3 year aniversary

This post marks the end of my 3rd year driving electric.  4344 miles this year for a total of 13644 miles.  I estimate I have about 227 cycles on my battery with no issues.

new charger

Two weeks from my 3 year anniversary I decided to upgrade my charger.  For all this time I've been using the old heavy transformer rig from step 31.  It worked well enough but was very loud.  The 50' of romex wire I put in series with the output to drop a little voltage (to avoid melting plugs) heated the garage and required a box fan on it to prevent it from getting so hot it outgassed.  It was also a little awkward to plug in, requiring 4 or 5 connections to be made.  For the past year or longer these connections lived under the hood and looked like 2 extension cords.  The romex wire was introduced in the circuit after the plug on the side of the car melted. 

The new charger lives in the corner of the trunk and only requires an AC voltage connection, either 120VAC or 220VAC.  

From top to bottom is the rear battery, the motor controller, the DC/DC converter, and finally the new charger.  There are relays tucked around that are controlled by the BMS to turn the charger off at a set high voltage and to turn the motor controller off at a set low voltage.  The red/green/yellow dot is a status indicator.