How I Recondition Cells

I am also known as Jack Skellington

 

This third test helps in making the final module selections. Using this approach reduces data noise and only three ended up not meeting the grade for this special pack. These three would make it into any Prius pack I made, they are as good as any I have used in the past. They don't cut it for this pack though.

 

On number 8, the worst one, I worked the low end again, this time, after draining it repeatedly to 6 volts with less and less amps, I hammered it with 13 amps for 4 minutes then drained it down to 6 volts about 8 more times then nailed it again, charged it up to eoc, drained it, then did the 6.5 amp for 6.5 Ah and then drained it to 6 volts at 6.5 amps.
Went up from 5.21 Ah and 80% to 5.8 Ah and 89%, so number 8 is back in the mix.

 

No, the water module is about to become the KOH module soon, it is experimental

These module are all ones I have used over and over, they have been in 3 cars so far, how long will it last ?
We will see

P.S. The water module was only placed in the pack last week so I had some method to clamp it while charging, it has been removed

 

I didn't want to clutter up someone else's thread with a non-sequitor

I dug back in my other laptop and found this, my first toy was not a charger it was the CBA unit, to discharge and monitor charge
My charger was vector car battery charger, it works just fine, using the cba, and/or a meter, I could see end of charge and stop the charger.

I know this is using the car charger because I didnt own any other charger in May 2015 AND in the text data file EOC is detected in seconds not minutes, the human can detect far faster than any charger designed to do so.

Charger was a VECTOR 12 volt car battery charger

<S T="2696" V="8.845" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2697" V="8.844" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2698" V="8.845" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2699" V="8.843" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2700" V="8.844" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2701" V="8.846" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2702" V="8.794" C="0" Tp="999" /> <<<END OF CHARGE
<S T="2703" V="8.77" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2704" V="8.763" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2705" V="8.759" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2706" V="8.751" C="0" Tp="999" />
<S T="2707" V="8.749" C="0" Tp="999" /> <<HUMAN PULLS PLUG SECONDS LATER
</Samples>
<CellSamples />

Also, that DIP in the begining ?
Thats what the VECTOR does each time

 

Well, lol, let me put it this way, I haven't had to go back on any yet, the pack I am working on now for my insight, was THROWN together with little thought as it was a proof of concept and went a lot longer than I ever expected it to go.

The last one I did was the other day, that 2008 prius we bought in june, it is working so far lol

The only one I have around here that I did this same work to, is my silver 2005 sitting outside. I bought that specifically due to a bad battery pack and hauled it back from new jersey cause they sold it for nothing.

When I got the car it had 142,218 miles. January 2015.
The pack is a mix of the original and replacement cells and they were all charged using the vector charger.
The car today has 280,593 so that pack now has 138,375 miles on it

I did a test just yesterday for another reason but looked at the cells, they are all good and close to each other and the resistance in techstream is 23 and 24

 

Back then, I worked one module at a time, charge it up 6 amps until I saw end of charge with a meter, then use the CBA to take it down to 6 volts at 6 amps and read the capacity, repeat it over and over until it got no better, 3 or 4 times, if it had more than 5 Ah, it made it into the battery pack.

This test was yesterday, idling with AC on letting engine turn on and off

LOL yeah I am pretty sure I know what I am doing, I started with a car battery charger, and it worked, as evidenced here

P.S. Before the CBA, I used the car charger, a meter, and the clock on my laptop to figure out how long they discharged, and that was the AH for the module. That would have been a black 2005 my daughter got for 500 bucks and i had to figure all of this stuff out. (actually, she paid a thousand and i loaned her 500, so she owes me 500 bucks still, and THATS why i post here, just made 500 bucks)

 

Well, they are priced down not because of battery but stolen cats now lol, that's how we got he 2008 and it was CLEAN and drives like new. Depends on where you are, around here DC METRO you can still find deals on a Prius. I still stick with gen 2, new parts are plenty and cheap.

The big takeaway from this entire thread is, just charge them up and down, until they get as good as they are gonna get, towards end of charge, consider lowering the amps to prevent gassing / swelling /heat. If they have over 5 Ah probably good to go.

And, learned from this thread, before you waste time, put an Ah in it, discharge it to 6 volts, then watch the voltages for 4 minutes, if they go beyond 7.2 volts, that module may be trouble. Just look at my sheets above

 

So I repeated the 8 process on module 7, it is now back in the pack at 5.6 AH when charged to 90% SOC and 86% charge efficiency beating the 84% minimum for pack inclusion.

 

I swear man, some people just dont get it, you can charge these and other batteries with all kinds of things, chargers power supplies other batteries, you could use jumper cables on a truck battery and TAP a charge into these batteries if you wanted to. I have done it with other batteries in a pinch even AAA batteries in the field. You could use wire and a magnet if you wanted to.

I am the guy banned from gilligans island because with me, there was no tv series lol

 

amen

 

you could use jumper cables on a truck battery and TAP a charge into these batteries if you wanted to.

LOL I SHOULD TRY THAT, on a bad battery see if it alters is charge discharge profile

Wire the positive side of a truck battery to the pos

Take the negative to an insulated copper post, attach a swirling copper insulated tab to a variable speed drill, have it spin and SLAP the voltage in with a CHARGING SURGE, i can adjust the RATE with the speed of the drill or number of spinny copper flappers.

I could use a chattering relay, but the visual of the spinny thingy would get more hits on youtube lol

oh yeah i need to build this

 

Status as of this morning, all 20 cells may end up in the pack, using the tempanerd i can watch the temps on each module to see if those with higher resistance play badly, or not.

Why I am only going to 90% SOC for all subsequent tests on these modules, they previously have proven their max capacity from 100% soc, there is no reason to keep subjecting them to the extreme stresses of that last 10% when the information can be gathered from a 90% soc down to 6 volts.

 

I have a feeling that there arent going to be anymore nimh prius modules produced at panasonic. So the problem of the 3,000 dollar dealer pack may not be an issue.