TeamD Adventures

So now I have my car and all these things to wire up. What are the challenges?

• Bring power direct from the battery into the car
• Split said power between the radio and the Timewise
• Run power back to the radio in the trunk
• Protect everything with adequate fuses
• Try not to catch anything on fire

For the power leads, I chose 12 gauge paired stranded wire. It’s heavy enough to carry the radio load, light enough to run around without too much hassle, and since the red and black are paired together, it’s easy to manage. I struggled with how to split the power between the two devices. I could run two separate lines from the battery but that seemed silly. I could do some sort of splicing/crimping/soldering joint. I could rely on my old friend the wire nut. None of these, however, seemed over-engineered enough for me. After careful and random searching I stumbled upon the beautiful and amazing Blue Sea 5025. Blue Sea make marine electrical products and I have come to believe that your local marine supply shop should be your primary source for automotive electrical parts. (more…)

Electricity may be a fickle mistress but it is crucial in a car. Especially when the car is sporting four auxiliary lights (two PIAA 1400 fog lights and 2 PIAA 80 Pro XT driving lights), a Timewise 798a Rally Computer, a Yaesu FT8800 HAM Radio, a It worked but wasn’t ideal. My ultimate solution was to mount the unit in the trunk and have the head up front. It’s taken me a while to get to this but I am almost there. What have I done, you ask?…

In preparation for the Alcan Winter Rally and with great hopes of bring all of the cars back home whole TeamD wanted an opportunity to get some more experience scooting around on ice. We were able to take a dvantage of Bill’s job on the 787 cargo flight qualification team at Boeing. This should look really cool as the car corners and skitters around the course. The lighting was difficult due to the low sun angle but hopefully there will be some good footage that gets posted.

At the end of the day everyone was happy to for the practice and generious amonts of seat time. TeamD would also like to thank our transportation and hosts along way that made the whole trip possible (a big mala-kalaka-brewkus to you all).

The Alcan Winter Rally is only 16 days away. All eight of us will be competing as TeamD for the Alcan Winter Rally Team Award. This award goes to the team of three or four cars (including one rookie team) which scores the highest places in their respective classes.