the cab. I did have to slightly modify the wiring from the diagram. On the output side of the controller it needed the data wire plus ground (neg) to each strip. The controller itself is powered directly when the 5VDC supply is switched on. Then each section (cab, box, top rack) of LED strip has a switch on the dash to enable.
5VDC supply in box under seat:
Junction Box & LED controller in back of cargo box with exit through cable glands to the roof for outside strips:
Getting the wires to the ceiling of the cab was a little bit tricky.
Basically, I fed the wires up inside the tubular frame of the cab, through a small hole I drilled/cut on the inside of said tube, then into a cable raceway. For some reason, it took like an hour with fish tape and wire and multiple attempts to get the wire through the tube. It was not the straight easy shot through a hollow tube I assumed but the wire pulled through with little resistance and no damage.
Here is the LED arch in the cab (48 pixels):
Max brightness is very bright - more than adequate for functional lighting and also fun! At the end I may do a video to show this and other parts a bit more clearly.
Looking good !! more pics when you get a chance
Mostly done! Pictures 'n such coming soon.
However, I am having an issue. I finally got the GEM down off the jack stands to actually try driving it.
First test was to try it with the stock 7.0 motor and, of course, the new 20s pack. This went well… easily achieving the 25mph speed with noticeably quicker acceleration. Drove about 4 miles on a variety of grades.
Next test was to plug in the Magic Magnet. This went well at first averaging top speed of 30-32.
Then suddenly, after just under one mile with the MM, I got error 81 on the screen and the GEM slowed to a crawl. This error seems to be related to the speed sensor. I limped home, then tried again about 30 minutes later. Error 81 came back quickly. It also refused to go in reverse. After several tries, I did get it to go in reverse after flipping the switch and trying park brake off and on. It also flashed 82 a couple of times.
I removed the magic magic magnet hoping I could get back to at least stock functionality. Unfortunately, no dice there; still error 81. It comes and goes. When 81 is not on the screen the spedo shows zero while moving.
I am not able to pinpoint the actual issue. Hopefully the detailed description above will shed some light.
Please help.
To test out the speed sensor I would swap it with the one you have in the other motor and then try again.
Good luck.
According to the surgeon general the following has been shown to cause code 81 & 82…
Where do you recommend purchasing one of these magnets still in one piece?
Wow! My luck must be running out. I figured the next logical step was to swap for the R4F motor. Easy to swap but bad news is that it is junk. Worse news is that I bought it over a year ago used on eBay so I am out $400. This is only the second time I have ever had a bad transaction on eBay in over 1,000.
Yes, it is definitely connected correctly. I rolled the GEM manually to see if it was just froze up. Then I tried it again and it literally sparked and smoked.
Already, pulled it out.
So I currently have one 7 hp stock motor with a bad magnet and a fried 7.5 R4F motor. The good news is that all the complex upgrades I just completed work and look great. The simple basic stuff is turning out to be problematic.
I think I will order a D&D motor direct. Not hoping for a miracle, just slightly better torque, higher RPMs and better thermal properties. I will be hauling trailers often (“hay” rides, yard work).
I read this in the forum somewhere.
Look for a club car speed sensor that fits a GE motor ~$20. If you end up needing to replace the magnet, it is pressed on.
Sounds easy.
Surprised this actually worked… I super glued the magnet back together and stuck it in to hopefully get me moving again for a few days until my new motor gets here. I drove it up to my mechanic (about 2.5 miles) and no error codes. My mechanic is checking the brakes and drive components (the parts I do not enjoy working on). What is a good source fro the magnet for a 7 HP GE motor so I can pass this info on to the fella who is buying my old motor? Thanks.
About the motor from D&D. I spoke with Vic (or maybe it was Vin) at D&D about my options. There is, of course the usual 7.5 motor that is widely used for $699, same as Ride-4-Fun just without the “free” support. He actually recommended a slightly larger (longer) motor for my application. It is +$125 vs the 7.5 so I thought it was worth a try. He says that he has sold several to a guy in Florida who has used this option with good results. Maybe this dude from Florida is on this forum? He also gave some general advice: use a bit of Never-Seez on the shaft / spline. Anyway, It will probably be here in a day or two because I am not that far from Syracuse, where D&D motors is made in the US of A.
As best as I can tell My GEM truck eL XD has a 14.76:1 gear ratio like this:
Also important to the drive characteristics of the eL XD, is the larger standard 5 lug wheels & tires:
For comparison this would be like 13:1 with the smaller stock tires on most:
This is still higher (lower) than the more common 10.35 or 12.44. I think 14.76 is the lowest gear ratio available. If I am understanding all this correctly my setup should be better at climbing hills (or pulling a trailer) with less stress on the motor. Right?
In theory this would be at the expense of speed, correct? Remember that I was getting 30-32 on flats with about 80.5 volts from the mostly charged battery pack at the time.
How would this affect range? Shorter, I would think because of higher RPM’s but on the other hand perhaps less amperage required because of the lower torque requirement.
Any insight or experience on this would be appreciated.
For those of you interested in the progress of my various electrical upgrades…
Switches
It has quick charge USB ports and a handy volt meter so I can monitor the 12v supply.120v Outlets
In cab with USB:
Inside MaxBox, front of truck bed:
External recessed In-use box on rear of truck: I put it on the back just in case I might forget something was plugged in and drive off. In that event the plug would just be plucked out.
