Ben's Refurbished Mitsubishi Miev

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by bennelson

I've tried a cell-phone charger, a bench power supply, and a couple other "low-amp" solutions, but none of those worked with these cells.

I also monitored for heat while war-charging, and that wasn't an issue at all.

The Lightbulb charger could literally charge the whole kabootle off 220v, let it bake for a few weeks at a low rate and check back occasionally.

The thing is there really is no right way to recover lipo, if you do consider yourself very lucky

Also your matched voltage battery dump solution eliminates the need to monitor voltage which is nice

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

The thing is there really is no right way to recover lipo, if you do consider yourself very lucky

I was just thinking about this earlier, as I was sticking a garden hose into the car's headlight to wash out the inside....

A number of years back, I was working with my Dad, who is a residential remodeler. In all my work with him, I was almost always the extra guy, so I didn't really learn a whole lot more than making walls disappear and then carry them into the dumpster.

However, this particular day, it was just he and I working. I don't even remember what the project is, but it often involves keeping a house from falling down while removing a load-bearing wall and installing a post or beam in its place.

He was sort of talking out-loud to himself, thinking how we would do whatever it was we needed to get done right then. I asked him "Well, what's the RIGHT way to do this? You know, the industry-standard, accepted and proper way to do it?"

He looked at me and said something along the lines of "You know, there really isn't one. You just have to look at it and figure out what needs to get done, and then do it in the right order. It's not like new construction, you have to account for whats already here and what has to be saved. Every project is different, no two house remodels are the same.
You just have to use your brain and figure it out."

At the time, it was a bizzare revelation. I always looked up to my father as an impressive person with skills and smarts to do his work. For a moment, it felt as though he had just revealed to me that he had been "wingin' it" for his whole career!

Of course looking back on it now, the big picture take away that I get is that it's not a matter of a right way and a wrong way to do anything. It's just is there a way? Can it be done? Can you figure it out and make it happen?

As Master Yoda always says "Do or do not, there is no try"

So even though I feel like I'm always just making it up as I go, maybe I secretly am actually a pretty smart guy figuring out how to get through life?

Who knows - I just seem to wax philosophical while covered with Hurricane silt, sticking a garden hose in a car headlight!

[Cobb]

My best friend is google and you tube when it comes to doing stuff. My father use to pull stuff from the dumpsters and his secret was to clean it with keroscene.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Of course looking back on it now, the big picture take away that I get is that it's not a matter of a right way and a wrong way to do anything. It's just is there a way? Can it be done? Can you figure it out and make it happen?

As Master Yoda always says "Do or do not, there is no try"

Who knows - I just seem to wax philosophical while covered with Hurricane silt, sticking a garden hose in a car headlight!

I agree, I would be doing everything I could to recover the pack before the scrapper came.

If we could find individuals who recovered that paticular type of lithium (as there have been with lapcraps) we might have an idea of what works most often.

In your case, you are a pioneer!

So your experience will set the stage for those of us who give it a try later on down the road.

[ciderbarrel]

Excuse my ignorance, since EVs are way above my level of understanding, but Ben, wouldn't you be able to save the shell of the car and do what you did with the Metro and just put some other battery packs in it?

Or are there just too many electronics in the car to make that cost-effective?

[Cobb]

I was thinking that the other day. He needs to search online for a totaled or wrecked one and get its batteries, unless the electronics are toast too.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Cobb

I was thinking that the other day. He needs to search online for a totaled or wrecked one and get its batteries, unless the electronics are toast too.

Actually the batteries are the most valuable part of the car followed by
1. Controller
2. Motor
3. BMS
4. Charger

His pack in theory should recover to a minimum of 50%, lets hope none of the cells drop out.

If the electronics are dead a charger replacement isn't the end of the world and the motor and controller could be replaced with sleeper components, understand that his neato, dash and other goodies would be toast and useless however.

[user removed]

I always felt that, given enough time and money, I could fix anything that had wheels and propelled itself doen the road. I fixed a water damaged 300 ZX that was still on the road 10 years later without issues, but every part I needed was basically free and even then the profit made was hardly justified by the time involved.

In all the years and all of the cars I have worked on or been involved with repairing, I can name the water damaged ones on one hand and I worked at a Chrysler Dealership that had over 100 new cars flooded by a nor-easter with fresh water in the mid 1970s, when electronics were like cave art compared to today.

Best prospect to repair this car would be a roll-over without any significant electrical system damage. Much simpler to disassemble this one and sell the parts to reapir shops for fixing other ones. Severe hail damage would be another possibility, or one tore up in a tornado without electrical damage, if that is even possible.

Wish you luck with it Ben. I wish I could have been allowed to imput some of my experience, especially when I saw the instrument panel and knew how bad the damage would be, with the obvious evidence of the water level above the steeriong column.

regards
Mech

[Cobb]

Wonder what Bens plans are? Drive it one day with recycled parts or restore it to oem? Hell, maybe he just purchased it to take it apart and see how it works?

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Wonder what Bens plans are? Drive it one day with recycled parts or restore it to oem? Hell, maybe he just purchased it to take it apart and see how it works?

1st step is to clean up everything and examine

2nd step is to restore the battery, after the battery is functional then

3rd step is the evaluation once he can figure out where the car stands its probably a scrap, fix or replace scenario.

Its most a dollar issue in these situations