Daox's 1997 Paseo Build Thread

[orange4boy]

Based on your experience, I'll give my deslulfate setting a second try.

When I was trying it out, I hooked up a volt meter to see if I could verify some sort of voltage spike. Nada. Do you think it is measureable without an oscilloscope?

[Daox]

Yes, I believe you'd need an oscilloscope for monitoring the spikes. At least on my unit, the pulses happen many times a second. The bad part about my unit also is it constantly very slowly drains the battery as it draws 45 mA.

[Daox]

Darin made me break off the solar roof post to a seperate thread. You can check it out here:

Paseo gets a solar sun roof

I also have all of my mods indexed in my paseo garage entry.

[Daox]

Still no updates on the solar roof. However, I have an update on something related. This morning, for the first since the mod, I turned the alternator back on for the trip to work. It was a pretty cool 22F (-5.5C) out this morning. Based upon watching my charger (when I get home to plug in), its DOD (depth of discharge) has been increasing with the colder weather. This has been the coldest day thus far and I knew I wouldn't make it to and from on one charge. I disabled the alternator once I was parked at work for the ride home. However, that almost wasn't enough. On the ride home, I hit the last stoplight before home. Its a long light and I always engine off for it. When it went green, I fired up the engine, but it juuuuust made it. If the engine would have been cold there would have been no way it would have turned over.

So, it looks like I really need to get a voltmeter in the car to monitor battery voltage. I also hope that using the solar panel will allow me to maintain using the alternator disable through the winter since it will recharge the battery while I am at work during the day. The other thing I would like to try is some form of insulation. I put my hand on the battery once I got home and it was barely warm on the side that faces the engine. The side away from the engine was very cold. I'm not sure if wind is keeping it cold or what, but this is something to look into. The last idea would be to route coolant somehow to a heating block under the battery. This is pretty drastic though and I'd really rather not go that far.

Any ideas from you guys on how to increase battery capacity (without a new battery) for the winter driving months?

[orange4boy]

They sell a battery warming blanket up here at Canadian Tire. I think it's about 80 watts. Like a glorified heating pad. Heck, you could probably use a regular heating pad but it may not last. It wraps around the battery but you need somewhere to plug it in.

Google battery blanket. You can probably get them at most auto parts stores.

Here is someone using it rather poorly on a traction battery: Battery Blanket - GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars

Really, in that application, it should be underneath the battery or covered by non flammable insulation.

EV guys also put their batteries in a box insulated with hard foam. That plus a heating pad and you will have a very happy battery.

I'm really noticing the lower capacity now too. I have been looking at a warmer too but now have the Prius to get working so it's on the back burner.

[Daox]

I really don't want to have to warm the battery electrically. I don't use the car every day, so its not like I'd plug it in every night. Plus, the engine provides all the heat it should need. If need be, I'll find some other way to direct heat over to it from the engine.

[dwtaylorpdx]

On UPS systems I maintain when we load bank them the net power yield drops dramatically if they are too cold and even under the heavy load which warms them up quickly they never get to the same output levels as they do if kept up to temp before the load session.

These are the big Trojan and Exide VRLA batteries in a 480V DC chain with a total of 3600 of them under load.. The difference is about a 5% drop in run time if the batteries are too cold at the start.

Good luck

Dave

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Daox

So, it looks like I really need to get a voltmeter in the car to monitor battery voltage.

YUP... no way I'd be doing alternatorless driving minus a voltage reading.

Any ideas from you guys on how to increase battery capacity (without a new battery) for the winter driving months?

Ideas:

Bring it inside with you at night

Or insulate it.

Or mount it securely (and insulate it) somewhere in the passenger compartment so it gets the benefit of the heater like you do.

[busypaws]

Just read the entire thread --- good job.
I'll weigh in with my alternator field switch. I've had one in my 94 Toyota Pickup for 6 years now. I turn off alternator when accelerating/going up hill. Turn it on on coast/stop. I'm still running the stock battery but have to get a new one every two years. Buy the 3or4 year battery then you only have to pay 20 bucks or so to replace after two years. I have not done an A-B-A test on the truck so don't know the numbers. I have had to push start a couple of times when I've forgotten and run too long with it off.

But the biggest problem: Is making sure the switch is in the up position when I park. That way if my wife takes the truck she is not calling me a couple of hours later asking me to come get her because the truck won't start. That has happened twice now in 6 years. I know I haven't saved that much gas.