Just Another HV Battery Thread and Experiments

dolj,

I just disassembled a 2008 Altima and a 2013 Prius V pack in a late night session last night. I had the Altima pack partially disassembled already on one of my benches, but needed the bench to pull apart the 2013. Took some photos of the Altima battery after puling the case cover because I was astounded by the amount of lint, etc on top of the modules.

The serial number on the Altima case was J202LBF0006A. (Feb 20, 2008 for the L on the case).
The serial numbers on all 34 modules start with 122J (Feb 12, 2008 for the J on the modules).

I'll look around to see if I can find the original source I had found explaining the coding.

I don't think this is the original charts I used, but it shows the same info:

Battery Pack/Case decoding:




Individual Module Serial number decoding:

 

Nothin but crickets.............

And, to Fred, I appreciate the offer, but, as luck would have it, an alternate plan was put in motion late last week. I now have in my possession the Gen 2 deluxe reconditioning package with intelligent discharger (?). I believe that's the correct terminology...

I also have in my possession another tired battery that is an ideal test for the system. I did a battery swap on Saturday 10/28 for another forum member. I installed their old battery in my car for testing and have some very interesting load graphs. This battery is the perfect candidate, as it fits exactly what you would expect for a old tired battery, even though it was purchased through a "rebuild" company and is about 6 months old (if I remember correctly). I've done three tests on it and it gets worse every time. Today's load test showed about a 1.1 AH capacity. Block 6 is the weak link, but has not yet caused the battery to code out. It had one purple bar on the display this morning when I left for work and then it went all the way to green within 1 mile of leaving the house. When I got in car to go home after work, it was 2 purple bars. I went ahead and swapped it with one of my TMR batteries when I got home, as I didn't feel the need to do any more testing. I'm going to get it set up on a work bench this week/weekend to put it through the recommended procedures and then put it back in the car to test again. (Added this 11/2 @ 11am) I think I'm going to connect this battery to my CQ3s to perform an initial discharge down to 6.0 volts per module. That will give me exact information for each module in regard to it's current state of capacity in the 'as removed' condition. It may be a little weird, as I performed the final (#3) load test just prior to removing it from the car. But we'll at least be able to see each module relative to the others in the pack.

The HV battery that started this thread is already on another work bench, waiting it's turn to be test cycled. That should start no later than Friday. I'll put it through a handful of cycles and then do some in-car load testing and graphing to see if those delta V charts tighten up.

 

These are the graphs from Load Test 1. This was performed shortly after returning home from the swap .

 

These are the graphs from Load Test 2 (10/31/17 at ~6am)

 

These are the graphs from Load Test 3:

 

And, just as a reminder, here are the graphs of the battery that was installed in the forum member's car as the replacement for the above battery.

 

To try to keep this as least confusing as possible, I'm gong to label these 2 HV batteries using the first initial of the previous owner. Battery "P" is the HV battery that started this thread. That one is going to be cycled using the seven CQ3 chargers. Battery "A" is going to be the HV battery that will be cycled using the Prolong System.

I was able to take battery "A" and discharge each module to get the initial capacities for informational purposes. This list is starting with Block 1 (opposite end from ECU). Remember, Block 6 (marked with *) has been the limiting block during all load tests. These numbers are mah as logged by the CQ3 (module discharged to 6.0 volts). Keep in mind this battery was purchased from a 'rebuilder' and is only about 6 months old or so. The previous owner, if she reads this, is welcome to chime in with more accurate info. Note the huge variance between highest and lowest modules. There is no way this battery had anything done to it other than module swaps. It has modules date coded 8/4/05, 11/19/05, 4/5/06, 4/6/06 and 4/1/07. My first impression of the bus bars is that they were untouched also. The level of corrosion was ridiculous, including the surfaces covered by the nuts and battery module terminal. Very few of the bars had ANY surface that could be immediately identified as copper. Just black, with green growth. I debated whether to clean it all up and put it back in the car for a couple days of testing prior to "Prolong"ing it, but decided against it. I did acid dip the bus bars and replace the nuts after performing the initial discharges.

