Update to the battery pack upgrade

Back in May I upgraded the trike's electric assist battery pack to 48 volts from 36V.
This has made a nice difference in the effectiveness of the assist motor, but the one drawback has been how the pack sits in the trike. Juergen and I had quickly installed the pack in the nearest handy container, an old metal toolbox. This meant that the box had to be put in the cargo box of the trike, opened up, and the cable plugged in. It also meant that the pack had to come with me whenever I left the trike unattended for any length of time, since a loose toolbox just kind of says "steal me".

Here's the bare pack:

So I needed a better arrangement, and that was for a sealed box that could stay with the trike. The easiest and most out of the way place to put it would have been along the front end of the cargo box, but since the pack is kind of heavy I wanted it by the right rear wheel, to balance out the weight of the assist motor built into the left rear wheel (the trike when empty can lift a rear wheel on sharp turns, so now both rear wheels have some weight and this no longer happens). So while aesthetically this isn't the best spot it certainly works from a practical point.

My choice of material for the box was corrugated plastic, aka coroplast. If one has to use petroleum for anything then coroplast and duct tape gets my vote! ;) And both worked well for this application:

After cutting and assembling two holes were drilled through the bottom of the box as well as the cargo box floor and bolted in place:

Then, after the pack was fitted inside, I drilled two more holes, one for the power cable, and one for the recharge cable. They came out underneath like this (the small black box is the controller):

Juergen gave me a handy key-operated on/off switch that I wired into the end of the box. This disconnects the pack from the controller while in recharge mode, and to also prevent any minor power drain while parked:

Now that I was no longer taking the battery pack inside to charge it, I had to add an extension to the charger's cable out to the trikeport (the charger can still be removed from where it sits and brought with me if I'm on a longer trip and have to recharge before coming home). So one length of cable comes out into the trikeport and ends in a plug, and that gets plugged into the jack of another cable that I clamped under the seat and ran back under the cargo box to connect with the pack:

Note in the bottom of the photo the bottle for the recently installed Air Zound horn. It's a nice loud beastie that rattles me a bit any time I use it, but it's far more useful in traffic than the squeeze horn it replaced. Here's its business end:

And as is often the case with my projects, Jett supervises:He also thinks the empty trikeport is a good spot to hang out.

even more moving photos!

When relocating it's not a common thing to have to take the "garage" with you. In my case, I had built a covered shed for the trike at the old place, and it of course had to come with me. It was fairly simply put together, so easy to take apart. When rebuilding I'll need to beef it up a fair bit, because at the new place I'm told the spot for it can receive a healthy build-up of ice in the winter from water dripping off the flat roof. But this rebuild will have the added benefit of diminishing my woodpile, which for the most part still resides at my old place with the owner's consent.

So here's how you move a wide load with the trike - just put the stuff across the box and hope it all weighs enough to keep it in place. With slow cycling it did. ;)

(note red safety flag)

The roof panels, acquired from a friend that was demolishing an outbuilding. They fit almost perfectly into the box, and I mean like with a 1/2" all around to spare! The only thing that prevented them from lying flat was the battery box for the electric assist (which is soon to be relocated under the trike in a semi-permanent installation). Most of the move was actually done without using the assist at all (battery pack not even in place), but I was getting tired at this point and needed the extra help.

My regular 2-wheel bikes were easy to fit, but not so the big beasts. In the above and below photos you can see the Rainbow Chopper, the CCM tandem. and the Infinity recumbent.


Gratuitous cat photo. In the new place, and Jett is mauling his catnip Teddybear, recovered from under a shelving unit while packing.

raccoons!

In my previous place the cats had their own door for coming and going. Until earlier this year that is, when after the fourth visit from a raccoon I closed that door off and the cats had to put up with me letting them in and out the front door.

Now we're in the new place, which is one of three apartments in an old house. My kitchen and bathroom windows look out onto the flat roof of the unit below, and there's a fire escape to the side which the cats use to reach the ground. I leave the window open for them to do this, and last night I heard a noise and went into the kitchen and there's a raccoon about to come in! He sees me and runs back onto the roof, but then turns around, lies down and looks at me!


