New regulator for alternator, e-bike riding after battery drama

I replaced the regulator in the alternator.  The VW MK4s have a module complete with the brushes and everything, so if you replace this module, 90% of alternator problems are cured.  Unfortunately it was a very tight space and it took me a couple of hours to get to it, but now that it's done, it works.  I uncovered a different way of getting to it, which I posted on the TDIclub.com forum.  Happy to have my car back in action.

I have been working on the appearance update for the car.  I received my new front grill, which I painted:

New Kamei front grill which I painted silver, before clear coat

It looks great, I think it will be a nice improvement for the car.  I also got my new headlights, they are projector style with halo DRLs.  I haven't looked at them a lot, but I think they will look nice.  Lingering concerns involve difficult (running of all the extra) wiring, and more difficult bulb change access.

Still waiting to hear back if my fenders are covered by VW, so I haven't been rushing head-long into disassembling the front end.  However, we are supposed to get a lot of rain over the next week or two, so I may pull the car in for an indoor project.

I've been riding my e-bike again!  After all the battery manager drama, I was anxious to get some numbers so I could find out how much damage the battery took.  Throughout several trips over the last week.  I started a log book so I can keep track of battery performance.  So far I've had one trip where the battery was looking pretty strong - sitting at 52.5v after a good 20 mile trip that used ~10 AH:

Looking good after a 20 mile round trip.

...and one where it died and cut out at about 14.5 AH, 72% of what its original capacity was - so, not so good.  I charged up the pack and it seems to have rebalanced itself, so I'm guessing my next trip will be pretty good.  The #1 cell likes to drain itself, so I think if it comes off a fresh charge, it will be strongest.

Been making a few trips out to the beach to drop off these critters:

This little dude just qualified for a free e-bike ride!

They have been getting into the garage lately and apparently making a home in there.  So I trapped 2 of them and brought them over 5 miles away, as apparently they have a pretty good homing range.