After putting the bus bars back on, I opened up the Prolong packages and wired up the harness. Overall, pretty easy, but I really don't like the crimp on connectors for the wire harness where it attached to the main relays. They must be the smallest diameter lug possible for that stud size. My recommendation, FWIW as a lifelong wire biter, is this needs to be improved. The terminal lug is sandwiched between the main power cable terminal and the nut. The surface area of the Prolong Harness terminal needs to at least match the nut diameter to ensure full surface contact/compression between the nut and the main power cables. The copper wire extended through the crimp so far that it interfered with the nut. There are many, much higher quality terminal lugs available, with higher quality automotive crimp styles. The current lugs give the impression of cheapness. Also, I HATE having to go on line to print out operating instructions. And no, I don't want to look it up on my phone. It's a PIA. Typically, if I have to do that, I never order from that company again. I realize it's a new, modern age, but once again, to me it gives the appearance of cheapness. Just my preference. Other than those 2 issues, I think it's very straight forward and a simple connection for anyone with even minor wire experience. Overall, all items in the package are good looking pieces of equipment. I started the first charge sequence last night at about 10:15 pm. Initial voltage was 192vdc. The amperage bounced around like crazy from 0 to ~0.5 amps until voltage hit 201 vdc. At that time, it became rock steady at 0.343 amps. I checked it this morning at ~6am and it was at 237 volts.

After the first 'topping' charge, as mentioned earlier by Fred, I'll put it back in the car and drive it for a day or two to let it settle out and then do some load tests. Then take it out and do the multi-cycle sequence.

Module capacities from initial discharge (lowest was 668 mah, highest was 3441 mah):

1588
2548
3133
1800
706
2219
2287
1501
1313
2710
814*
668*
1417
2026
1091
1403
2075
1411
1182
1442
1074
3441
1854
1811
1768
3250
2885
2772

 

Deleted due to being duplicate of the above post.

 

Ok, so it was 237 volts at 6 am this morning. I got home today around 5:30pm and the charger was sitting at 238 volts and module temperatures were pretty consistent at ~7 degrees higher than ambient. At 8:30pm, it was still at 238 volts and 7 degrees above ambient across all modules. I felt this information matched the instructions well enough to call it topped, so I went ahead and stopped the charge. If anyone has input on this based on their experience, please speak up. I'm going to let it sit for a bit and then swap it into the car tonight. I have some errands to run tomorrow morning, so that will give me a chance to cycle the battery a bit. I should probably put around 50 miles or so on it. I'll do a load test after I get back.

 

Jeff,

Feel free to use any of my posts, screen captures, etc in this thread however you'd like. If you have suggestions for the testing regimen, please let me know.

 

In Post 72, I wrote a bit about the terminal lugs on the Prolong wires that connect to the (+) and (-) main power contacts. Here's some photos to provide some clarity. This is an easy thing to improve, and if it's the worst thing about the system, then it's doing pretty darn good.

A photo of the nut torqued on the stud in OEM condition. Note how the spring washer style nut makes full contact with the main cable lug.



Here's a photo of the same stud and lug, with the nut removed.



Here's a photo of the same stud and terminal, with the Prolong wire/terminal in place. The Prolong terminal is positioned for a clear photo.

Here's a photo with the nut installed and torqued. Note the gap caused by the added terminal lug. I'm not totally comfortable with the mating (or lack of) between the surfaces. Again, an easy enough situation to remedy with a different style lug.

 

I also made some comments in post 72 regarding the bus bars on this HV battery. Remember, this was a 'rebuilt' battery purchased by a fellow forum member. I'm putting a bunch of photos in this post as thumbnails. These are photos I took of the busbars. Some are while still installed on the module terminals, some are with the busbars removed from the plastic housings. Fronts and backs. I doubt they were touched as part of the rebuild/refurb.