[bluesight]

Datalogger on old laptop

The old Win XP laptop that I used with Mike's Labview Datalogger (v2.6) kicked the bucket. That one had a real serial interface. My "newer" old XP laptop has no built-in serial port. And the old (really old) USB to Serial dongle I have works for some things, but has never worked right for the Datalogger. So I bit the bullet and bought a new serial dongle that is compatible with Win 10, and claimed to be back-compatible to XP. This one has an FTDI Chipset, made by TECHTOO. It worked on Win 10, which was gratifying. Initially it DIDN'T work on XP, especially when using the included driver min-cd. But I went to the manufacturer web site and pulled down the latest, more complete driver set (and also did a Windows Update search, which is dangerous since old XP machines are not safe to connect to the internet). In the end, there was a functional XP driver that showed the device in the Manage section. And, indeed, it actually WORKED with the Datalogger. So I am back to monitoring and controlling my Genesis grid charger with a computer.

Probably not of much interest since few have ever used the Datalogger...Oh Well...

B

 

[jime]

I have an old XP which I also used with the Genesis equipment. I always found it a real hassle to get the interface working. In the end I concluded I really wasn't getting much out of the computer anyway and let it slide.

Tell me how well the dongle integrates everthing together. Do you still have to fight the port designation battle to get Lab view to work? How did you get the lab view program onto your Win10 machine? How smooth was the whole thing to use?

 

[bluesight]

I don't have the Datalogger on my Win 10 computer, though there is a thread that talks about using "advanced" Windows (past XP) for this by running under the XP emulator. I'm strictly on old XP computers for this. With this dongle, I just ran the Datalogger Config, and it was immediately found...no problem. Or you can make your own config file with the port listed in the Device Manage service (usually 5, but maybe 3). Labview is particularly picky about USB serial interfaces, and the discussions I saw said you're better off using a PCMCIA laptop interface. I think the trick with this one is that it shows as a real UART device. I'm not sure they all do.

B

PS...quick note on getting the drivers...they did come from the Windows Update. But it took a REALLY long time because it actually did Win XP system updates as well (which I wasn't expecting and didn't want). And it took 2 cycles to complete the update. So if you do this, be patient. It tried using the manufacturer's on-line files, but that didn't work...

 

[bluesight]

Well, I've just started using Win 10, and just for grins, I thought I would see if I could make the Datalogger work with this Win 10 functional serial interface. I installed both the Datalogger and the config program (versions 2.6) direct from Mike's 99mpg site. I installed them both with winXP compatibility mode, and I set them both to run with winXP compatibility. After making sure the config program found the odd serial interface (as ASRL3 in my case), and moving the config file to the right place (in the folder with the datalogger executable), I had a really nice surprise...it actually worked. So, for you folks that have moved into the modern world, if you think Win 10 is modern... ...you can still use the Mike's really handy Datalogger...

B

PS...As long as I was on a roll, I tried the same on one of my Win7 laptops. It worked fine, so maybe this has been a well-known option for a long time. I just never made the effort since my old USB/Serial interface was a dud...Sorry if this is a duplicate eureka!

 

[285703]

Building my own grid charger following Mikes Plans

I have an 01 Insight (MT) and I have the dreaded CEL and IMA disabled leaning towards a defective or dying cell in the battery pack. I'm attempting to build my own grid charger per Mike's design. Not much of an electrical guru, but following a schematic is easy enough to do. Hoping that discharging and charging the Hybrid battery will give me the results I desire.

 

[HenryHacker]

Best course of action

Hello, I am trying to decide what to do with my 2000 Insight.

The battery seems to only hold 20% of a charge because anytime I dip under 155v or -1 bar on the battery SoC it kicks into recharging.

I am currently grid charging with my DIY MeanWell 350mA for 12hrs at a time. For the past 2 months, it settles around 169v after charging overnight. I've only discharged once, down to 90v using a 60W lightbulb.
This usually lasts me about 2 weeks before I get the IMA light again.