Cheeky little bugger...

He didn't come up the fire escape, but from the roof of the house to the left in the photo (you can see the flat roof and deck just past the sloped part). I fabricated a wooden barricade that should keep him away, and that will also keep Jett from exploring over there, which he has done a few times now (I don't mind him wandering around, but I'd rather he visit the neighbours on their porch and not through an open upstairs window).

UPDATE: it's a few hours later, I'm busy unpacking things and figuring that there's now no worry about leaving the kitchen screen window open so the cats can come and go, and a bat flies into the apartment! He fluttered about for a minute or so then flew out the open balcony door. After closing that I went into the kitchen to close the window and Kitty was there with eyes wiiiide open after seeing the flying mouse...

Meow

Time for more cat photos!

The first two were actually taken at the end of February, just before the last dump of snow. Jett will go outside as long as it's not freezing rain or a snowstorm (sort of like me and winter cycling!), while Kitty stays in until the snow is gone. Some snow had melted from the back deck, and the sun's rays had that extra warmth to them that says Spring is not far away, and so Jett had his first outside snooze for 2007 (it was about -3C).

(photos taken through window covered by plastic film)

There's always room for two at their favourite sunny window.

JazzFest, BluesFest, MeowFest...

(thanks to Mike B. for "MeowFest")

Ok, so Jett's not thrilled with travel either. He made about as much noise as Kitty did, increasing along with the bike's speed or the ambient traffic noise. But he was fine once at the vet, and not so noisy on the way home. While stopped at a busy intersection he let out a good one, and a little kid nearby tugged at his Mom and said "I hear a cat" and she said "really? I don't think there are any cats around here". I just look up at the sky and whistle...

Guess he's going to lick his way out of the cage...


After letting him out he sat and thought for a moment, then came back for a forgiveness hug...


... and then off to the back yard for a recovery snooze.

Trip to the Vet

It was time for Kitty's annual check-up, and of course it had to be on the hottest day (so far) of the year (33C). Here's the routine: Kitty goes into her carrier, the carrier goes into the cargo trailer, the lid gets put on the trailer to keep visual stimulation down for her. But not today - I figured she'd be a rather unhappy feline in this heat, so the top stayed off and the breeze generated by cycling kept her from overheating.

carrier inside trailer


there's foam padding underneath to smooth the ride

She meowed on and off for the first half of the 2 km journey, but then settled down to the odd complaint. It was fun passing pedestrians, as they heard "meooow!" but couldn't quite figure where it was coming from. Once we got to the Vet she was fine, and her examination did not take long and she got her shots and then back into the carrier. She didn't meow as much on the way home, and once back indoors she quickly forgave me for my transgression. On Thursday it's Jett's turn, and this will be his first trip by bike, since when I got him last year he had already gotten his shots...

"OK, you can put me and that stoopid camera down, and let me out!"

random fun

Went to Value Village last week with my friend Wenna, and while she found a cool jacket, I came away with the grand prize, a gotta-be-one-of-a-kind-it'll-fetch-big-bucks-on-eBay Oscar the Grouch cookie jar!

OK, so he looks more like a cross between Oscar and ET, which might lower the eBay bidding... ;o)

And on my last trip I found a fun hat. Now, I'm not generally a fan of ball caps (think they look best only on ballplayers and kids) but they are handy while gardening, mowing the lawn, etc., so why not do such things in style?



And while this has nothing to do with secondhand stores, a good photo of Jett (who does happen to be a "previously enjoyed" cat ) in full snooze mode:

It's a cat's life...

Kitty and Jett (no, I didn't name them) absolutely love being outdoors. They have their own trapdoor for coming and going, though every now and then one of their 'friends' makes use of it as well. Kitty grew up two houses away, so its her 'hood and she supervises things. But Jett really seems to revel in the sunshine, as I often find him lying on his back with his stomach exposed to the rays (no photo of that yet).

Kitty (top) and Jett, enjoying the sun.


Jett loves this spot for posing and snoozing...