grid charger/balancer

[jonnyvtec]

Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair

A completely full battery will measure more than 165 volts (about 168V). Just test the voltage after you finish (wait 20 minutes for it to cool and settle).

Isnt that what a positive recal will be established from though, seeing >168 V?

We know that although we have hit that voltage the pack isnt totally filled up, hence the very need for this trickle charger

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by jonnyvtec

Isnt that what a positive recal will be established from though, seeing >168 V?

We know that although we have hit that voltage the pack isnt totally filled up, hence the very need for this trickle charger

It isn't physically possible for the pack to go higher than 168V as 1.4V is the max capacity of one cell. The car will never get anywhere near there by itself. I think it will declare 20 bars at about 156V. Mike D would know better than me.

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by Hybrid-Battery-Repair

It isn't physically possible for the pack to go higher than 168V as 1.4V is the max capacity of one cell. The car will never get anywhere near there by itself. I think it will declare 20 bars at about 156V. Mike D would know better than me.

Don't forget to add ... after the battery voltage has settled back down.

During Regen Events / Charging ... the pack can easily go well over 168V.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by IamIan

Don't forget to add ... after the battery voltage has settled back down.

During Regen Events / Charging ... the pack can easily go well over 168V.

Yes. I assumed this was measured after settling.

BTW, during charging it's really hard to measure the voltage of the pack and not the voltage of the charger

[retepsnikrep]

My 100 chargers are now enroute from China! I shall start building them up as soon as they arrive.

If anyone did want one can they e-mail me please at

peter AT solarvan DOT gotadsl DOT co DOT uk

I'm still looking at a simple led charging indicator for the unit.

[crx_rogus]

Peter -

You're including decent ventilation for them, aren't you? I tuck my charger assembly in between the IMA power station housing and the fender on the passenger side and find it runs much cooler with a little CPU fan blowing air past the works. Simple unobstructed convection cooling would probably work too, given enough open area, something your house-stored unit could take advantage of via a large enough vented box. I have mine in a closed-in area to help secure it, with the fan's air exiting out the back (the unit sticks out some past the power station housing).

I'm using a 6V power supply for the battery pack fan (in parallel with the charger's CPU fan), and a Kill-A-Watt to help track watt-hours in (it uses about 1 watt doing nothing, 3 watts just powering the two fans, 65 watts charging... the volt-amps are higher than that though). It still uses full power at about 165V to the pack, 167V charger-limited (and 350mA current-limited). I also have a remote thermometer sensor at the pack's fan so I know that 45 minutes into charging the pack exhaust air is 3 degrees F warmer than interior ambient, partly from charger heat.

I plug it in to my backyard's dawn-to-dusk timer-controlled water fountain power source so I know it'll shut off when it gets dark.

It added about 10mpg to get in the 70s for several miles before settling back down into the mid to high 60s by 14 miles, still over the 60 - 63 mpg I normally get, giving a positive recal about 5 miles into the trip. It basically eliminates SOC maintenance issues; no more always using extra gas via background charging and extra rpm to get the SOC back up if it falls significantly somehow. I make sure not to have it charging for more hours than would be needed to keep the SOC in the safe zone.

I did however manage to connect the fan power supply leads backwards initially, which has led to a bit of an adventure... A blocking diode on each wire or disconnecting it completely doesn't even restore normal in-driving fan voltages now, so while it's easy to make sure the pack charger leads are the correct polarity it is equally important to be as careful with fan lead polarity.

Originally Posted by retepsnikrep

My 100 chargers are now enroute from China! I shall start building them up as soon as they arrive. ...

Regards,
Roger
2000 silver 5spd #4047

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Roger,
The two pin polarized fan connector shell is available from your local honda dealer as part number 04321-SH2-307
They also sell the pins with pigtail leads already crimped on.
This will eliminate the possibility of reversing the connections.

[retepsnikrep]

The 100x48v 320ma 15w supplies have arrived today. It will now be a couple of weeks while I fiddle with the enclosures and tweak the assembly etc do some bench testing. I'm horribly busy at the moment so please bear with me.

For those that don't want an enclosure your could quite easily mount the four supplies in the ipu case on that right hand side wall on a piece of foam board. The supplies are open frame but as they are in the ipu case they would be safe enough as long as installed by someone competent. The power resistor could use the IPU case as a heatsink.

I might try a (no enclosure) demo install in the ipu case on my own spare car. They are very light and would add no more than a pound or so to vehicle weight.

Hmm have to see.

[retepsnikrep]

Malcolm

How much was the lpc-20-350 and who did you buy it from?

Peter

Originally Posted by E27006

LPC-20-350
RS-25-48
RS-15-12

I have a phone number 0118 970 3858 for an approved distributor of the Mean Well power supplies for the design by Mike Dabrowski.

They are happy to sell to individuals.

They have given a price of £150 plus £10 carriage for the total of 5 power supplies.

Will confirm my order next week.

Malcolm

[E27006]

Dear Peter,

the quote was from the Sales desk of the UK Distributor for Meanwell, they are in Aldershot (from memory).

I cannot lay my hands on the piece of paper with the full details right this minute.

I did not after all purchase the Meanwell supplies in the end.

Instead I purchased two of the 0 to 120V , 1 Amp capacity bench supplies total about £160 plus carriage from Circuitsupplies.

I split the pack at the IMA switch and then charge 8 sticks with one supply and 12 sticks with the other..

So far so good, the Bench supplies make it easy to experiment with voltage/current combinatioins using the controls and displays.