Build Hybrid Battery Maintenance Gear For Under $100

I already shelled out all the cash for the max volt charger and discharger. They work quite well though.

 

hey Dxta, i just followed the olrowdy wiring diagram I found on this site. This uses a switch that lights up though so mine has 3 pins on the switch. What exaclty do you mean when you say that you can't get to wire the discharge side to the other side of the switch?

 

I meant, I want a situation, where I can have separate switches for the charge, and discharge functions. I probably might go get a toggle switch with an ON-OFF-ON function to do this.

 

CatNinja has another simplified version of a DIY grid charger at the following link. Other related threads also.

Prius Grid Charger/Discharger with Electronic Load | PriusChat

What type of connector does a Prolong Charger/Discharger use? | PriusChat

Prolong Charger Cable Prius Gen 2 Fan Pinout | PriusChat

 

Thanks for that Alftoy.

Not been at this build for a wee while. just got back to it. My display shows 286V but it outputs 200V DC at the connector for the harness. Do you know if this correct?

 

Greetings, I'm waiting for parts for my grid charger and have been going through as much info as I can. I believe the charger's open circuit voltage will be high(max) but once you connect to the battery it takes the voltage that is relative to the SOC of the pack, and will increase as the pack gets charged. So I don't know if the different voltages you're seeing are both without load or one without and the other with load.

 

Hey! Hope the build goes well x to be clearer, not connected, the charger displays 286V but when I test at the output socket (the one that will connect to the wiring harness in the car) it outputs at 200V. I have removed the discharging part of the build incase that was a problem and it is still outputting at 200V.

 

I am not sure why you would have such a volt drop. Is your 100kOhm resistor installed before the VOM or after? You might need to check your circuit downstream of the VOM to your connector to see what could be causing that volt drop. Which Circuit design did you wire according to? Ol'rowdy?

 

Thanks for the encouragement. Hoped you would have succeeded by now. Anyways i received my MeanWell charger last night. I went with the HLG-60H-C350B seeing I have a 20 module battery pack. Due to unavailability of components in our electronics shops I am planning to not include a voltage and current display and just use my multimeter. I also skipped the 100kOhm resistor and only wired the series Diode on the +ve cable of my charging wiring harness. Hopefully by Friday my setup will be ready and I start charging through the weekend.

 

hey Tungm, thanks for getting back to me. the resistor is installed before the VOM as per the Ol'rowdy circuit diagram. I think I may have my wiring messed up at the VOM or have a faulty one. If I measure at the output of the Meanwell HLG-80H-350A, it measure 286V so I know that is working fine. Output after the VOM is 200V. I have checked the battery harness and it is fine but when I connect the charger to it, the display of the VOM sits at 286V and the amps jump around all over the place. Will double check the wiring of the VOM to see if I have done something daft again.

 

I dabble in electronic repair so already had a lot of stuff lying around that I could use. My problem is free time. I'm a single mum to 3 kids with additional support needs and also care for my mum who has dementia. Fit this stuff in whenever I can...lol!

 

I am impressed. I hope you will get to it as soon as possible. Third world country problems are what I have, most imported stuff carries at least US$50 in shipping costs alone. Digikey minimum shipping cost is US$180. So I resort to shipping to my neighboring country South Africa and get the items put on a cross border bus for $10.

 

geeze that sucks! I am in the UK so can get things delivered pretty cheap. After testing it looks like my VOM is faulty so have ordered another which should come in the next few days. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

hey dxta, I have a main on/off rocker switch, a charge/discharge switch and I also installed an on/off for the discharge lights too. Would that be similar to what you are wanting to do?

 

The weekend came and I tried my first battery reconditioning. Tear down to the battery was fairly simple, though battery enclosure for the Toyota Aqua requires you to remove most(if not all) of the sheet metal to the bare sled before you can make any connection of the harness. At that point the battery was out of the car and instead of doing the process in the car I decided to bring it into the house. The battery seemed untouched and ALL the copper busbars were blackened with corrosion.

