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Charger plugin Port

Oct. 4, 2007
Use the Existing Fuel Filler Housing.

Jun. 24, 2008
I ran heavy 10/3 wire, "Bury Cable", from the charge port over the wheel well and down inside the frame and out where I am going got put an electrical junction box to connect to the PFC 20 battery charger.
I decided that I did not like the heavy wire running through the corner of the battery box, so, I reran it after these pictures.

Jun. 26, 2008
I mounted a metal elecrical box on the frame rail with self drilling tapping screws. I removed the battery to access inside the frame rail to make sure nothing was going to interfere with the screws.
I put 3/4" a cord grip on the charger cord, with a sleave of heat shrink tubing to get a tight grip on the cord.
I did the cord grip on the other end of the box and tightened it onto the heavy 10/3 cable.
I labeled the wires and connected them with large wire nuts.
The smaller 16 Ga. wires with go to a charger port door micro switch, for a no drive off when charger is connected (safety).

Jun. 27, 2008
I opened the bury shield of the 10/3 cable and brought out the 16 gauge wires to run to the charge door safety switch.
I covered the "wiring breakout" area for the smaller wires with heat shrink tube.
I was had real concerns as how to wire up the L14-30 plug to only 3 wires coming from the PFC 20 charger. I "Googled" and found some instructions on how it should be done.
This is what I decided, everything I had read was telling me,
The NEMA L14-30 plug will have 2 hot wires and 1 ground, 1 neutral." To connect to a load that is 110/220 vac that has only 3 wires, L-1 LINE, L-2 LINE, G- green wire/screw - "Source" GROUND. My understanding is to forget about the neutral wire or put it to the same lug as the ground.
The 2 dark colored terminal screws on the L14-30 plug are the hot terminals, and the green is the ground.
The lighter colored terminal screw is the neutral, that is not used unless you jumper it with the ground to the Green screw on the plug.
DON'T take this as being correct! .... Refer to the "Legal Disclaimer" at the bottom of the menu. Thank you.

I also ran a ground wire from the metal plug bracket to the same location is the factory S10 box support near the fuel door.
I used the cruise control brake switch from the wrecking yard to make the safety charge door switch.
Note: A normally closed (NC) or a normally open (NO) switch will work with the Hairball, as you can set the type of switch being used in the Hairball "Options" menu.
I drilled a 5/8" hole at the bottom of the sheet metal behind the door, and bought a 5/8" "press on lock" to fit on the switch threads.
I put a light spring over the switch threads, stuck it through the hole and screwed on the "press on lock".
I used the lock thing to adjust the depth of the switch to get the switch deenergized when the charge door was closed.
I checked switch adjustment with a Ohm meter.
I connected the door switch wires to the 16 ga. wires in the 10/3 bury cable.
Drilled a hole in the connection box. I removed the iron fileings from inside the box with duct tape on the end of a screw driver.
Installed a 1/4" grommet in the hole pushed the 2 control wires into the box.
I connected switched wire to the Hairball, Pin #17, "AC Plug In".
I will connect the charge door power wire to a 3 amp fuse under the dash.

I ran the control wires in the frame with the S10 rear lighting harness and secured it with wire ties.

While I was under the truck I snapped this picture of just how close the cooling motor "fits" to the Warp( motor.
I went back and connected the control wires in the connector box.
NOTE: The AC Green ground wire is NOT connected to the truck frame.

To help my memory, I placed wire labels on the underside of the connection box cover.

Jun. 28, 2008
I wired in the fuse holder and installed a 3 Amp fuse for the Charger Door Safety Switch.

Aug. 5, 2008
I decided that I really want to know how much it is costing me to drive the truck with electricity vs. running on gasoline.
I looked at Watt Hour meters like the one on my home to install on the S10, but I didn't like them being so large and then they are hard to read with the dials.
I found a small digital "Watt Hour Meter" on Ebay, that I want to install near the battery charger behind the seat.
In this way I can log the EV S10's usage of electricity and determine the cost / mile to drive the Ev S10.
I bought a metal recipe box at the local thrift store to put the Watt Hour meter in.

