Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

Thanks so much for your input Pasadena...

are you an agreement with charging voltages on the 2005 Civic peaking at 170 and above???

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

That is correct. I don't have the car anymore but I still have some notes and the last time I grid charged it the peak voltage on the battery was 174V.

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

I'm concerned with attempting grid charging again as I said previously after a 17-hour charge it reached 165 volts(the limit I had set on the power supply out of caution) and it was still drawing 300 milliamps.

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

My concern is that you flubbed the cooling and you experienced a peak voltage that you didn't witness with a -dV drop due to excessive heat, hence my immediate focus on cooling.

Doubling down on pasadena's point, get a 40W incandescent bulb. Screw it in a socket. Grab hold and turn it on. See how long you can hold onto it. Then tell me 50W of heat isn't a concern.

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

Any idea on what the CFM irating is on the factory cooling fan? How to hook up 12 volts to run the factory fan as needed?

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

No idea, but it's like a leaf blower. Moves a massive amount of air.

We had the conversation already. Scroll up.

IMHO, take the pack out of the car and blow air through it while charging. A start to finish battery remove/install is about 25-45 minutes.

Also, you should set your PS to something around 200V and let it run at max current until you decide to terminate the charge. Trying to identify a peak voltage is folly.

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

For all the aforementioned reasons with heat I set the charging current at 300 milliamps

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

Do not charge at max current continuously unless that is <=300mA. The reason is that a NiMH cell once fully charged can withstand a 1/20C continuous charge for a long time. The catalyst is supposed to recombine the gases which are produced and keep the cell from venting. Over 1/20C a cell might not be able to keep up and this would cause it to vent. (There are anecdotal posts in the Prius forums about stuck vents and tops blowing off of batteries, but those are plastic and the ones in the Honda are metal cylinders. So I think a stuck valve would at most cause the cell to bulge or maybe crack, but not blow up.) If one had a way of knowing that none of the cells were fully charged higher charging rates would be safe, but that isn't something that would be easy to spot if the pack was only being monitored sporadically with a voltmeter. Running the fan at full speed should remove enough heat so long as charging is not being done on a hot day. The currents in any grid charging application are usually much smaller than the peak currents when the pack is actually in use.

I used to charge mine until the voltage stabilized, checking it every 30-60 minutes.

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

I benched the old pack today so I could start a refurb process. 9 pairs of the sticks show 15.28V and one pair is showing approximately 14.4V.
​
I​​​​​I hooked up one of my electrophoresis power supplies and tried to charge it. I think the whole pack is shot as it is behaving exactly the same as it did when installed in the car and I tried to charge it. The pack reads 151v but as soon as I hook up the charger and before I even turn it on it begins to drop in voltage very quickly. Once turned on the electrophoresis power does not show any amps being drawn. It just continuously reads 0 on the amp output display. I tried all three of the electrophoresis power supplies I have and I get the exact same results with each one.

Re: Electrophoresis Box for Grid Charging - 2005 Civic Hybrid
 

Do you have a diode wired into the leads of your electrophoresis supply to prevent reverse current flow? They are designed for resistive loads. They aren't designed for inductive loads, and hooking them to a battery without the protection of a diode in the line can destroy them.

From the data you've presented, you have:

1. a failed stick in the pair measuring 14.4V
2. 3 failed electrophoresis power supplies.