[id44warren]

After 16 months and 26,500 miles, no issues with the ID.4. Sorry boring I know...

Happy Memorial Day!

 

[id44warren]

I'm happy to report that the fairly loud hammering sound from the compressor while the AC was laboring is now gone after I inserted a piece of foam between the hose and the frame. In the photo below, the white foam is seen between the black hose and the shiny-ish frame member. I was able to just reach through the mess of hoses and jam it in there.

 

[id44warren]

Installed the corner lights. They are just wired for demo purposes now, still need to hook up the power in a permanent manner.

I had to cut and file some sleeves to get the light pointed forward properly as that section of the "grill" is pretty well wrapped around the body. I also had to file the bottom of the light housing to clear the bottom of the grill. I would have like to recess them but those opening are too small to do much with. I'm pretty happy with how it looks.

 

[id44warren]

I connected the new corner lights to the L and R front light bars (light strips on either side of the VW badge). It seems to work so far. Connection is temporary until I determine whether the car is going to complain about the slight extra load on those circuits.

 

[Spin]

Nice job Warren. By putting a switch on the wire powering those lights you will be better able to determine how much they help, and also be able to switch them off when not needed. You are probably already considering that for your permanent installation.

 

[id44warren]

After 17 months and 27,700 miles the car is bug encrusted but otherwise great. The mini corner lights are working fine. I drove home a couple hours in the dark last night and the car isn't complaining about them being powered by the light bar wiring yet.

They don't provide any discernable extra illumination and I don't care about that because the ID.4 headlights work great. I just like how it looks. I'm not going to use a switch to control them if I don't have to.

I keep on looking at the VW logo and thinking about blacking out the V. I'm too cheap for vanity plates but a giant illuminated W suits me fine. 😀

 

[id44warren]

After several weeks the lights are still working fine connected to the light bar power so it's time to connect it in a more permanent way.

Meanwhile I noticed on my way to work today that the car didn't charge last night and I had enough juice to get to work but not back home. Plan B is a newer Electrify America that's only about 20 minutes out of my way. 🙄 Made it there with 8% battery to spare, plugged in, it recognized the car and started charging with having to use the app. Started at 177kw and now at 71% it's down to 88kw. No other cars here...

Hopefully I'll find a reason why it didn't charge when I get back home.

 

[id44warren]

I didn't see anything obviously wrong so I powered cycled the Juicebox. All the magic boxes talked to each other and decided that the car could be charged last night and I happily motored to work with an 80% charge.

 

[Dougie01]

Screw-in fuses on 240 VAC?

 

[id44warren]

Dougie said: Screw-in fuses on 240 VAC?

No my house is marginally more modern than that.

 

[id44warren]

I finished the wiring of the driving lights. Soldered the connections and re-taped with electrical tape and black cloth tape to match the existing wire covering.

This picture shows the location of the two connectors for the right and left light bars. They are right behind the VW emblem and easily accessible. The hardest part was removing the cloth tape from the wires to expose enough of them to allow me to splice in.

 

[id44warren]

After 19 months the ID.4 had 29,750 miles on the odometer. On Monday I'm taking it in for the 30,000 mile checkup. No problems, car is great. We just got back from a trip to the farm in Iowa. 4 adults, one dog and a pile of crap. 100 miles each way. Charged from the 220v welder outlet with the screw in fuses. No drama.

On the other hand I have to keep four old cars running at home to allow everybody else to remain mobile. 1998 Maxima, 2004 Saturn Vue, 2013 Highlander, and the "fun" car that gets worked on more than driven, the anti-ID.4, the 1978 Camaro.

 

[id44warren]

The dealership charged me $190 for the 30,000 mile brake fluid flush but otherwise no charges.

I have been have some issues where the wipers bind up and sometimes the main wiper is bent severely before it pops free. This started when I installed the RainX Silicone Endura wiper blades. Apparently they are a bit too long. Here's a screen capture from a video showing the problem:

They clean great so I'm not going to trash them but I'm going to take them off and buzz a bit off the ends where they meet and never buy those again...

