OK my last formation charge is just finishing. So I guess I'm not going to do any of the cycling. I'm going to begin my 7 day wait and then at the end of that I'll do the load testing thing and fill out all the data into that spreadsheet then post it.

 

So I'm definitely wanting to turn my attention to the batteries that are inside of the car now. I would like to be testing those right behind my loose batteries.

So I started my maxvolts today. I want to talk about what's going on with that setup. I had the maxvolts grid charger plugged up for a few weeks, but the switch was off. I watched as the voltage dropped day after day after day. I haven't been driving this car during this period of time. It was all the way down to 105 volts on the readout today before I flipped the switch to charge the batteries with it. So the voltage is back up in the 190s now after an hour or two. Is this fan setup sufficient for cooling the stock setup? How long do I need to leave the maxvolts grid charger plugged up? Am I better off just unplugging and charging it straight off the gasoline engine with some revving technique or something?

Thanks

 

That setup absolutely, positively IS NOT sufficient. If you charge your battery to full with that setup, you might as well just throw it in the garbage.

If you have a MV charger, why isn't it driving the fan?

If the battery was 105V and it hit 190V in 1-2 hours, either your battery is completely destroyed with almost no capacity remaining, or the meter is wrong.

The MV charger likely has a diode in the line to prevent discharge through the charger; however, diodes leak a little. However, I suspect your biggest problem is the fact that your battery is aggressively self-discharging, and the charger is just accelerating that process a little.

 

What fan are you talking about? Maybe the MV charger is driving the fan perfectly but I don't know what fan you are talking about. I think inside the battery pack (I've never completely removed it) there is a fan in there that cuts on / off if it needs to be running, right? I've heard it but never really looked at it. I just read in the post you've linked and in other places you need an extra fan so I thought this huge box fan would fit the bill.

What can I do different to improve the setup?

 

If you're talking about the stock fan that came with the honda then yes the MV keeps it running. And as far as fan sounds go, it sounds nice and smooth and strong. i just went down there and held my hand over the crevices and could feel good flow (and the air wasn't really warm) coming out. This is after turning off my box fan (pictures) and moving it out of the way. I DID overstate things earlier I am not in the 190s, I am at 189 right now. If I remember correctly the MV will only get it to 191/192/193 or somewhere in there, and it takes it there fast, and never gets beyond that. I am pretty sure that's why I never felt I was getting much out of the **** thing and wasn't sure it was really working (like I said way earlier in this thread, but without so much detail). After checking this out and in the process cutting it off I did turn the MV back on and I did turn that box fan back on also. I assume, S Keith, you were assuming my stock fan wasn't running and the box fan is all I have running? But why are you assuming that? Doesn't currently make sense to me.

 

First of all, the IPU cooling fan works by BLOWING into the trunk, which creates a vacuum inside the IPU cavity. This vacuum SUCKS air in from the rear deck THROUGH the battery and the IPU electronics to cool them.

By having the IPU lid off, you have completely disabled the battery/IPU cooling system and likely damaged your battery.

The only way to cool a pack is to suck/blow air THROUGH it. The battery pack is INSULATED and is designed to only allow air to flow THROUGH it. Your setup is like blowing a fan on an sealed ice chest full of ice/soda/beer. The fan blowing on the outside of the ice chest will have no measurable effect on the contents. If that example doesn't work for you, put the box fan outside of the vehicle aimed at the driver's door on full blast. Close all the doors and roll up all the windows. How effective is the fan? That's how much battery cooling it's providing.

If you want to improve it, but the IPU lid back on and let the MV charger drive the fan to actually cool the battery.

189, 190V doesn't matter. After 1-2 hours of charging, you've only put in about 520mAh, which is less than 10% of the rated capacity. If you're already in the mid to high 185s, after a couple hours, your pack is almost certainly used-up garbage. The MV charger only pushes about 260mA as I recall. That's 26 hours to charge it fully assuming the battery is near rated capacity. You shouldn't be hitting 190V for about 16-20 hours.

 

Speaking just on the batteries in the car, and not the ones that are loose, any chance some subpacks are ok? If not, then how about individual cells inside the subpacks?

 

Unknown. Given that these are welded assemblies, the idea that some cells might be good is not really relevant. Breaking down subpacks into their individual cells and welding or soldering them into working subpacks is highly impractical.

 

Sounds like I need to pull the hybrid assembly from the car and I need to separate out the subpacks and I need to run all 11 of these through the formation charges like I did on the others. Then I can test the subpacks after they are sitting for a week.

 

Not necessarily. Long term grid charging is essentially the same as a formation charge, but it's even better at balancing.

Before you pull the pack, I would:

Charge for 26 hours with proper cooling (IPU cover in place with all bolts installed), MV charger driving fan).
discharge it with a 40W lightbulb to 66V
Charge for 26 hours with proper cooling.

That essentially "formation" charges the entire pack.