[bongoboy]

Hello all. I've been lurking on these forums for a while, reading other people's posts to help fix my problems. Now its time for me to post a problem of my own.

I was reconditioning my IMA with a Prolong kit when it stopped working.

I have an IMA battery that is (mostly) dead. I've been using a Prolong grid charger to help keep it going. I began a charge/discharge cycle yesterday afternoon, following the instructions. I filled it up, discharged down to 90, then plugged it back in and let it do its thing over night. Ambient temp was a consistent 80 degrees.

This morning, I disconnect that charger, and plugged in the light bulb discharger. I turned the switch on ye olde volt-o-meter counterclockwise and screwed in the 150 watt bulb. The light bulb popped and burnt out as soon as I plugged it in. After this happened, the meter read 0 volts, instead of the 170 that it read initially. Tried other light bulbs, nothing happens. No light, no pop, not even a flicker. I unplugged the discharger from the harness and plugged in the charger next. It read a full charge (above full, actually, it showed 180), but -.002 amps. I took the charger into the house and plugged it into the wall outlet (no connection to the harness) and it gives the exact same reading, so I'm thinking that this is the nominal reading it gives when it is not receiving input from the IMA pack.

Crossed my fingers and took the car out for a test drive. Feared the worst, but it ran just fine. IMA kicked in, charge/discharge, no problems. That's great news, but I'm puzzled as to what the problem actually is.

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? Is there a fuse in the Prolong harness that I might have blow? Did I burn up some of the wiring on the harness? Not sure what to think, and since Car Talk is no longer on the air, I figured it was time to ask you guys.

 

[olrowdy01]

Hello all. I've been lurking on these forums for a while, reading other people's posts to help fix my problems. Now its time for me to post a problem of my own.

Welcome stranger.

I was reconditioning my IMA with a Prolong kit when it stopped working.

I have an IMA battery that is (mostly) dead. I've been using a Prolong grid charger to help keep it going. I began a charge/discharge cycle yesterday afternoon, following the instructions. I filled it up, discharged down to 90, then plugged it back in and let it do its thing over night. Ambient temp was a consistent 80 degrees.

This morning, I disconnect that charger, and plugged in the light bulb discharger. I turned the switch on ye olde volt-o-meter counterclockwise and screwed in the 150 watt bulb. The light bulb popped and burnt out as soon as I plugged it in.

That's why I tell people to use two bulbs in series. But even so a 150w bulb running on 170 volts is a pretty heavy load for rejuvenating a battery (as long as the bulb can last).

After this happened, the meter read 0 volts, instead of the 170 that it read initially. Tried other light bulbs, nothing happens. No light, no pop, not even a flicker. I unplugged the discharger from the harness and plugged in the charger next. It read a full charge (above full, actually, it showed 180), but -.002 amps. I took the charger into the house and plugged it into the wall outlet (no connection to the harness) and it gives the exact same reading, so I'm thinking that this is the nominal reading it gives when it is not receiving input from the IMA pack.

You were reading the no load voltage of the charger even when plugged into the battery harness.

Crossed my fingers and took the car out for a test drive. Feared the worst, but it ran just fine. IMA kicked in, charge/discharge, no problems. That's great news, but I'm puzzled as to what the problem actually is.

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? Is there a fuse in the Prolong harness that I might have blow? Did I burn up some of the wiring on the harness? Not sure what to think, and since Car Talk is no longer on the air, I figured it was time to ask you guys.

I suspect there may be a fuse somewhere between the charger and the two high voltage battery connections. But I'm not familiar with the Prolong harness.

I'm sure someone will post an answer to that question though.

 

[S Keith]

1) Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? 2) Is there a fuse in the Prolong harness that I might have blow? 3) Did I burn up some of the wiring on the harness? Not sure what to think, and since Car Talk is no longer on the air, I figured it was time to ask you guys.

1) Yes. I've read of a couple of instances here on IC.
2) Yes. There is a current surge as the bulb's initial resistance is very low prior to heating. This can blow the fuse. Unfortunately, it's a balancing act between having a suitably rated fuse for protection and one that will not blow due to a surge, but will still provide the needed protection.
3) highly unlikely

You were not seeing your pack voltage. You were seeing the open circuit voltage of the charger, i.e., 180V - it will not charge above this voltage.

Everything was fine because the battery was in a fully charged state. You will not be able to charge or discharge until you repair the harness.

It wouldn't hurt to PM Jeff directly, so he can see this thread and confirm.

 

[kraftwerksfit]

Happened to me with the cheap voltmeter in the kit. I got some replacement fuses at ACE but can't remember which specs are the original one. Here is what is printed on both of the ones I have (one new one old, can't tell em apart)

F1.6AH250V (I suspect this to be the one that blew out and was part of the kit)
F3.15AH250V

They are extremely small and frosted white glass, I had no luck finding a replacement at the auto stores.

You will find the fuse inline in the charge harness inside the battery compartment. If anyone thinks that replacement fuse isn't a good spec please say something as I don't want to mess anything up on my car as well. I plugged the provided leads from the discharger (bulb socket) into my better voltmeter and all was well... I popped the fuse trying to get a valid reading from the one they provide but once I used mine the readings worked as they should.

 

[olrowdy01]

You will find the fuse inline in the charge harness inside the battery compartment.

If you find opening IPU box not too much fun if you blow it again I would recommend that you use a panel mount fuse holder similar to this one. They take easy to find fuses.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.surplussales.com%2FImages%2FElectrical%2FFuseHolder%2FFUH-HKP-HH_1_lg.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.surplussales.com%2Felectrical%2Fholders%2Felechold-2.html&docid=oLZ8y5JzKOZn6M&tbnid=6QkN3XbAtDonLM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjO_Oe3rPHWAhVprFQKHa9aCV8QMwjNASgGMAY..i&w=1000&h=738&bih=914&biw=1280&q=panel%20mount%20fuse%20holder&ved=0ahUKEwjO_Oe3rPHWAhVprFQKHa9aCV8QMwjNASgGMAY&iact=mrc&uact=8

Set the battery master switch to OFF, open the box, find the present fuse holder and connect two wires, one on each end of the fuse holder (long enough to reach where you mounted the new panel mount fuse holder), insulate (tape up) the connections etc. Do NOT put a fuse in the original fuse holder (the new panel mount fuse holder will be in parallel with the old one).

The correct way to wire the new fuse holder is to have the wire -from- the battery connected to the rear of the holder. The reason for that is if something really gets messed up you won't get zapped when removing or installing a fuse that isn't blown.

As you pull the fuse out of the holder it can make contact to the wire lug closest to the panel. That wire will not be energized with the master switch set to OFF and the grid charger not connected at the time. This is a belt and suspenders safety way of wiring a panel mount fuse holder.

A 2 amp, 250 volt DC fuse is a suitable one to use. The white body fuses are generally DC fuses. You should use a DC fuse because they are designed to quench any arc over when they blow. While it's a long shot, an arcing fuse could cause a fire.

A friend of mine with one of my grid chargers had a water leak into the tire well that ended up with the grid charger end of the harness (connector) laying in the water. There was enough current flowing from the connector/water to blow the 2 amp fuse. And he didn't have to open the box to replace it.

 

[bongoboy]

Thanks for the quick reply guys. Looks like I'm gonna have to crack that thing open and go digging around next chance it get.

This is the first time this has happened, so hopefully I won't need to install a panel fuse. If it keeps happening though, I'll take the plunge

 

[Willie Williford]

Why not CALL Jeff for info?

Willie