Got a new UFO*: 2000 Honda Insight 5-speed (ailing IMA hybrid battery pack)

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Daox

Unless I'm missing something, charging the entire pack won't show if there are bad cells unless you have some form of individual cell monitoring.

Nope a voltmeter would show bad cells after the overcharge period, this is the procedure that would also be used on antique flooded nicad.

Generally "bad" cells won't come up in voltage and will be significantly lower, some bad cells also will come up in voltage and have no real capacity but this is rare.

After the overcharge period described at 99mpg you can charge and test individual cells that are not quite right, charging and discharging individually.

Many packs come back enough to use even when they are "bad"

A capacitor charger (constant current) could be used in place of the ones on 99mpg with a GFI sort of like this one
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...ger-48691.html

Nice dead man feature But good enough for the purposes of a once or twice off rejuvination.

[3-Wheeler]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

The automated charge/discharge cycling feature of this charger is a big benefit here.

You set it to run each stick (subpack) through a number of full cycles and it records the amp-hour capacity of each stick for later viewing.

Multiple cycles on each of the 20 sticks is a time consumnig process. Apparently it takes something like a week or two to fully examine the pack in this way to identify the bad/weak sticks. Doing it "manually" would be a marathon!

I haven't yet read up on grid-charging to equalize the pack, though I know some owners are grid charging.

Hi Metro,

For grid charging, look here...

Picasa Web Albums - Jim - Battery Trick...

I have been grid charging my pack nightly for the last two months.

Jim.

[MetroMPG]

Jim - thanks!

Darin

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Multiple cycles on each of the 20 sticks is a time consumnig process. Apparently it takes something like a week or two to fully examine the pack in this way to identify the bad/weak sticks. Doing it "manually" would be a marathon!

I haven't yet read up on grid-charging to equalize the pack, though I know some owners are grid charging.

I agree manually is hard but it is doable, the main reason for manually doing it is so you can charge the whole cabootle for a small FE boost or to quickly ID really bad cells. (ones that are non-recoverable are usually obvious without a full test)

The ones that aren't great can usually be recovered using the device you have. (a great reason to have it and a reason I am wanting one)

Also you don't need to fully analyse the whole pack ad nauseum, many packs would fail but also are still functional albeat at lower capacity, it depends on how functional you need the pack to be, I would say functional period would be better than inop.

once functional if you take it light then charge, using the pack and charging it can bring it back over several weeks as long as you take it easy and charge daily. AKA you would charge the whole works.

All I'm saying is there are other alternatives and possibly other ways of having your car on the road while fixing the battery.

Ah well probably too much work if your pack is really bad. How many of the cells are tested thus far?

Also i wonder if the 20ahr flooded aircraft starting Military nicads would work in an insight for that extra FE boost, since they have the same charge profile.

Ah well.
Ryan

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by 3-Wheeler

For grid charging, look here...

Picasa Web Albums - Jim - Battery Trick...

I have been grid charging my pack nightly for the last two months.

Had you considered using a heavier gauge wire to use it also for emergency power in a power outage?

What did you fuse it for? Perhaps a DC-to-AC inverter is in the future?

Bob Wilson

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Ah well probably too much work if your pack is really bad. How many of the cells are tested thus far?

Zilch! Haven't started testing yet (and probably won't for some time).

TMP! Too many projects.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Zilch! Haven't started testing yet (and probably won't for some time).

TMP! Too many projects.

It doesn't take long to charge the whole cabootle, sometimes that is all it takes to equalize and use the pack (other times not so much) 99mpg might give more insight on how fast and how much you should overcharge. Only issue is potentially further damage if there are some "on the edge" so to say but maybe you want those out of the eq. anyway.

The "chargers" I described take 10-20minutes to assemble, not sure how long it takes to access the pack though.

[MetroMPG]

I continue to be impressed by this car!

With just a few mods in place (and no hybrid functions, remember!), I managed 2.5L / 100 km or 94 mpg US on a 293 km (182 mi.) round trip this weekend, where I was within +/- a couple of MPH of the posted limit of 80 km/h / 50 mph.

Mods: grille block, extra psi in the tires, passenger mirror deleted, driver's mirror folded back on the 2-lane highways, 3 wiper delete.

Main techniques used: DWL (driving with load), aiming to stay in lean burn at 100 MPG on the instant display on the highway at 50 mph / 80 km/h. Manual engine-off to most stops/turns, DRL used selectively (on in the city).

Admittedly, conditions were nearly perfect: mostly flat roads, dry, 20*C (cool enough to comfortably keep the windows up on the highway), little to no wind, light traffic outside of the city.

[MetroMPG]

I posted a test showing the results of 5 aero mods on the U.F.O.

• partial grille block
• deleted passenger side mirror
• flat-folded driver's outside mirror (from a Suzuki Swift)
• deleted wiper arms: passenger side & hatchback
• deleted stock front licence plate bracket (flush mounted plate)

I measured a 14% gain in MPG at 80 km/h / 50 mph: 94.6 mpg (US) vs. 82.9 mpg. The mods enabled more lean burn operation.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-km-18930.html

[MetroMPG]

In the past 2 weeks, I've had two people ask about the U.F.O. - "Is that an electric car?"