How To Trickle Charge the HV Battery

[3-Wheeler]

This note is being written to help those who, like myself, may be a little hesitant to attempt trickle charging their Insight high voltage battery pack.

Before trying this myself, I spend several months following the forum and asking many questions to make sure I could attempt this without either hurting myself or the car.

Of course after doing this once, it all seems allot easier now.

I have posted some pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/threewhe...ickleCharging#

I should mention that after removing the high voltage breaker cover, you will see a black breaker switch that is held in position by a red, slip-on tab. Please remove the tab before trying to turn-off the breaker.

Once the breaker is switched off, all voltage is removed from the main battery posts on top of the battery. However, I wore rubber coated work gloves as a safety precaution any time I was near the battery. I also double checked voltages with two different meters, to ensure that all voltages were safe before disconnecting anything.

The weight of the battery is close to 70 pounds as measured on a bathroom scale, and I was able to remove and reinstall the battery alone, although two people would make it easier as the manual shows. I grabbed it by the back and front, just underneath the ductwork by the fan.

I should mention that although I used a variac with full wave bridge rectifier, this setup takes more attention from the user, as the current level keeps changing as the voltage level rises. Mike's constant current setup would be much better for this application.

I hope this will encourage anyone who is thinking of pursuing trickle charging your battery to give it a try. But please use care and common sense when working with high voltage. As Ron the Hybrid Battery Repair man says, 'keep one hand in your pocket' when working with high voltages.

Jim.

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Jim,
Nice job, I only have a couple of comments.

While you are fusing the wires when they get to the back panel, which protects the system from a short outside the box, this offers no protection from a short between the tie points and the fuses.
It would be much safer to put an in line fuse right on the + and the - attachment points., and then run the two wires together to your plug.

The protection diodes shown in the schematic:

http://www.99mpg.com/Data/resources/...balancer_2.pdf

would also be a good idea for shock protection.
Anxious to hear how it works out for you.

[retepsnikrep]

Good effort. Thanks

[3-Wheeler]

Mike,

Thanks for the update. I will update one of the pictures to show in-line fuses for those building a grid charger system.

My Insight is still on jacks in garage as I work on air smoothing panels, so it will be at least another month before the car is running again.

I will post some pics of the panel building progress fairly soon.

Jim.

[Cobb]

Thanks for sharing guys. Id love to have something like this on the new insight, a trickle charger for the 12 volt battery and tie all of these to the block heater so when I plug it in everything tops off.