No. I decided not to stash any tools in the IMA compartment when my Insight was being shipped, so there was no risk of anything shorting. Also, the shipper drove my Insight into the shipping container and someone at the destination port will drive it out of the container, so I wanted to minimize the risk of it not starting. The 12 v. starter was used to start my Insight only when I had a defective MCM over 5 years ago. It seemed like a pretty wimpy starter.
I could shut the IMA switch off before I drive my Insight from the port to my apartment if that would help. With the IMA switch off, I would be driving about 50 miles without the 12 v. battery being charged. In Sweden, headlights must be on when a car is being driven even during daylight hours, so I would risk discharging the 12 v. battery completely before arriving home.
However, I have no grid charger at this time and have only about 3 weeks to build one before my Insight arrives. That's why I asked whether a design spec had been finalized.
Yeah, yeah. You're the Jim from Hawaii and he's the Art from Texas.
I had the person right, but the name wrong.
Here's what I'm trying to get at: You don't want to use any assist if you can avoid it until the battery has been charged.
So step one: Pull your IMA fuse, wait a minute and insert it. This will reset your SOC and the car will immediately go into its' emergency parasitic charge mode. After it figures out the SOC, it should match what's really in the battery (now that it has been self-discharging for weeks).
Step two: Let it sit and idle for half an hour if you can first before driving it. If the green bars go out and it stops the parasitic charge, then leave immediately.
Step three: Drive with the lightest of touches so that you use NO assist. Put on your AUTO climate to keep from auto-stopping and drive with your hazards on. Take it slow. You want regen and no assist all the way home.
Step four: Charge it at home. Get it completely charged
Step five: Deplete your battery completely by using gobs of assist.
Step six: Charge it again. Get it completely charged
Repeat steps 5 and 6 if you can reasonably do it.
Let us know how you do, Mr. Isbell (safer than saying "Art" )
Well, the Harbor Freight meter is at any Harbor Freight store. You might have to pay $3.99 if its not on sale...# I dont know if there are any Harbor Freight franchises outside the USA.
__________________
Jim Isbell
2000, 5 speed, 250,000 miles
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."
Please remember the diodes are not just to prevent you from getting shocked by the battery.
They are also to prevent current inrush from the battery to the charger smoothing capacitors when the charger is first plugged into the pack charging socket.
Without the diodes this current will be spectacular and uncontrolled flowing from the battery to the charger. It will cause a decent spark, may damage the chargers and charging socket pins. It will make you jump.
You can avoid it by turning on the charger to match voltages before pluging it into the car but that's not a safe or desirable working practise/protocol IMHO.
I use the following and now include them on all the UK battery rebuilds I do.
Socket on the battery lead. Plug on the charger lead.
I've just ordered 4 of those 48V 25W psu's to see if they are any good.
I've also e-mailed them to see if they want to get there chinese supplier to quote for a purpose built 175v 250ma CC & CV supply.
Well, the Harbor Freight meter is at any Harbor Freight store. You might have to pay $3.99 if its not on sale...# I dont know if there are any Harbor Freight franchises outside the USA.
They currently have a $2.99 one and a $3.99 one with a backlight.
So step one: Pull your IMA fuse, wait a minute and insert it. This will reset your SOC and the car will immediately go into its' emergency parasitic charge mode.
I'm assuming that step one has already been accomplished because my Insight's 12 v. battery was disconnected after it was driven into the shipping container.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair
Step two: Let it sit and idle for half an hour if you can first before driving it. If the green bars go out and it stops the parasitic charge, then leave immediately.
I should be able to do this. After being parked for 6 months, my Insight's IMA battery appeared to have self-discharged only about 50% based on when the positive recal occurred after I started my Insight. So I'm hoping that the positive recal and end of the forced recharge will occur fairly quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair
Step three: Drive with the lightest of touches so that you use NO assist. Put on your AUTO climate to keep from auto-stopping and drive with your hazards on. Take it slow. You want regen and no assist all the way home.
