As a test of my recent earth updates, a 600 mile round trip to Cornwall to visit family did the job. No starting issues, even when hot, so all continues to look good.
My 10-year old nephew is already car-mad, so he was very excited to go on a short jaunt in Zedster - picnic at Godrevy Beach:
(My mum doesn't walk well, so we couldn't get much further than the car park but the view the other way is beautiful - honest!). Just to be clear, we also took my sister's car - I didn't squeeze my old mum into Zedster!
The trip down was wet for the first 100 miles but dried up nicely, which is not common for Cornwall.
I was delayed by 30 minutes when I was witness to a pretty bad accident - old guy pulled out of a crossroads into the path of someone doing 60! Very shocking, bits of car everywhere but fortunately, no serious injuries. However, it did slow me down for a while after that - I was 1 car away from maybe being involved in that and I wouldn't have got off as lightly as the airbagged cars involved.
The rest of the journey was uneventful - I'd specifically chosen a non-motorway route as that is very dull and noisy in Zedster, so I had some lovely A-road blasts when the rain finally stopped. Just after Exeter, my sat-nav showed the next turn to be a roundabout 80 miles away!! I didn't realise we had a road that long in the UK! Very dull that stage..
The journey back was quicker (I took a more direct route) but less interesting as it was mostly dual-carriageway, which is little better than motorway. I stick to 70 mostly for comfort on those roads and at the occasional roundabouts, I scream away from the traffic but as most people drive at 70+ these days, they all eventually overtake me down the road - I do feel a bit stupid but acceleration in Zedster is SUCH fun. Top speed not so much....
So now the starter motor is better, I'm wondering if my alternator could do with a dedicated earth - I cannot seem to get more than 13.7v charge at revs, where I used to get 14v. Not a huge difference but I don't understand why it's changed. At one point, with the headlights on, my phone and wireless earpods charging and the wipers on, it was down to 13.3v. At idle, it was dropping to 12.1v with that load, suggesting the alternator wasn't even doing enough to cover the load? It's a pretty new, Denso alternator, so it should be fine.
Other issues:
1. The ex-Emerald guy enabled Adaptive mode on the map he last sent me about 6 months ago and I've had a lot of popping from the exhaust. I assumed it would go away as the adaptive sorted itself out over time but that didn't seem to happen. I switched the map back to Closed loop and its better but still popping a bit. I've since learnt that the changes the ECU recorded during the adaptive mode are still being applied even in closed loop mode, so I need to get into the map and clear those changes.
2. The screw that holds the lower bar of my windscreen to the main frame has broken/slipped out. Not the end of the world as the windscreen supports are preventing it moving any further out but needs to be fixed.
3. I'm getting a slight pull to the left if I let go of the steering wheel. This may be my tyres getting worn (they are 4 years old now) but I've always had too much negative camber on the front and I keep promising to take Zedster to a pro to get it sorted with some laser alignment kit.
Otherwise, all is good in the land of Zed. A 4-day trip to Wales in September is the next big trip and hopefully Goodwood next month - I've got tickets but the event is not 100% going ahead because of the idiotic COVID restrictions still in force.
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