I read up on reconditioning battery packs before I bought the car, then bought an IMAX B6 V2, and a second IMA power module (sold as a battery) from a local scrapyard (from a 2004). I've now removed the battery module from the second power module, and the end caps from the battery module. Also removed the orange connector plate from the end with the electronics. I'm now going through the sticks on the spare battery doing two discharge (1A) and charge (2A) cycles on each stick. I intend to swap this battery into the car, do the same thing on the original, then combine sticks into a "best" battery and return the others, reassembled, as a "core".

The sticks in this pack are all yellow, and appear to be genuine Honda/Panasonic sticks. Is there anything wrong with my plans at this point?

Thanks,
- Alex

 

Yes. You are assuming that there are enough good sticks in those two packs to fully populate the final "good" pack.

 

I've done enough reading to know that most of the sticks on Alibaba and Aliexpress don't have the current capacity or welds to stand up to what the car will put them through, but I also don't know whether to expect the car to last long enough to make it worth getting new sticks. I was hoping that the battery in the car (which appears completely nonfunctional after 248k miles, though has occasionally offered a little IMA assistance) would have just a couple bad cells/sticks, and that I would be able to get another year or two out of the car before deciding whether to buy a whole new (Bumblebee) pack for it.

 

"Hope" and Honda batteries do not go together.

248K miles is likely completely used up particularly if it's a hot South TX car assuming your ID indicates you're from Austin.

The likelihood of making a truly good pack from two bad ones, particularly one with 248K miles on it, is very low. Even if 20 total usable sticks can be found, they are likely horribly mismatched and will not operate together reliably.

Furthermore, the B6 is the wrong tool for the job.

 

Austin is not a reference to where I'm from (Minnesota) though I'll note there is also an Austin, MN.

I don't know where the car was originally from, but it's a 5sp and the body is pretty clean. If I don't even get a year out of it, I think I'll be okay. Really, I just want it to work long enough to determine if it's worth me continuing to make the car mine (including new Bumblebee battery) or if I should cut my losses and get something else. In general, I'm a lot more comfortable with electrical/electronic work, than mechanical. Given that I expect the the IMA system to be relatively gentle on the rest of the car, I'm hoping I'll face fewer mechanical issues than other cars I've had.

If it gets too horrible, though, I might grab a motor stack and battery from a crashed Nissan Leaf, and mate that up to the 5sp.

 

The project you describe would be incredibly difficult and time consuming.

Far less work and expense to hunt down the source of the battery sticks that Bumblebee uses and then buy them directly from the manufacturer. Assuming that they will sell them in quantities that small.

 

From what I've read, Bumblebee special-orders the sticks to their exact specifications, so I can't get the same sticks directly from the manufacturer.