Fortunately the terrain between the port and my apartment is quite flat, so I should be able to complete step three.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair
Step four: Charge it at home. Get it completely charged
Step five: Deplete your battery completely by using gobs of assist.
Step six: Charge it again. Get it completely charged
Repeat steps 5 and 6 if you can reasonably do it.
Hmm, by "charge it at home", do you mean to use the mythical grid charger that I do not yet have? I see that Peter has listed a few more parts, so I may be getting closer to visualizing a grid charger.
Step five will be very difficult because of no nearby hills. Doing lots of short full acceleration bursts could lead to problems with the police. I guess I need to find a dynamometer
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair
Let us know how you do, Mr. Isbell (safer than saying "Art" )
My Insight is scheduled to arrive in early August, so I won't be able to report back until then. But I will be trekking in the Swedish Arctic for two weeks starting on 22 July, so I have about three weeks to build a grid charger if I hope to be able complete step four. I'll be working on it …
I'm assuming that step one has already been accomplished because my Insight's 12 v. battery was disconnected after it was driven into the shipping container.
Hmm, by "charge it at home", do you mean to use the mythical grid charger that I do not yet have? I see that Peter has listed a few more parts, so I may be getting closer to visualizing a grid charger.
Step five will be very difficult because of no nearby hills. Doing lots of short full acceleration bursts could lead to problems with the police. I guess I need to find a dynamometer
Disconnecting the battery will reset the IMA system.
Yes, build a charger. You've got the schematic and you know you're going to need it anyway, so order the parts now. If you're concerned about hooking it up, I can give you directions to pull out your battery to make it a little easier to get to that side.
Do you have any hills within a reasonable distance? Preferably a BIG hill? First gear with lots of throttle up the hill should drain the battery nicely, and going back down it will help fill it. The goal here is to cycle the battery as best the car can. The car can't drain it all the way or fill it all the way, but the grid charger can fill it to the brim. A partial cycle is better than none.
It might be a little more work on top of what you already have regarding building a trickle charger, however, if you also had a Calpod IMA disable switch, then exercising the battery would be much easier.
The hardest part of adding the IMA disable switch, it getting a good look upwards to the bowels of the dash, right next to the clutch and brake pedals.
Once the switch is added (mine is right on the shifter), then it's real easy to flip the switch on each time you use assist, then when the car wants to regen, flip the switch back off, preventing further charging.
It's easy to drain the battery on the 30 mile trip to work, and then trickle charge the battery back at home. My trickle charger is just about finished, as I spent the day removing the battery and adding a high voltage AC cable to the battery. The only thing left is to hook up a full wave bridge and other components to a variac, and give it a try. Hopefully in the next day or so I can try it out.
With the IMA disable and trickle charger, the battery can be exercised over several days and several cycles when I get the car back on the road.
It's easy to drain the battery on the 30 mile trip to work, and then trickle charge the battery back at home. My trickle charger is just about finished, as I spent the day removing the battery and adding a high voltage AC cable to the battery. The only thing left is to hook up a full wave bridge and other components to a variac, and give it a try. Hopefully in the next day or so I can try it out.
Jim,
Remember that you do not want to fully charge the battery on a regular basis. It will shorten the life of the battery cells (while extending the usable life). What I mean by this is that it will wear out the cells - not depress them. There's no cure for that but replacement of the cells.
For daily charging, it would be best to stick to Honda's estimated 80% top. I recommend going to 100% no more often than monthly (to keep the pack balanced).
Armin has been topping off his pack nightly for several years at 300MA, with a timer so he does not let the charge run unnecessarily once the charge is complete.
In my opinion,the 350ma with fan running should not shorten the life of the pack noticeably.
The key is to keep things cool so temperature and internal pressure do not build up, which is the real cell killer.
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grid charger/balancer
