Gen II Prius Individual Battery Module Replacement

Is this your work? Care to elaborate on why you posted it?

First, you shouldn't charge a module in the unrestrained condition. Absolutely, positively, don't do this on a module that matters.

Don't waste your time with one of these chargers. It is referred to as "chinese crap." That is pretty generous. If you already have one, fine. It can work, but there are much better options available.

 

Yes, this is my work. I thought it was in line with the conversation, so I shared it. I have been charging 18650 cells for years, but this is my first time trying it on a Prius module. I know about the swelling, but this is a damaged module for testing, not for reuse in a pack. I want one of the quad chargers mentioned early in this thread, but everyone is out of stock, likely because of Christmas.

 

If you'll look back a few pages, you'll see my comments on the B6 and alternatives.

 

I have been following this thread for a couple weeks now, some great information for everyone. I did see your comments on the B6, although I feel you (and others) do not give it credit for what it is, I agree with you on putting a real load on it will reveal the modules capacity. A 25w halogen bulb, a B6 (properly calibrated), and a little patience, will do everything the fancy chargers will do. Multiple B6 chargers powered by a salvaged ATX power supply, a few bulbs, and a couple toggle switches, and your all set. Get a good multimeter though, or your wasting your time.

 

I give it plenty of credit for what it is. Keep in mind that I have experience with 270 modules and experience specific to the B6 (14 of them to be exact). The chinese knock-offs are as you describe them in your video. Crap. The SkyRC model is a quality product, but again... 5W discharge power on modules putting out on the order of 600W is pretty useless.

 

Yet the same bulb you already bought, can be switch to high beam, to put a heavier load on the module. The Reaktor is a nice piece of gear, but that still does one module at a time, and once you have the pack revived and parallel balanced, just force charge it with the brake and gas pedal. All of our cars have an insane charger built in, so all we are really looking for is a way to charge and discharge them a few times. But hey, we all have our own methods, and I'm a tightwad. If you ever saw how many 18650's are sitting at my place, you would start to wonder about my sanity... If you want those B6's out of your sight, let me know!

 

As stated, they have their purpose. I couldn't in good conscience sell them to anyone for use as charger/dischargers due to their poor reliability. Even at 20mV deltaV settings, most of them terminate charge well before full. I don't mean at like 70% SoC. I mean at 20%.

 

Consider this. The Reaktor 300W costs about $70 delivered. Even if you don't buy a battery for the regenerative features, it still has 300W charge capability (180W in this application 9V * 20A), and it can discharge at 20W internally... That's still 4X the discharge of a B6... for less than the price of 4 B6.

So, spend $80 on 4 Imax B6 or the quad charger or $70 on a Reaktor. You come out WAY ahead in every measurable way on the Reaktor.

Of course, this is free advice. Typical rule applies. Just consider it is based on more than average experience over the course of about 15 months.

Steve[/QUOTE]


Where can you buy a Reaktor 300W charger for $80 delivered?

 

If you stay on that page for several minutes, it will usually offer you a few dollar discount.

 

I bought Reaktors from their AR warehouse, only took two days for delivery to Sc. It does charge faster than the B6 I had (just sold the B6 fo $20 to an RC guy).
Hey Steve
I have been cycling through the pack charging. I'm think something isn't quite right, seems inconsistent module to module. Modules 6, 25, and 26 I did twice. Not sure if it's due 12v battery variations or what. I did not setup the data logging... which probably would have helped my concern. Still have 4 modules to go.

CJ

 

Inconsistencies are to be expected as they all deteriorate at different rates, but you may be seeing something different.

This process does take some monitoring of the 12V. this process is only about 55% efficient from an energy transfer standpoint. For every charge, you consume about 59Wh of energy. At Discharge, you're only getting about 30Wh back out.

 

Steve I think you were correct! Checked that screen and it was hovering at 10.7 ish so I dropped charge current down to 6.5 and going back. So if I'm starting to understand this, what I'm looking for is Current charge vs current discharged not the Discharge vs Discharge of cycles? So the discharge amount should be greater than 55% of the amount charged...?

Thanks
CJ

 

Even at the lower charge setting, you need to get some charge into the 12V. It is at a very low state of charge, and it's not good for it.

The charge value is primarily useful to establish that you got the module charged. It's what gave me confidence the 12V was too weak to get the modules charged. The discharge amount varies, but is always lower due to charge inefficiencies. I would expect it to be within about 15-25%, but don't quote me on that.

 

Well pretty sure I'm good to start assembly of the pack. Reran the suspect voltage modules. I did loose one of my Reactors so that really slowed it down. Always be sure both leads are connected on the correct module before selecting confirm start. I had Positive on the module I wanted to cycle but negative was on the next module over, not a big deal because they're not connected to each other. Bad part was that I had already confirmed the start cycle selection and the charger was checking prior to start, I then realized the connection error so I moved the negative to the desired module negative. Smoke and arcing came from fan port on charger. Luckily module was not damaged, it seems all was contained in charger.

CJ

 

I'm really surprised to hear the magic smoke was liberated. Based on your description, I can't figure out what happened. It shouldn't have.

 

I agree that it shouldn't have smoked it, it was bad it arced the board and was still powered on, causing leads to 12v battery to heat up. It must have been looking for rev polarity during its check or applying current to check for connection. I am just chaulking it up to a $66 cost for saving so much on labor and HobbyKing wants a video for returns. It still powers up fine and acts normal until it does a charge check with an error of "connection break". I replaced modules 14 & 15. Oh yea I do still have to do step 7 on your instructions, thanks for the reminder!

CJ

 

Still, it shouldn't have done anything like that. I've done exactly what you described without incident.

 

Oh yea I do still have to do step 7 on your instructions, thanks for the reminder !

 

Before you do that, please answer question 1. I don't want to make a mistake in reading your writing.