DIY Solutions to Honda Hybrid Battery Problems (Insight, Civic, IMA)

[Cobb]

I think the ones I purchased was titan b6? Bought 3, 1 worked. The other 2 sparked and smoked. The seller emailed me to send them back and said no refund. Ebay said since I emailed the guy outside of their message center I was at fault and wasnt covered. I then purchased a dollar item from the guy daily and started to leave negative feedback til I got a refund. In the mean time I had purchased 3 more from another vendor and they worked.

Cycling the sticks by 6 helps you to compare notes with those who have done insight packs in regards to capacity and over all health of the stick. Doing all 12 will make it harder to spot defeats, but would speed it up.

I guess it depends if you want it done right or fast?

[Formula413]

Is there any reason you couldn't just use an alligator clip to attach the charger lead to the other end of the battery?

[msantimanzano]

I could. Will it not be a problem that I would therefore be connecting a positive, and a negative lead from 2 chargers to the same connection at the same time? This is what I mean. On one end of each pair of sticks, the pair has separate connections like this.

[IMG][/IMG]

On the other end however, the ends are spot welded together like this.

[IMG][/IMG]

I figured I cannot do both of the sticks on this set for example, at the same time because that would mean having both a positive and a negative from two separate chargers connected on the same terminal. I know I can do them separately at different times, but I figured that since both sticks are part of the same pack, which I cant separate anyways, it would be pointless no?

Bottom line though is that if you guys think it's best I do the sticks separately, thats what I will do. You are the ones with experience and knowledge on this, not me, so I am opting to go your route. I rather draw from your knowledge on this than my untested knowledge.

[Formula413]

That really shouldn't matter since they are two separate chargers.

[msantimanzano]

Originally Posted by Formula413

That really shouldn't matter since they are two separate chargers.

if that is the case, then good to go when I get home later. My concern there was if connecing a positive and a negative lead from 2 separate chargers to the same location could damage the charger or the battery or cause a short circuit somehow.

Ok, so I got the new good charger today before I left for work. In the manual it tells me:

Setting the Delta Peak Sensitivity setting can range from 5 to 20mV per cell, the default is 7mV for NiMH, the parameters are set individually for NiMh batteries. If the cutoff voltage is too high, there is a danger of overcharging the battery, if it is too low there is a possibility of premature charge termination.

Each stick is 7.2v with 6 cells of 1.2v per cell. What parameter do I input for this delta peak?

For waste time settings, how much time between cycles do I want the charger to wait before it starts the next cycle?

For safety timer settings, it is telling me to divide the capacity by the current, and then divide the result by 11.9. Set the results of this calculation as the number of minutes for the safety timer setting. If the charger stops at this time threshold, about 140% of the capacity will have been fed into the battery.

Now my question is this, specs tell me my 144v pack is rated for 6000, does that also mean that each stick is rated for 6000? Forgive me if my question makes me out to be a clown.....

Finally the last setting I am unsure about is this:

Capacity Cutoff Setting The charging software allows the user to create a maximum charge capacity protection setting. If the delta-peak voltage is not properly detected or the safety timer times out, the charge process will stop automatically when the battery reaches the set maximum charge capacity set by the user.

Here, should I set the capacity cutoff at 6000mAh?

This charger comes with computer software that tracks and logs everything, so that should hopefully provide good data to go on.

[Formula413]

I know when I cycled my subpacks I didn't change most of those settings and used the defaults for NiMH cells. And their rated capacity is 6,500 mah but the charger I used charges them until it sees that each cells is full, which was sometimes much more than 6,500.

[Cobb]

Dont get too anal with the settings. This isnt an exact science and a hobby charger is not what the pros use to test these cells. You want to be able to compare your results with your neighbor or someone in another city in the same boat with you.

If Jim just uses a hobby charger out of the box on the nickel metal setting, Kim, so should Joe so they can compare the results on an even playing field.

[msantimanzano]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Dont get too anal with the settings. This isnt an exact science and a hobby charger is not what the pros use to test these cells. You want to be able to compare your results with your neighbor or someone in another city in the same boat with you.

If Jim just uses a hobby charger out of the box on the nickel metal setting, Kim, so should Joe so they can compare the results on an even playing field.

Not trying to be anal. Just cautious, when the manual says make sure you adjust max current and time charging and bla bla bla, because if you don't you can damage your batteries, I just want to be sure I set things right to avoid that. Thats all.

I have finished 3 sticks. Formula, I cannot do a complete double stick at the same time, because the moment I connect a positive and a negative lead to the same point (on the welded connection) the charger starts screaming reverse polarity. Not a huge deal, I am now cycling 4 double sticks at once, but only cycling one side of each stick at a time.

I have numbers from the first 3 sticks I did. I just made another set of long leads so that I can cycle 4 at once.
When I look at the numbers below, its like looking at DNA strands..I am lost.

Good, bad, terrible, passable?

STICK 9 CHARGE DISCHARGE
FIRST 4456 1427
SECOND 2447 1331
THIRD 2321 1331
FOURTH 2418 1332
FIFTH 2307 1336
INITIAL V 8.62
END V 8.47

STICK 14 CHARGE DISCHARGE
FIRST 4233 1413
SECOND 1033 1340
THIRD 3130 1360
FOURTH 2423 1346
FIFTH 2437 1342
INITIAL V 8.57
END V 8.44

STICK 15 CHARGE DISCHARGE
FIRST 4268 1432
SECOND 2382 1346
THIRD 2308 1346
FOURTH 2326 1347
FIFTH 2325 1348
INITIAL V 8.57
END V 8.43

[Formula413]

Just to be clear, in "FIRST 4456 1427" is that discharged milliamps and charged milliamps? If so it really sounds like it is not charging the sticks fully. If 4,456 ma came out more than that should go in.

[Cobb]

+1. Is there a hot feeling cell in each stick done so far? All sticks tested so far maybe bad at this rate.