The G1 Insight thread.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Will do! Thanks for letting me use it!

If you are smart enough to install the grid charger cable with success(which I'm sure you are) , doing the injector kill method isn't much harder.

[Ecky]

It's on my list of things to do.

[cowmeat]

Success!

Got the grid charger going a while ago, started at like 146 volts and after a couple of hours it's up to 168. How high does it top out, and how long should I let it charge?

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Success!

Got the grid charger going a while ago, started at like 146 volts and after a couple of hours it's up to 168. How high does it top out, and how long should I let it charge?

Depends on the battery. Mine tops out around 170v, and I've seen examples of batteries that are 2-6v higher or lower.

From a low state of charge, it shouldn't take more than 8 hours to get the first cells up to full. However, you want to keep charging beyond that point. The cells that reach full first will start producing heat to get rid of the extra energy, and the cells that aren't as full will continue up toward full, thereby balancing the pack. My first grid charge I went 24 hours and subsequent ones I've only gone 12-16 hours. If the weather isn't terribly hot and the fan is running properly, you run very little risk of hurting any of the cells this way.

Consensus over at InsightCentral is that it's probably going to deliver the best results if you let the battery settle for 24-48 hours before draining it (driving with your clutch switch in will probably be fine) so as to allow permanent chemistry changes to occur. You could then do a second grid charge in, say, 3-7 days, with the same procedure, and then settle into a 6 months to 1 year interval.

After a grid charge the car may take some time to recalibrate, especially if you let the battery settle for a day. Voltage will drop back down to resting (~163ish?) even though the state of charge is much higher, so it won't recognize the extra charge immediately. You can use an OBD device to force a recal, unplug the 12v for a few minutes before doing much driving, or let the computer figure it out in its own time.

EDIT: 146v is absurdly low!

[cowmeat]

I'll let it charge overnight, as long as it isn't going to fry anything. It's overcast and about 75 degrees, and I have the windows down so I don't think it's going to build up much heat. There's no danger of overcharging it, right?

EDIT: 146v is absurdly low!

I ran it down with the clutch switch turned off before I charged it. Somewhere on one of these sites I read that it was good to discharge it first.

[Ecky]

I experimented a few times with leaving the windows up while charging and found that it didn't add more than a few degrees to the temperature of the cabin, even after several hours. Overcharging may cause a *very* slight chemical degradation of the cells, but overall it's less damaging than continuing to run with an imbalanced pack. The real enemy is heat, and as long as the fan is running you should be fine. On a particularly cool night you can probably even safely charge it without the fan due to the very low current my charger produces, and some do actually grid charge without a fan.

I've read ideas about discharging first helping with a balance, but I'm not sold on the idea. It can't hurt though, and a slow charge @ 350ma is undoubtedly less harmful than using regenerative braking to fill it back up.

[cowmeat]

Yeah, I might be overdoing it on the regen button. It's there, so I hit it!

I might be better off after the grid charge to lay off it a bit . . . .

It's up over 171 volts now, and still slowly climbing. Should I worry if it goes much higher?

[Ecky]

I wouldn't worry too much about the regen button, honestly, just saying that a grid charge is comparatively less stessful.

When the voltage stops climbing, it means most of the the cells are nearing full. You'll want to keep charging it at least 4-8 hours past that to get a balanced battery, possibly 12 for your first grid charge.

[cowmeat]

It's cycling between 171.5 and 171.6 right now, so it's still charging.
I'll probably let it charge overnight, I'm off all next week so I can sit it a day after the charge to let it soak in.

[Ecky]

Oy Cowmeat, I've decided to use those moon discs on my trailer. I'm hoping to build a streamlined one over the next few months. I might use two for the front wheels on the core and leave the backs alone given that they're already covered, but not sure on that one yet.