SoCal Branch Year 4 LEAF-Gatherings - See Year 5

[garygid]

Does it cost to get into the Great Park, to park, and /or
enter this "Solar" event?

We could have an optional HTB Cluster meeting on
the 5th or 6th in Santa Ana, if any wish to do so.

We will have our normal Gatherings, in Cerritos
on the 12th, and in Santa Ana on the 26th.

[Boomer23]

Does it cost to get into the Great Park, to park, and /or
enter this "Solar" event?

We could have an optional HTB Cluster meeting on
the 5th or 6th in Santa Ana, if any wish to do so.

We will have our normal Gatherings, in Cerritos
on the 12th, and in Santa Ana on the 26th.

Gary, re admission and parking cost, all of the online information says that the event is free to the public. I assume that includes parking. Parking is usually free at the Great Park, except for concerts.

Also, the Solar Decathlon OPENS AT 11am, NOT 10am as I might have said previously. So our meetup there on Sunday the 6th should be at 10:30 am rather than 9:30 am.

[garygid]

Phil,
Thanks for the info and time change for the Great Park.

I have been requested to help with someone's Android phone
and getting it to work with the OBD dongle, and we will meet
on Saturday 5 Oct for an informal Cluster meeting and
breakfast at Hometown Buffet on 17th street in Santa Ana,
just 2 blocks East of I5. If anybody feels like joining us,
they are welcome. I should be there shortly after 8 AM.

This might give us an opportunity to discuss Sunday's
adventure at the Great Park?

Tomorrow, September 28th, I should be arriving at the Long
Beach Plug-In-Day event around 8:30, and I will call Dori on
her cell phone to find "our" table, and possibly get some help
bringing "stuff" (including our experimental Rapid-Charger)
from the car to the table.

[garygid]

Note: I try to keep the first post of this thread updated
with the upcoming Event and LEAF Gathering occurances.

See some of you tomorrow.

Will we have any electricity at our table in Long Beach?

[91040]

I would not count on electricity there. Maybe 12VDC from a car. Not sure what the situation will be. I think Jeremy will be volunteering from 7am!

[Kataphn]

See you all in Long Beach. My sister and I are bringing the PiP.

[Boomer23]

See you all in Long Beach. My sister and I are bringing the PiP.

Cool, Kat. It's shaping up to be a great day!

[Kataphn]

We had beautiful weather in Long Beach. Great crowd. Lots of folks around the SoCal LEAF table. My sister and I took great pleasure in watching every type of EV silently glide into the parking area in a seemingly endless stream. We loved checking out the electric bikes and talking with the SunPower guy. She is seriously considering a PHEV so we were able to test drive the Ford and talk to the Clipper Creek guy. She connected there with William Korthoff for her EVSE installation. Chelsea was there, too and Paul Scott and the always on message Ed Begley, Jr. Loved seeing all my fellow LEAFers , too. Thanks to all who organized this Plug in Day.

[garygid]

We displayed our experimental Rapid-Charger, also known as
"mini-QC", with two versions of the Jolomo 3D Printed QC Plug.

For some, it was their first experience ever seeing an object
that was "manufactured" using the process of depositing
melted plastic in a 3-Dimensional space (essentially
a tiny, precision hot-glue gun) .

For others, it was the realization that faster charging is
just around the corner, works now, and an easily-portable
unit would be both very helpful, and practical.

The RC has successfully charged 4 different LEAFs.
Unfortunately, there was no place to power it there
(a simple 240v 50-amp circuit would be adequate) .

Dori's OpenEVSE attracted a lot of attention, though more
"Can I buy one?" and almost no "I want to build one!"
type of comments.

The 240v/120v modified EVSE also attracted attention, more
because of the pigtail attachments than the unit itself.

A few display cases, better arrangement of objects within the case,
and groups of good signs would answer many questions, and
make it harder for smaller objects to wander off.

Of great interest was the LEAF Spy Android App. Seeing its
demo data (the last captured real data) was a big hit.
Many were familiar with Android Smartphones but few
knew of the ELM327-type clone devices. Again, more effective
signage and pictures indicating the function and usefulness
of the various parts of the screens, in a display, would have
been very effective.

It is difficult, in a short time, to explain why the LEAF's
gauges are... not very useful without more information,
and tend to hide more than they reveal.

A number of people wanted to meet with us at a Gathering,
and Allen's nicely prepared lists of links were Very Helpful.

Because we had a nice location, in the shade, and we managed
to move to stay in the shade, I was quite comfortable, but
I was very sore when I got home... but smiling.

Many thanks for the approximately 8 minutes of QC that
allowed me to get back home on the 83 mile trip, which
started "full", at about 86% GIDs.

Also, thanks to all who organized, helped, offered to help,
visited, and encouraged. Overall the location was great,
and the Chancellor's Office was splendid to let us meet there.

I believe that the event was enjoyed by many,

[mwalsh]

There was a sticky ad on the front of the Register this morning guys. Looks like the SD parking is going to be $5. But the event is free.