 

[id44warren]

I buzzed about 1/8" off of the ends of the wiper blade caps that were binding. It seemed better today but we just had sprinkles. We'll have to wait for some real rain to ensure it's fixed.

Also I bought a EcoFlow Delta Pro 3600 Wh battery generator as there was a good deal on them for Prime Day. I thought it had a 240 outlet but no it's just a 30A 120v RV outlet. I tried to plug in my L1/L2 charger to a 120v outlet but it showed a circuit error. Some research showed I need an adapter to convert the RV outlet to a normal 3 prong 120V outlet and a neutral ground bonding plug to get it to work with my charger for L1 charging. I figure it will charge for a couple hours before expending the battery, and add about 10 miles to my range. Seems a bit weak sauce for a 100 lb box of technology. Long term plan is to charge it with solar panels and use it as the buffer between the panels and the charger. Doing that should allow me to add 16Kw or about 50 miles on a day's worth of sunshine which would help out a lot with the power bill.

 

[SunWizard]

Long term plan is to charge it with solar panels and use it as the buffer between the panels and the charger.

That should work. That is what I have been doing with my solar setup. One trick is to have enough solar (>1500w) to charge directly from solar and not cycle the battery multiple times per day. I get 11kwh per sunny day with 2100w of panels. Your math looks too optimistic on kwh. Likely because you don't get peak output on the panels all day, it makes a bell curve.

 

[Moe]

I buzzed about 1/8" off of the ends of the wiper blade caps that were binding. It seemed better today but we just had sprinkles. We'll have to wait for some real rain to ensure it's fixed.

Also I bought a EcoFlow Delta Pro 3600 Wh battery generator as there was a good deal on them for Prime Day. I thought it had a 240 outlet but no it's just a 30A 120v RV outlet. I tried to plug in my L1/L2 charger to a 120v outlet but it showed a circuit error. Some research showed I need an adapter to convert the RV outlet to a normal 3 prong 120V outlet and a neutral ground bonding plug to get it to work with my charger for L1 charging. I figure it will charge for a couple hours before expending the battery, and add about 10 miles to my range. Seems a bit weak sauce for a 100 lb box of technology. Long term plan is to charge it with solar panels and use it as the buffer between the panels and the charger. Doing that should allow me to add 16Kw or about 50 miles on a day's worth of sunshine which would help out a lot with the power bill.

Be careful not to plug in the bonding plug if you are charging the unit off AC (which is bonded in the service panel). This video is with the 240V hub but it still applies to a single unit.

 

[id44warren]

Be careful

Thanks Moe!

Ok, got it. Don't charge the Delta Pro from AC with the bonding plug installed! Also I saw the 240 adapter which was pretty cool but then I'd need to buy another Delta Pro.

 

[id44warren]

I had to re-add the homelink mirror garage door opener to my garage door after erasing all the codes accidentally, and it's a nightmare finding the instructions for my opener and door, so here they are so I can find them in a year if I have to do that again.

1) Reset Homelink mirror garage door opener by pressing and holding the outer two of the three homelink buttons until the LED turns yellow.
2) Clone a working garage door opener. Press the Homelink button you want to program and then hold the working garage door opener button until you see the green flashing LED.
3) To add your homelink mirror opener to your garage door, first press the programming button on your garage door. Do not long press it, that will erase all the codes. Run back to the car and press the Homelink button you set up. It should work now!

 

[id44warren]

I just bought a '24 Mazda CX-90 Preferred model for my lady. Her '13 Highlander is out of commission and Mazda was one of the one of the only brands on the short list that actually had 3 row SUVs available.

I find it amusing that the VW dealer shop gave my ID.4 a non EV license plate, and the Mazda dealership gave her one that, while it's not an official EV plate, says EV XXXXX. That will confuse people...

I really wanted the PHEV model but got a good deal on this one. I was impressed to see that it has a fairly complete belly pan.

 

[Spin]

Good luck with it!