Building My Trickle / Balance Charger

My02Insight · 01-20-2010, 02:32 PM

Hey Guys, Just wanted to share my Experience while building my First Charger. I ordered my parts about 3 weeks ago from PeaktoPeak Power Inc, but they were on Backorder so thats why they took so long.

So i messed around with differnt Diodes and Fuse boxes then just came to a simple Solution. I made my Charging system but did not have a box to put it into.

Then I Bought a set of Male and Female Plugs at Radio Shack so i can easily unplug my charger from the car. ( since i have Two Insights i can use the Charger for both of them)

Dug thru my Garage and Found a Fried ECU and I gutted out the insides and used this as a container for my Charger Parts.

My Car ( 2001 Insight MT) was giving my Negative recals any time i would go up to work ( driving up a big hill) and my IMA light would kick in and i would have to reset my IMA System.
I hooked up the Charger to the battery Two Days ago. My Chargers Output was 170VDC @ 350mA.
I unplug it at night ( didnt want to worry about it while sleeping)

Two , Half days of charging my Battery Voltage Finaly Stabalized at 169.5VDC

I took the Car for a 30 Min Drive up and Down some Hills and NO RECALS.
I could feel alot more Torque in the Electric Assist as well. I used full assist to get back home last night to drain my battery so i can CYCLE it again.

Today, Back in the Garage getting a Charge.

IF anyone is interested i can build you this System. You would just have to Connect it to your Car. I use all original MEANWELL supplies ( more $$ then the China ones on different websites) And the Whole system cost me about $140. That include the Shipping from PeaktoPeak, Diodes, New roll of Wire, Male/Female Plug, Adapters, Soldering wire, Electric Tape, Ect....

I will Sell anyone a PreWired System for $200 Plus Shipping. I think $60 is ok for my Time to Build it. However i do not have any Cases for it, so you can be Creative and use your own.

PM me if you are interested and ill send you a Company Invoice.

.

My02Insight · 01-20-2010, 04:00 PM

If you would like one built with CHINA Parts then its about $15 less.
However i would Highly Recommend using MEANWELL Parts.

Kevin Dougherty · 01-20-2010, 05:20 PM

Please read and heed the forum rules. Most of this belongs in the buy / sell section, not here.

or here
Recommend subpack...

or here
Honda Insight Plug in...

or here
Multiple Subpack Balancer

or here
IMA battery repair...

or here
grid charger/balancer

Five & 1/2 duplicate posts for a hoonhack? Spam

My02Insight · 01-20-2010, 06:41 PM

I was just sharing my experience. If you cant add anything Good to the Post please stay off. Thank you,

02insight · 01-20-2010, 08:18 PM

charger looks good. approx how long does it take to charge a battery with SOC just 1-2 bars to Full.

**Hybrid-Battery-Repair** · 01-21-2010, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02insight

charger looks good. approx how long does it take to charge a battery with SOC just 1-2 bars to Full.

A good battery will fit 5.5-6 Ah when "empty", so at 350Ma, you are looking at 18 hours minimum. With losses figure 24.

1 Ah takes one amp one hour to charge (less conversion losses). 350Ma is about 1/3 of an amp so it would take 3 hours to charge the same 1 Ah.

As a check, a truly empty battery can take about 6.5Ah. At 10 amps, you're looking at a 45 minute charge. So 1/3 amp is 1/30th of 10 amps so 45 minutes times 30 = 22 hours and shave off a little because the car doesn't let it get to empty.

Kevin Dougherty · 01-21-2010, 04:16 PM

HP 6299A DC Power Supply 0-100 Volts 0-.75 Amps TESTED

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-6299A-DC-Power-Supply-0-100-Volts-0-75-Amps-TESTED_W0QQitemZ330395453413QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_ DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4ced1a87e5

EBAY PRICE ~ $50-60 EA. Buy two for $120 and have twice the output of the above and save ~$80 and have the case with meters.

There are better options. This was from a two minute search of Ebay.

Also, please don't multi post. Please delete 4 of you posts and limit yourself to one in the buy/sell section and one in one of the threads you choose, not all of them. Thanks.

3-Wheeler · 01-22-2010, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Dougherty

...EBAY PRICE ~ $50-60 EA. Buy two for $120 and have twice the output of the above and save ~$80 and have the case with meters...

Hey Kevin,

How is your HP power supply holding up? Are these simply surplus items, or are they on their last leg, so to speak?

If they are that inexpensive, that sounds better than my Variac/full wave bridge setup that I use.

How do you set the voltage and current?

Do you use the same meter and flip modes (voltage/current)?

Eventually, I'd like to get something and mount to the wall in the garage. Then when it's time to top off the battery, just back up the car, hookup the high voltage cable, and start charging.

Thanks, Jim.

Kevin Dougherty · 01-22-2010, 03:31 PM

Great Post:

This is my Experience:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-Wheeler

Hey Kevin,

How is your HP power supply holding up? Are these simply surplus items, or are they on their last leg, so to speak?

Jim, I don't own them, I was just pointing out a better way. I have worked with HP power supplies for ~ 37+ years...they make a good product, in my Experience.
There are other ways to charge the IMA battery cheaply & easier. There were 89,000+ "power supply" listings on ebay today. These were found after a cursory look.

If they are that inexpensive, that sounds better than my Variac/full wave bridge setup that I use.

Probably run a little cooler too.

How do you set the voltage and current?

Switch on the lower right.

Do you use the same meter and flip modes (voltage/current)?

Yes.

Eventually, I'd like to get something and mount to the wall in the garage. Then when it's time to top off the battery, just back up the car, hookup the high voltage cable, and start charging.

Thanks, Jim.

You are welcome Jim.
I was just sharing my experience, and adding Good to the Post.
Thank you.

E27006 · 01-23-2010, 12:58 PM

Looking at the image, noticed there is a control for "Crowbar Adjust"

Is that a protection method where an Silicon Controlled Rectifier is used in the Output Circuit?

I thought Crowbar protection was not recommended, in fact dangerous, for Batteries. If the Crowbar circuit is triggered by an overload then the Output drops and becomes a Short Circuit, not exactly the greatest scenario when attached to an Insight pack.

You only need a surge, i.e. a couple of seconds of high current when you first hook up the Battery to trigger the Crowbar circuit.

If you intend to use one of these, I think you would need to provide a backup form of protection, such as diodes and fuses in the Output leads