Also, once I flip the "ON" switch to "ON" on the battery the "DC ON" status on my power supply goes out and won't come back on until I take my battery switch back to "OFF."

 

did you disconnect the car electronics? The battery should be isolated from the car electronics.

what kind of supply are you using? Set it up for 190V, 0.350 constant current, and then enable the output. Your supply may be showing what its reading from the battery, or what its outputing. the best way to know is to measure with separate voltmeter

 

also, you have to connect the 'negative' before the relay, which is below the positive terminal, but much smaller connection.. you have to use an alligator clip

 

Why don't you and Ross PM your phone number to Owl and help him. I'm going to do the same.

 

If you mean car electronics as in all the other stuff in the car, well, I took the heavy SOB into the house. I used the EC-135 that I mentioned on the other page. I can choose voltage or current. I tried both like I said. No current flowed under either mode, it read 0 the entire time. The voltage on the power supply read 125 V like I said in every case. When measuring voltage with a multimeter across the terminals in every case it still read the same voltage with the battery switch set to ON, which is of course battery voltage.

I used alligator clips for all connections and did connect the negative before the relay...I measured the voltage after the relay and didn't get a right reading so I figured out it would have to be before. I looked at your picture of your light bulb set up to make sure I attached the wires to the right spots and also the drawing with the orange circles to make sure.

All this help is for naught at this point though...My wife was waiting for me to watch a movie after I made my last posts because I told her it would take only a minute to hook things up. Well, I didn't know I'd run into trouble. Anyway, I was spending most my mental effort making sure I was staying safe and not electrocuting myself. I didn't have much mental effort because I only slept for 4 hours last night because of work so I was tired. Well, somehow during me trying to figure out what I was messing up by switching things around I got my wiring messed up and I got a positive to negative and vice versa and when I turned it on I saw a big flash and some sparks.

Jeep daddy sent me an email of encouragement a few days ago and told me not to give up...Well, after all the issues I've run into up to and including me blowing my power supply I think I'm at my limit. I can count the number of days left at home before I have to go away for 7 months...I won't need my car anyway so part of me wants to just forget about it until I get back and then probably get a better battery installed.

 

Owl - check your PM's..

 

Owl - try that 'step method' of setting the supply to just slightly above the battery voltage, and after the battery reaches that voltage, step it up another few volts. For example, if the battery is reading 150 volts, apply 151 volts, then try 155V and work your way up. This may trick your supply because its feedback won't see such a large difference in voltages. (it will think the battery voltage is its own output). The diode method would solve it by making it one-way, but thats extra money and effort so try the above.

 

That's actually a decent idea! Too late now though...It won't even power on anymore. I don't know whether I blew a capacitor or what. Probably not repairable.

Here's the link to the power supply I had bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/220885689328...#ht_569wt_1396

 

I think the PS might have been bad from the start...Rather than try another PS from ebay I've decided to go the route of ross and buy the digikey parts. I have submitted my order. I'll be gone for a bit so I'll have to try again when I get back in later december. I'll only have a few days before I leave home for 6 months so let's hope this time I am successful.

Ross, where do you suggest getting the wiring and power cable from? Also, I think the diodes probably are important based on the one part only outputs 3-36Vdc?

 

Hi Owl (and all...)

Been away. Just catching up. Sorry for the power supply.

Couple of things first. Let's get back to my analogy of the two fish tanks.

If one tank is lower than the other, current flows. If your supply voltage is lower than the battery voltage, the battery will try to charge your supply... not a good idea. If your supply voltage is higher than the battery voltage, then the supply will feed current to the battery.

The diodes should be installed reverse-biased to the battery, so the battery can't feed the supply. Refer back to the diagram Navguy put together on page 15 of this thread. He shows the diodes in correct orientation.

Next worth mentioning, you can set a power supply one of two ways... constant voltage, or constant current. Not both. The supply has to vary one to maintain the other. If you want a constant 310 milliamps of current, the supply will vary the voltage (pressure) to maintain that amount of current. It may be that the voltage of the power supply can be set so that the supply will not breech a voltage maximum or current maximum but don't get that confused with the aforementioned. Don't over think this. Voltage is pressure, current is how much.

Owl, the wires can be most anything. They are carrying very little current so you could use bell wire if you wanted. Stranded wire is flexible, solid wire tends to bend and stay where you bend it. You could use either but I prefer stranded wire. Your local Lowes or Home Depot should have what you need. I used fat wire... not necessary... just happened to have it on hand.

For a power cord, you could use a lamp, fan or computer power cord. Again... not much current draw on your outlet (about a half amp or 50 watts). Pretty much any power cord will do. Computer, printer, monitor power cords are easy to come by... go to your local recycle and grab one for free. The ground wire can be used if you mount everything to a metal enclosure... safer I suppose but you can see, I mounted mine to wood so I didn't really benefit by a ground wire.

If you install the battery pack into the car with charge wires permanently connected as I did, I do recommend heavy gage wires for their beefier protection and great care in choosing a path to run them out where you can connect them. In an accident, you don't want your wires to become part of the problem. And in this case, definitely use the diodes.

I'm sorry for being away... I haven't gotten any emails on this thread... don't know why.

Best of luck Owl... I'll wait to hear how things work out.

Ross