Aug. 9, 2008
I decided that the best location for mouning the Watt Hour Meter was next to the battery charger in a "Metal Recipe Box" (it was the right size! & cheap at the thrift store!).
This will put the display where it will be easiest to log the usage of electricity when I begin charging and to log the end usage.
I removed the recipe box hinge pin and I will be able to mount the box to the back of the cab, with the meter inside.

Aug. 11, 2008

Used an air saw to cut the hole in the body panel, the box will fit into the flanged hole.

Aug. 12, 2008

Attached a short piece of DIN rail to the back of the recipe box.
I did not have enough room at the top and bottom areas of the box to use weatherproof connectors, where the cables entered the box.
To seal the cables, I decided on using 3/4" grommets, I also drilled a 3/16" hole in each bottom corner of the box to let any moisture drain.

I used small 7/32" Dia., "POP" rivits to attach the box to the flange.

After making to loop through the Watt Hour Meter, the power leads are not long enough to connect at the frame connection box,
I will have to add some power cable between them, and also a connection box below the meter box.

Aug. 13, 2008

I bought a 1/2" plastic electrical junction box at Grovers, made a 3/4" wood spacer to fit behind the plastic junction box and attached it with machine screws.
I had to remove the outer cover from the cable to get the wires through the KW Meter,
so now I replaced the cover and covered it with heat shrink tubing.
I connected the 8 Gauge cables inside of the junction box and used Super Glue to keep the cables in the junction box conduit fittings.
Then I sealed around the KW Meter metal box and the cable in the fittings with weather resistant sealant.

Aug. 14, 2008
I want to be able to charge the pickup from my portable gas generator when we don't have a plugin available, so this presented another hurdle!
In the PFC 20 Operators Manual it states that if the charger is powered with a portable genset, that the generator would have to have the surge voltage checked, immediatly at the generator startup, and that if the generator created a power surge that exceeded the recomended voltage, then charger would need to be protected with a 220 Volt surge protector, or use a different generator that did not exceed the maxinum voltage.
I bought this surge protector, that is designed to protect all of the 110/220 vac of a whole house, on Ebay.
Decided on the location of the 220/110 Volt surge suppressor being next to the KW meter box.
I connected the supressor with the incoming power leads at the LB junction box.
At times I will be charging on 110vac, and only having a 3 wire cord, I connected the green ground and the white neutral wire of the surge protector together and connected those wires to the green ground wire of the charger power supply. I am not sure if this correct but, it does seem logical.
I made up a 17', 8Ga, 4 wire, charger cord with L14/30 connections on each end.

Aug. 15, 2008
I bought a Rv power cord and cut the female end off and added a L14/30 twist connector to mate to the S10 charger connection.
In the center of the photo you will also see the RV to regular houshold plug adaptor.
Don't use my directions to make your cord, I am NOT an electrician!
The RV power cord will be for charging the EV on 110 Vac. so the 3 wire power cable wire connected to the 4 terminal plug.
Please have an electrician make your power cords for you!
With the circuit breaker in the OFF position I connected the cord to the outlet and the charging port.
Then I turned the circuit breaker ON, to test the wiring from the wall to the truck....
All okay,... Then I used a volt meter to check and verify that I did NOT have voltage at the frame of the truck.
I connected a battery jumper cable to my house breaker ground rod and then connected a AC volt meter between the jumper and the frame of the truck.
There was no voltage present between the jumper cable end and the metal truck frame.
This is GOOD, I breathed a sigh of relief.
The surge protector has 2 LED's both of them light on 220 Vac, but only the one LED lights on 110 Vac.

Aug. 24, 2008
I have set the charging voltage of the PFC 20 charger and slowly charged the batteries,
now that they are mostly charged I screwed in the wire piercing screws and this started the KW Meter form 0.00 reading.
Our local power company, Idaho power charges us $.06514/KWH usage of electricity, so I will be able to track and calculate my cost/Mi of energy vs. the cost of gasoline.
I need to find a log to keep track or keep track of my electrical energy usage in the handheld computer.
Here is the KW meter shortly after I turned on the battery charger.

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