Idiot Proofing

"Insert clever comment here"

Sorry. No one's said anything memorable, or witty of late.

It's often said amongst us EV'ers that one of the biggest barriers to production electric vehicles is idiot-proofing these cars. Even though it's quite easy to kill yourself or others with a gasoline powered car, electric vehicles hold a special fear in the American public's eyes. Aside from hazard-proofing them, the cars need to be self-destruction proofed so that the owners don't slag their motors, controllers and battery packs.

I haven't done any of this to my car but I've been wanting to. I've learned that my charger has a built-in relay that I can use to power a dummy light to keep me from driving off with the cord plugged in. I also want to dial down my motor controller to keep me from accidentally hammering my batteries with too heavy an amperage load. It'll be beneficial for the motor too.

I also abhor the way the builder wired in the DC-DC converter and the controller pre-charge circuit. I'm going to buy a terminal board and properly screw all this stuff down......IF the warm weather ever finally gets here.

I've replaced 10 of 16 of my damaged batteries so far. I only drive very gently on low speed roads. Once they're all replaced, I'll be back on the major highways.