This required relocation of the license plate holder… extra little upgrade. 
Trailer Hitch
I cleaned and re-painted the trailer hitch with Rust-Oleum enamel and spliced in flat 4 trailer wiring. I found a nice forged aluminum hitch piece and a nylon capped ball made by Anderson with my favorite stainless hitch pin I always recommend. I really don’t like rust.
Solar Panel Installed on the roof rack
Solar junction… you can see other wiring for lights, etc behind it.
The rest of the Addressable LED pixel lighting
Finished the LED lighting except I have not yet installed the frosted covers for the LED channel.
There is one controller in the back of the box which places it as close as possible to where most of the pixels originate. The controller has a direct power feed and the whole 5v DC converter supply can be switched off and on with a switch I added under the e-brake (afterthought). It is a 40a supply at 5v so you might say, @Gemrix isn’t that too much for that little switch? I thought that too but then I remembered that I am actually switching the input side which is less than 3A peak @ 70-80 volts factoring in the efficiency of the converter.
PS: Wago lever nuts as seen in that box are way more fun to work with vs old-school wire nuts. You can mix wire guage and type securely. I added a weep hole in the box just in case the cable glands through the roof would ever leak. I did shrink wrap the little bundle of wires to the LED strips.
CAB, 48 pixels (14ga power & data wire return because of the longer run)
BOX, 93 pixels (14ga power & direct splice for data)
TOP, 205 left + 205 right = 410 (12ga power, and 2x direct splice data)
551 pixels total 
I still plan to post a video of the pixels in action when I get the chance.
Camera Mirror
You may have noticed the rear camera in the pictures of the LED strips. I installed a mirror that actually has a front & rear camera, recording of both, GPS for speedometer readout, clock. The GPS sensor is under the front dash. I used the same cable raceway as I did for the pixels in the back of the cab. Again it was a pain to fish the wires down through the tubular frame.
Anyway back to the GEM
$109 with coupon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PD2KJQH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
By design this is supposed to strap on to the existing mirror. It’s a good thing I already thought that was kind of lame 
because the original mirror placed the front facing camera up in the blue tinted area. So I got a simple magnetic windshield mount, ripped it apart and added 3M adhesive instead of the magnet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BS4S89H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Control Panel
A La Tesla… If you have been following along you know that I had a BMS remote and part of a solar charge controller dangling around the front dash. I decided to make a box to make them neat and accessible.
I started with a hobby box
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/hammond/1599kbk/?qs=4dK74SdgGtw2sskdoLi2Ew%3D%3D&countrycode=US¤cycode=USD
Then I measured and marked it up trying to center the screens in a vertical line. I got out the rotary tool and went to town.
Just 4 “short” hours later and voila!
Speaking of screens; the round thing at the top is a wireless charging phone mount that works with this sticky nano stuff, you know, science. The LED’s are Bluetooth controlled via an app as well as the many other things a smartphone has to offer the well-focused driver. 
Now to make it look pretty and finished… My first thought was to mask it off and spray with Plasti-Dip rubber. Instead, I ended up putting the box face down on a scanner at this phase. Then I edited and augmented the resulting image in MS paint & Photoshop. Finally I printed it out and laminated it. This ended up taking some trial and error. Credit to Wifey for letting me borrow her special craft cutter and Martha Stewarts own razor circle cutter thingy.
https://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewart-Crafts-Simple-Circle/dp/B002BTUHBU
If you look really close you can see that I still need to refine the screen cutouts a few mm one way or the other. If you are looking at a distance… it still looks pretty homemade. I may look into matte finished lamination pouches or getting this printed on vinyl, maybe. It’s more than adequate for proof of concept, nonetheless.
Solar Charging
This actually works!
The manual leaves a bit to be desired and I found plenty of videos on Youtube. Just search MPT-7210a and settle in for a British documentary on the subject.
The loud fan as seen in the videos is not a problem. I cut out the vent circle as suggested by some dude on YT. However on the unit I received, the fan has not run at all yet. Either they updated the design to be thermostatically controlled or I forgot to hook it back up or it is a bad fan. It is not heating up at all though and will not be pushing it to near capacity, but I will investigate.
Cleaned Up
My GEM is not cosmetically perfect. I got it in basically non-working condition. I took off some crappy stickers and the rest of the word El*ctric missing letters. The 7.0 badge no longer applies. I may order replacement door decals because one was damaged and I removed the other to match. I re-seated the rear window and added a couple of retainer screws (seems like a flawed design for the rear window the way it bowed up in the middle). I need to reinstall the front heavy duty bumper which I cleaned and repainted in aluminum silver. I have new tires & some unique throwback “full moon” stainless hubcaps to install.
Maybe a few well placed reflective strips or a trip to the dent doctor would help but she cleans up okay. She’s definitely one-of-a-kind and she’s my little GEM.
That reminds me… I’ve had insurance for a month and sent in my paperwork the same day and I’m still waiting on that “RIX-GEM” plate from PENDOT. No temp tags for NEV’s in PA and did not even have a law pertaining to NEV’s until 2014
I love your GEM. Man have you been busy. It just makes me want to work on mine some more. Your motor will be fine.I’ll get a new magnet or just swap mine over. Keep up the good work. Loving it.
