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Monthly Archives: September 2015

Overdue Update

By |September 30th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD, COMPONENT BUILD|0 Comments

If you read this on facebook you are missing 11 images. Only the website has all the images in a post.

Ten days now since I posted last. Lot’s of things were happening including some rubbish removal and clean up, electronic work, many little things on the chassis, my commercial project, some kite surfing, fitted the exhaust of the truck again  and some more shopping for parts.

More than 20 years of my IT history went into the rubbish. A shame really, all still working but nobody would use a 21″ tube screen anymore. I also dumped my NeXT computers, […]

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IT IS DONE – Finished Welding

By |September 20th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|2 Comments

Last three days were busy with finishing all the little bits of the frame and TIG welding them together. Yesterday I finished the last pieces and then my mate MIG welded the riveted frame components to the thicker chassis pieces.

The outriggers in the front were welded to the neck frame.

The front panel support rail is fitted.

All the frame components for the underbelly cover are fitted and welded.

It is handy to have the strong hydraulic legs to lift the chassis. Easy access from underneath, however the manufacturer recommends not to use them for changing tyres. We should have used axle […]

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BMS – Arduino Uno To Mega

By |September 16th, 2015|COMPONENT BUILD|0 Comments

Tonight I was working a bit more on the BMS. Yesterday I received the Arduino Mega 2560 to replace the Arduino UNO. The reason is that the Uno is limited with IO pins, I was using the IO extender, and has less memory for program and variables than the Mega.

I can remove the extender shield now. The top image shows a more compact setup, the horizontal extender keeps the configuration low and gives me space to mount the custom circuits. The picture shows 2 relays on one side of the extender. The other side will be used for the […]

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Underfloor Storage Frame Finished

By |September 16th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

well almost.  Just a few bits left on the rear right. I also added a few of the underbelly cover supports. These are t-sections across the underside of the trailer. These will be used to hold the cover sheets of alu honeycomb 6mm panels. These panels will cover the whole underside from front to rear.

I have to do a few more of these tomorrow and then the lot will be welded. In the middle section is a bit more to do because the trailing arms require a bit extra work to go around them and cover everything else.  I […]

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Underfloor Frame Welded

By |September 15th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

Today I continued with the underfloor frame in the front and on the right side.  The front is finished and the right side is half done.

In the afternoon a mate came by and helped me with the welding.

All the frames, which are finished so far, are now welded together. We used the TIG welder for all the 3mm to 3mm alu.

The connection between the frame and the thick chassis components will be done with the MIG welder.

As it looks right now I will be finished with all the frames and the supports for the underbelly cover by Saturday evening, […]

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Under Floor Frame Continued ..

By |September 14th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

Today I continued with the frame in the front left of the chassis. Takes a while, pretty fiddly to get this nice and straight.

I have checked some measurements from the plan and took some baggage doors to the chassis to double check positions. My wife and I and a bit of a discussion about pull out table in the front, table height, pass through shelf to the kitchen and door position and a couple of other things.

Looked a seating height with the pull out table outside, opening direction of the door and the placement of the door. I am […]

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Under Floor Frame

By |September 13th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

After two days of work on my commercial project and rain yesterday, the weather was better today and I done some work on the trailer again.

I did do some more programming for the BMS, which is now almost done. Need a couple of parts and need to put it in a box.

Outside I started the work on the last chapter of the chassis build, the under floor frame for the storage boxes and the underbelly cover.

I also have finished all cutting for the outriggers and side rail for the neck section. The pieces are waiting to be welded.

I tried […]

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It is on again – Start of the kite season

By |September 9th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

at least for me .. Some of my kite friends have been out all winter but this winter was really not very nice in terms of kiting opportunities.

This was the first time I was out in some time, and unfortunately it was not that great. Beautiful day at the beach, nice water, but just not enough wind and I did not pack the big gun. I trusted the actual reading too much and it dropped as per forecast. The boys at the bureau got it right this time and I did not believe them. Tough luck .. next time […]

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BMS Version 2

By |September 8th, 2015|COMPONENT BUILD|0 Comments

Still working on the battery management system. Had some major trouble with that 4D software. It is buggy and inconvenient … simply not ready really for serious work, at least to my standards. Nevertheless I spent several hours testing and finding workarounds for various issues.