I'm looking for the cheapest repair;

1. Pull the pack apart and charge/replace needy cells
2. Buy a local $500 working pack
3. Hold out for a part-out or salvaged car

 

[S Keith]

Hello, I am trying to decide what to do with my 2000 Insight.

The battery seems to only hold 20% of a charge because anytime I dip under 155v or -1 bar on the battery SoC it kicks into recharging.

I am currently grid charging with my DIY MeanWell 350mA for 12hrs at a time. For the past 2 months, it settles around 169v after charging overnight.
This usually lasts me about 2 weeks before I get the IMA light again.

I'm looking for the cheapest repair;

1. Pull the pack apart and charge/replace needy cells
2. Buy a local $500 working pack
3. Hold out for a part-out or salvaged car

Have you discharged?

Frequent grid charging, while great for maintaining balance, actually decreases available capacity due chemical changes in the battery associated with overcharging at low currents. Capacity isn't actually lost, but it's moved from the usable voltage range into a voltage range that the car will never use, so you have to restore it to the usable range by consuming it with alternate means of discharging.

The act of grid charging eventually NECESSITATES discharging to restore lost capacity.

I recommend you park the car and charge it for 24 hours. Discharge it to 96V with a couple of 60-100W bulbs in series and then charge it for another 24 hours. This will either help it, hurt it, or do nothing...

Concerning #1: "charge/replace" should be "replace". Low likelihood of success
Concerning #2: Low likelihood of success
Concerning #3: Low likelihood of success

The issue here is your desire for a cheap repair. That ALWAYS involves one of two things:

1) substantial amount of time with trial and error and multiple pack tear-downs/builds.
2) luck.

eq1 is probably going to suggest his 1-2 week long magic paperclip trick. If the discharge I recommend shows no signs of improvement, it might be worth it if you can leave it parked for 1-2 weeks.

 

[HenryHacker]

Have you discharged?

I discharged down to about 98v then stopped immediately, how long should I let it soak? Is there a danger of getting too low? After discharging it did last quite a bit longer... I also didn't drive it quite as much that month... Who knows

I'll have to do some research into the paperclip method, the weather is getting to be so nice I may as well bike everywhere! Thanks for the input.

 

[eq1]

[edit: There should be graphics/images there. I'm not seeing them and can't get them to load for some reason...]

I'm seeing your graphics and images. There seems to be a fair amount of graphics problems lately, particularly resizing. Try later. If you still can't see the graphics ad images, we should probably approach admin for assistance.

Which browser and are you running adblocking?

 

[S Keith]

I discharged down to about 98v then stopped immediately, how long should I let it soak? Is there a danger of getting too low? After discharging it did last quite a bit longer... I also didn't drive it quite as much that month... Who knows

I'll have to do some research into the paperclip method, the weather is getting to be so nice I may as well bike everywhere! Thanks for the input.

No point in "soaking" a discharge - once you've hit the voltage, you're done. Important to "soak" the charge to ensure all cells are at true 100% - 24+ hours.

 

[jime]

Darn. I apologize eq1. I can't seem to find the right button so screwed up your post

I've never been able to "undo" this particular kind of foul up, but I think you will get what I meant anyway. If the missing graphics and images don't appear in a day of so. we probably need to approach admin folks. Others may be seeing the same behavior.

 

[jime]

Below is content of eq1 post which I mangled. Sorry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

eq1 is probably going to suggest his 1-2 week long magic paperclip trick. If the discharge I recommend shows no signs of improvement, it might be worth it if you can leave it parked for 1-2 weeks.

I would have, but you beat me to the punch. OP, here's a link to a brief description of what that entails, should you choose to go that route:
https://www.insightcentral.net/foru...nsight-nimh-voltage-thread-7.html#post1421333
+
[edit: There should be graphics/images there. I'm not seeing them and can't get them to load for some reason...]

 

[solartony]

Hello, I am trying to decide what to do with my 2000 Insight.

