Hybrid battery balancing

So I was off by $250 or 20%. Not bad going from memory alone. How long ago was that? Yes $1250 is a good price for relatively new modules. Do you offer a warranty with it?

I tried finding a full set of replacement G3 modules for six months so I did put some energy into it. I did not realize there were so many Gen 3 Prius owners that would essentially give away their perfectly good HV packs for less than $1000 when their cars were totaled. I searched Craigslist almost every day back then and nothing as good as what you've been finding ever popped on my PC monitor. But I have a full time job and a family so was difficult to look for packs on Craigslist as frequently as I needed to.

You decided to rebuild packs for fun and profit so it's worthwhile for you to search high and low for modules. And from the sound of it, you're successful. Good for you.

 

Okay Dxta, what's on your mind? What do you want to talk about. What important issues?

 

This is a very long thread that you should read if you haven't already. It will answer some of your questions.
Gen II Prius Individual Battery Module Replacement | PriusChat

Yes it will take a long time with a single charger. That's why pack charger/dischargers became popular. So, if you're determined to do this repair quickly you should buy one as I mentioned to you in post #3, remember?

 

You should get a pack level charger & discharger that allows you to cycle the entire pack while it is still installed in the car, so that you can cycle the full pack it in a day instead of a month - and continue to service it a few times a year so the battery stays healthy for the long term. I know a place where you could get a pack level system that does that

 

Important issues, let's just forget whether there are benefits as regards the pro charger you talked about, and let's just go ahead with our daily contributions to PC.

That's just what I meant. Simple

 

Then how about making an important daily contribution, Dxta. Just kidding

 

You're funny

Heheheheh, you're funny.

Thanks for the humour though.

 

Here's a photo I just took today of a set of modules fresh from a 2009 battery pack. It was a functioning pack. This is one thing that a grid charger installed in a car will not show you, but individual module cycling/testing on a bench will. Notice that the module near the center is swelling even though it was at a relatively low charge.

 

Please what's the name of the hobby charger you've got in that set up?

 

I currently use (7) chargers made by EV Peak (model CQ3). I also have (3) HiTec model 44167 chargers (the X4 AC+ model).

I just purchased the CQ3 chargers recently to try them out. They have twice the discharge capacity as the HiTec 44167. With (7) CQ3 chargers, I can cycle a 28 module pack in less than 1/6 of the time it took to do using the 3 hitecs.

 

Thanks so much for the response

 

It's the discharge side that slows down the process considerably so any improvement there will speed things up alot.
Looks like it has 5A discharge but is that divided over all 4 channels?

 

The CQ3 is a 4 channel charger/discharger. Each channel is totally independent of the others. The discharge is limited to ~10 watts per channel, which is 2x the watt limit on the HiTec 44167 models. Most of the inexpensive single channel models are also limited to 5 watts. I have the discharge limit set to 1.5 amps. Typically, when a fully charged module shifts to discharge mode, the current will display as 1.3 amps, and creep up to ~1.5 amps as the battery voltage lowers. I have the discharge programmed to stop at 5.8 volts at the charger, which measures to be 6.0v at the battery terminals.

 

Yeah, that's about double the Hitec X4, you set it to 1A initially but in reality it only pulls around 0.7A during discharge.

 

Have you tried out the CQ3 charger already?

 

Yes. They work very well but I'm a bit unhappy with one thing. When set to perform multiple cycles, it will stop if it hits any of the "safety" setpoints (the time limit, mah limit, etc). It will not continue with the cycles. It's most likely a firmware issue. Website says it can be updated, but I haven't looked into it.

The HiTecs stop at a limit, but then do thier cooldown time and then continue with the next cycle.

Overall, I like them. I just set them for one cycle at a time. It works out well because I start a cycle around 530am and again at 530pm. 2 full cycles per day.

 

Why I asked was because, I went through their website, and that of some of their distributors. One of their distributor was saying something about an old and new software update. So, I'm kinda like, did t they think about all that, before now? No provisions for that, etc?

YOU WERW UNHAPPY WITH.....so, how have you, or intend to overcome that? Complementing it with the other charger you have, or you just bypass that limitations, and continue with it?

Would really appreciate your response, exause I'm considering that same charger too.

 

Overall I am happy with them. I have 7 of them, so I can cycle all 28 modules in a battery at the same time. Being able to do multiple cycles automatically would be a bit quicker, but I'm ok with doing one cycle at a time. The timing still works out well for me. If it becomes a bigger issue at some later time, I'll find out if a firmware upgrade is available.

 

With most hobby RC chargers it is possible to charge up to 15 NiMh-cells connected in series.
So charging always 2 Prius-modules at a time which are connected in series also doubles the "charging capacity".

 

Will the cq3 discharge through the + & - leads or do you need to used the balance board via the 6s port.

Thanks
Jason