167: Monday 25th October 2010

I travelled one mile this morning and turned back home. My temporary throttle had given up and I could only muster 20 mph. I came back home told my beloved that I was going to take her car to work, she told me otherwise, then a few minutes later after a short discussion I was out in the garage very hurriedly fixing my car with another temporary potentiometer. It actually only took me about 20 minutes to fix it. I got to work o.k. and home again, but it was being a bit tetchy on the way home too. Fortunately my new throttle potentiometers came in the post today. In the photo below you can see 3 pots. Sorry about the picture quality as my digital camera had run out of batteries. I put some new ones in and they died straight away. I need to get some better batteries, so I had to use my phone instead. Anyway, the big pot is the original that came with the metal box and lever, the little one is what I have used for a temporary fix, and the orange / red one is the new one. The temporary pot has a 4mm plastic shaft. The new pot has the right size shaft and it is metal. I rewired my state of charge gauge too, so now it represents the voltage levels at all times, but I wired it to the wrong side of my throttle switch, so the gauge only reads when I press the throttle. It will be a quick fix tomorrow. The throttle response is superb now. Previously I had to press the throttle pedal about half way before I got forward drive. It did not seem to matter how I calibrated it. I can only assume the pot track was laid like that. As this new pot is wire wound, it accelerates as soon as I touch the throttle and feels just like the throttle pedal on a petrol car. It is smooth and really nice to drive. I don't feel like I have to drive it special now. I am really pleased with this.