The battery seems to only hold 20% of a charge because anytime I dip under 155v or -1 bar on the battery SoC it kicks into recharging.

I am currently grid charging with my DIY MeanWell 350mA for 12hrs at a time. For the past 2 months, it settles around 169v after charging overnight. I've only discharged once, down to 90v using a 60W lightbulb.
This usually lasts me about 2 weeks before I get the IMA light again.

I'm looking for the cheapest repair;

1. Pull the pack apart and charge/replace needy cells
2. Buy a local $500 working pack
3. Hold out for a part-out or salvaged car

similar situation here, diy led charger 300mA CC at about 200VDC max, usually tops at around 168-172VDC ... slow charge every two weeks or so overnite close to 24hrs ... seems to last longer in cold weather, sometimes as long as a month ...

occasional discharge to 100-120VDC w/ a 100W filament bulb followed by slow charge 24-32hrs ... have done some 50K miles with this process ... have another used pack to revise and equalize, expecting to find and replace 2-3 bad sticks ...

best wishes

 

[Adria]

Could someone help zero me in on how to edit Cutback and Maxiumum Voltage under a Car Profile?
I've found how to navigate through the available Car Profiles but wasn't able to keyword search the manual to see what steps to actually edit Car Profile voltage settings.

 

[eq1]

^ You might want to try using the advanced search tool and search "cutback" or similar in the "using the universal grid charger" thread. I tried that and came up with a lot of hits that look like they might have what you're looking for.

[edit] I downloaded the grid charger manual below and on page 12 is seems to explain how to edit these things... http://99mpg.com/Data/Resources/downloads/gridchargerstuff/chargerv2.2-1manual.pdf

Page 20 has info on how to "Edit"... for instance: "Using the EDIT Function: First, make the Bottom display line on the LCD active by pressing the Down Arrow key if the charger is not operating. If charging, press EDIT to change the bottom line from the charging display to the single parameter display. (Be careful what you Edit/change while charging!) Scroll to select the item to edit, using the Left and Right Arrow keys...."

 

[Adria]

For anyone just as lost as I was when I first tried finding CutBack and MaxVoltage here are written instructions. Mike D's Chapter 2 video very useful to watch as well.

1. Turn on Genesis One charger
2. Press Setup
3. Wait a second, then press Edit to enter the Change Profile menu
4. Press down/up arrows to page through available Car Profiles
5. Press Edit again to select the desired profile
6. Press Stop to exit Setup

Now that you have the correct Car Profile selected:

1. Press the down arrow to enter "Line 2 Active" mode. This is where you can view/edit "Cut-back VP1" (Cutback voltage*) and "ChgStop VP1" (Max Voltage*) and other settings.
   
   • Cutback voltage controls when charger switches from 1050mA to 350mA charging
   • Max Voltage - controls when charger ceases charging functions
   
   
2. Use the left and right arrows to scroll through available options under Line 2 Active mode.
3. When a desired variable is displayed, press the Edit button. This will allow you to change the variable value using the up/down arrow keys.
4. After changing, press Edit button again to save the new value.

That's basically it for how to edit Cutback and Max Voltage. Hope this helps someone down the line.

 

[carlford]

Newbie been studying for over a month wanting to build my first grid charger. Why not use a meanwell lpc-100-350. OH problem here I am also wanting to build one for one of our prius (GEN2) also. Also have an 07 camry too. So this higher output should take care of both of them. Should be pretty simple one that I would have to monitor closely but it looks like hook up and go and of course discharge as necessary. I understand the stacking of the 48v units and also see the 148v minimum restart of kickout but shouldn't that be ok for the Toyota stuff ?? Moderator if this is inappropriate in your opinion you can delete or move it at your disgression. Thanks and you guys have lots more information over here vs the prius and camry stuff. Not trying to hijack this thread I am probably overloaded on all I have been trying to swallow right now but My stomach is not upset so Thanks again. Carl