It was also an opportunity to start from scratch, almost, and this time I made a structure before I started putting the screens together and removed a bit of clutter.

There might be still a change here and there as I complete the software, but this is pretty much what I can see happening.

The top image […]

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Holding Tank Plumbing

By |September 7th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

Today was a real warm spring day, the first taste of what is to come now – kite season. We had a seabreeze, just right for a big kite, but I was busy .. Wednesday looking good though although the forecast says otherwise, but our seabreezes never listen to the forecast.  Back to the subject – plumbing.

I finished the cold water and drinking water plumbing, the hot water was already done. After the water supply was no finished, the holding tanks were the next on list.

I placed the shower basin in it’s spot to check the drain, I had […]

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New Facebook Page

By |September 6th, 2015|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Today I was asked to post to a page rather than my profile on facebook that not just the friends can see it. Facebook does not have a category for Trailers, Caravans or such. No category for privately created things, only products, commercial, companies etc. Wonder why that is ?

Anyway, here it goes. This should be the first post to go on the new facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/teutanic. It will not go to the profile anymore.

The wordpress plugin at this point only allows one facebook link, at least this is what I understand without digging deep and going into documentation or code. […]

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BMS Continued

By |September 5th, 2015|COMPONENT BUILD|0 Comments

Today was not really nice outside. I stayed in, worked on my commercial project and done a few things to the BMS. Yesterday after quite a few hours of work on the commercial project I could not resist to start that new resistor network for the BMS cell voltages. Since the trim pots had arrived I wanted to do a prototype. Not on the extender shield in case I still need changes but on a separate little board.

I adjusted the values to maximise the voltage range from measurement through the Arduino. This will be done again with the real […]

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Hot Water Plumbing

By |September 4th, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

After I finished the data entry for the BMS I went outside to do some more plumbing. Yesterday evening I had picked up some more insulation for the hot water pipes as one can see in the top picture.

I looked at the possible routes for the pipes and decided that some of the fill lines were in the way. I removed them to get a better route for the hot water.

I use cable tie saddles to fix the pipes to the chassis.

The saddles are riveted to the floor supports with pop rivets.

In the foreground one can see the hot […]

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BMS Screen Modified

By |September 4th, 2015|COMPONENT BUILD|1 Comment

This morning I finished the data entry functions for the BMS. As I was testing the display and the functionality I grew really tired of their implementation of 7 Segment digits. They are difficult to read because the contrast between segment on and segment off is not high enough and the gaps between the segments are too big. They look like a cheap 7 segment display from the 60’s and I am not that nostalgic. So I declared them useless for the larger displays and implemented the display functions with string displays. Much cleaner and better to read as […]

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Hot Water Plumbing

By |September 3rd, 2015|CHASSIS BUILD|0 Comments

As I mentioned before, I went against my initial thought and decided to use PEX with crimp fittings for the hot water and heating pipes. Today I started putting the hot water pipe in and done a few fittings with the crimp rings. Looks very solid and I think I am going to trust that. Cutting the PEX pipe is easy with a dedicated cutter, very clean ends and the crimping with the ratchet tool is simple.

I used the PEX pipe from the roll, which can be a bit daunting, but buying straight pieces would not really helped the […]

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BMS Coming Along

By |September 2nd, 2015|COMPONENT BUILD|0 Comments

I have completed the programming of the 4D display and with a decent power supply on the Arduino and no USB connected it behaves. Funny that is, as soon as I connect the USB it turns temperamental, no matter what the power supply.

Now I can remove this el cheapo chinzi keypad, which frees up 9 digital IO on the Arduino, not that I need them, the extension board has enough digital IO and I need this board for all the Analog inputs anyway.

The top image shows all the components wired up on the desk. This is it and a […]

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BMS Screen On Arduino

By |September 1st, 2015|COMPONENT BUILD|0 Comments

Have the little screen connected to the Arduino and it is all working. Have finalised the design of the display graphics and implemented the 3 display pages I am going to use.

I also mounted the screen in its optional bezel for wall mounting.

Page 1 shows the bank voltage and the charge and load current, using 2 separate shunts measuring the incoming solar charge  and the outgoing load.
The image below shows this page on the screen with the Arduino connected. The second and third page have minor changes.

Page 2 shows the cell monitor and a couple of additional buttons and […]

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