Return to Electric Motoring
Today, with lots of help from aminorjourney, I made a start at getting the City-El electric bubblecar back on the road. The main problem is, of course, batteries. But I was given two sets of batteries a little while ago, and I really hadn't done much with them. One set (three 12V to make 36V nominally) is Optima Yellow-Tops, and the other is sealed gel-cells. Both would have been top-quality batteries when new, but of course they're now a little tired. We installed the Yellow-Tops initially, and they seemed to perform well. They've been on charge all evening, using the small automatic 12V charger on each one in turn. As for the car itself, I fitted (another) new microswitch on the throttle pedal, and all was well. The brakes squeaked a bit at first (from non-use), but it all settled down OK with a bit of use up and down the driveway. I must fix the high-level brake light properly!
Now to get the insurance sorted out, and get the car to an MOT garage that can do Class III MOT tests. Not many of them do, and none that I know of are within electric motoring distance. At least, not with a set of (as yet) unknown batteries in the middle of winter. We'll use a van to get the car there and back, which is a hassle, but worth it.
Meanwhile, I have successfully connected a PlayStation 2 joypad/controller to an Atmel ATMega8. At the moment, I'm reading out the button status bits in hex on an LCD, but of course that will change depending on what I use it for next. So far, I've tries a couple of ordinary PS2 controllers and the massive light gun that I got in a charity shop. The gun has the added feature of a row of red LEDs that glow whenever the gun is fired! I'll probably try reading the analog joysticks next, and then integrate the code into the robot car project.
Now to get the insurance sorted out, and get the car to an MOT garage that can do Class III MOT tests. Not many of them do, and none that I know of are within electric motoring distance. At least, not with a set of (as yet) unknown batteries in the middle of winter. We'll use a van to get the car there and back, which is a hassle, but worth it.
Meanwhile, I have successfully connected a PlayStation 2 joypad/controller to an Atmel ATMega8. At the moment, I'm reading out the button status bits in hex on an LCD, but of course that will change depending on what I use it for next. So far, I've tries a couple of ordinary PS2 controllers and the massive light gun that I got in a charity shop. The gun has the added feature of a row of red LEDs that glow whenever the gun is fired! I'll probably try reading the analog joysticks next, and then integrate the code into the robot car project.