I hooked up my MeanWell HLG-60H-C350B 100-200v LED driver onto the battery and my voltages went as follows:

First charge
Start
18:00 163.3v
18:15 165.4
18:39 167.6
18:49 168.1
19:00 168.5
19:10 168.7
19:20 168.8
19:30 168.9
19:50 168.8
20:00 168.8
20:32 168.5
20:41 168.3
21:10 167.8
21:20 167.6
20:44 167.2
22:00 166.9
22:22 166.6
01:00 166.7
06:00 168.4 End

Second charge
Start
10:10 106.8
10:20 128.1
10:30 137.0
10:45 141.4
11:00 144.6
11:13 146.7
11:30 148.8
12:10 152.1
13:01 155.7
16:05 163.4
16:53 164.9
17:06 165.3
19:40 168.7
19:50 168.8
20:00 168.9
20:15 168.9
22:15 168.7
06:55 167.7
09:40 167.7

For 120 cells my voltage would not go above 168.9v

Then comes Discharge cycles, I had 240v light bulbs:
First discharge 375W bulbs ends 96v
06:00 168.4
06:30 157.5
06:50 150.2
07:00 146.0
07:10 142.5
07:20 140.2
07:30 137.7
07:40 136.1
07:50 134.4 module 10&13 low voltage
08:00 132.0 discharge 195W bulbs
08:30 124.3 discharge 180W bulbs
08:50 120.1
09:30 107.8
09:40 106.8 discharge 120W
09:52 103.7
10:07 102.5
End module [email protected]

Second discharge 375W
09:45 166.6
09:50 164.3
10:00 159.9
10:25 152.8
10:30 151.7
10:35 150.5
10:40 149.4
10:45 148.2
10:50 147.3
10:55 146.2
11:00 144.6
11:05 143.1
11:10 142.0
11:15 140.2
11:20 139.7 discharge 255W
11:25 138.2
11:30 137.6 discharge 195W
11:35 137.4
11:40 135.9
11:45 134.5
11:50134.3
12:32 128.7

Note my first discharge, Module 10 voltage was dropping much faster than the rest and when its voltage reached 2.89v I decided to stop the discharge. Modules toward the ends of the pack were still reading between 6.99 and 7.15.

Is there anything of note in these readings and what procedure do you recommend I follow? Is my voltage maxing out at 168.9 a concern? Should i continue discharging according to pack voltage and ignore module voltage?

I have a EVPeak CQ3 4 channel charger at my disposal.

First discharge 375W bulbs ends 96v
06:00 168.4
06:30 157.5
06:50 150.2
07:00 146.0
07:10 142.5
07:20 140.2
07:30 137.7
07:40 136.1
07:50 134.4 module 10&13 low voltage
08:00 132.0 discharge 195W bulbs
08:30 124.3 discharge 180W bulbs
08:50 120.1
09:30 107.8
09:40 106.8 discharge 120W
09:52 103.7
10:07 102.5
End module [email protected]

Second discharge 375W
09:45 166.6
09:50 164.3
10:00 159.9
10:25 152.8
10:30 151.7
10:35 150.5
10:40 149.4
10:45 148.2
10:50 147.3
10:55 146.2
11:00 144.6
11:05 143.1
11:10 142.0
11:15 140.2
11:20 139.7 discharge 255W
11:25 138.2
11:30 137.6 discharge 195W
11:35 137.4
11:40 135.9
11:45 134.5
11:50134.3
12:32 128.7

Thank you all in advance.

 

Great that you got round to trying out the reconditioning. I already installed a wiring harness on the hybrid battery so now just a case of plugging it in I tested mine out today and all looks great. Didn't have enough time to do a full reconditioning but at least it all works!
Re you voltage max - look at this thread DIY Grid Reconditioning Charger | PriusChat
It may be that you are not leaving it long enough in the balancing phase. Once balanced you should be able to discharge according to the pack voltage.

 

Wait, what? The RS-75-12? Why?

I don't believe this was ever noted and it's listed by nearly every charging diagram as the proper power supply for the HV battery fan.

What am I missing?

 

This comment and the next one by @fach

Build Hybrid Battery Maintenance Gear For Under $100 | Page 3 | PriusChat

Simple breakout adapter for atx power supply or lots of google articles for 12 volt from atx ps.

Xh M229 24 Pins Benchtop Power Board Computer Atx Power Supply Breakout Adapter Module Desktop Computer Chassis Power Supply Atx Transfer To Adapte Board 3 3v 5v 12v | Today's Best Daily Deals | Temu

 

Thanks, not sure how I missed that.

I'm shocked that no one else would mention this though, surely other people have tried the RS-75-12.

If this is truly the case I think it's worth an addendum on the first post.

Why exactly does it not work? Does the fan need more than 6A?

 

Well I finally got round to doing my battery reconditioning. Everything went smoothly and all battery cells improved except the middle module. Load tested (they tested awful compared to the rest) and replaced those. Moved the outside modules near the middle too. Only issue I have is charging it up to balance the battery again. No access to my brothers house just now (he has a driveway) as he is getting building work done and I can't park near my house. Is there a way to use my diy build to charge the hybrid battery while out of the car? Cheers