PINNED - Lithium battery conversion/info

[shirley_hkg]

Use the ZXD. Set amp to 5A.

Charge one cell at a time , till 3.0V, and next.

PL8 should work too , if you reset the detect volt low enough.

[Scooterman]

Use the ZXD. Set amp to 5A.

Charge one cell at a time , till 3.0V, and next.

PL8 should work too , if you reset the detect volt low enough.

Thanks Shirley

So, if using the ZXD I set the charge volts to 3.6v and monitor cell voltage until cell reaches 3v ? The same with pl8 but resetting “detect low voltage” so it doesn’t trip out.

I shall investigate pl8 settings and report back.

[Scooterman]

So I change this to NONE (flag bad pack)?

After changing L.V. Restore parameter to NONE is it worth trying to recharge the whole 24v pack again as per normal?

I would estimate the pl8 was tripping out after 3 mins which would coincide with the 3 min parameter setting.

[Scooterman]

All might not be lost I might be again! (just joking )

[expresso]

Welcome Back Scooterman - i had to check the date and year of this post a few times - before i realized it -

[Scooterman]

[list=][list=][/list][/list]Cheers Expresso, yes it's me not a ghost! It's good to see you're still around. I posted some guff (trash) on the Introduce Yourself board, but it's not very interesting. Basically I had to leave WD to concentrate on other things, plus I had a bout of ill health.

But I left it far too long to rejoin, I was worried/nervous about rejoining. But it's really good to back, I consider you all friends

[Scooterman]

I tried changing the L.V. Restore parameter to NONE. But the PL8 wouldn't allow it. It say NONE (flag bad pack) only available for OEM packs.

I tried recharging the whole pack again in the scooter, but the PL8 faulted out again just after 3 mins.

[Scooterman]

FishinJunkie

Hi, I'm guessing 207mm is the height? 8 cells would fit in my scooter. It has 2 battery trays either side of the seat post, so 4 cells in each tray.

Battery Size:
174*53*207mm

Is this how they arrived? And the M6 studs are actually welded into the terminals? They look good and I like the way they protected the threads with what looks like a piece of heat shrink sleeving.

NB: If I can't rescue my existing pack then I'll email the lady for a GBP price.

[expresso]

scooterman - you have to try to bring the volts up on each cells - they are below what the PL8 can see and start to charge - it happened to me once that way with one cell - single i had -

i believe i used a Lead preset on my single cell to bring it up - then the PL8 got it going - the cut off is 2.5V on the PL8 - i believe - below that - it wont see it and give you the error

if you have two 12V packs - try using a lead preset for a 12V pack - ask BM first which is best preset - just in case - one way or another - you have to get the volts up - either one at a time or the whole thing at once - they are too low to get the charger going -

see what BM says before you follow me in case i could be wrong

[Scooterman]

Hi Expresso,
That sounds like good advice

I can’t lift off the scooter seat and access the pack without help. But tomorrow unless I hear different I might try coaxing up the cell volts using the ZXD.

The L.V. Restore parameter can’t be set any lower than 2.55v which tallies with what you say. And if I can get all the cells above 2.55v then I might be able to continue charging as per normal with the pl8?

If I don’t hear different from BM, Shirley, etc, I might give that a go tomorrow.

I should be able to monitor the cell volts using just the 1 amp ribbon cable of the pl8 while charging with ZXD

I’ll give it a whirl

[Burgerman]

If its down to few volts - complete pack, you are wasting your time really.

[expresso]

its pretty low - looks like less than 1 volt -

but at this point - nothing to loose - get them up over 2.55V so the PL 8 can see it and start a charge -

it may not work in the end either way - but nothing to loose at this point


i am getting my new cells next week - UPS - we see how they are - the seller is the same one Fishinkill used - worse case - you can give her a call email and work something out - shes very nice seller - before during and after sales i am sure -

we chat now and then - non battery related also - i feel shes honest herself at the very least - i think Fishinkill is happy with his cells - i cant complain on the cost of my cells at all - but i did sea - only cost me $100 - for shipping - shipped in Dec. 20 - its now a little over two months

[Scooterman]

Hi Expresso,
That sounds like good advice

I can’t lift off the scooter seat and access the pack without help. But tomorrow unless I hear different I might try coaxing up the cell volts using the ZXD.

The L.V. Restore parameter can’t be set any lower than 2.55v which tallies with what you say. And if I can get all the cells above 2.55v then I might be able to continue charging as per normal with the pl8?

If I don’t hear different from BM, Shirley, etc, I might give that a go tomorrow.

I should be able to monitor the cell volts using just the 1 amp ribbon cable of the pl8 while charging with ZXD

I’ll give it a whirl

[Scooterman]

If its down to few volts - complete pack, you are wasting your time really.

Sorry BM I didn’t see your message. If if the weather’s dry tomorrow I’ll give what I said below a go and report back.

[shirley_hkg]

Use the ZXD to charge the pack. Set amp to 3A.

Monitor the volts with PL8 , and note that none of the volts go negative.

[Scooterman]

Hi Shirley, I’ll try that today.

But what voltage?

28.8v ?

I can’t access the individual cells at the moment. I can only charge whole pack.

[Burgerman]

He knows that. Hence monitor the cells with the pl8 too. But if the pl8 is started on monitor after you connect the power supply, at maybe 26v then it wont object.

All you are trying to do is pull up the voltage a little, until it starts to charge normally and all cells are over 2.5v. I doubt that they will be any use now even if you are successful. It may even appear to be charged. But cells will have high resistance or high self discharge or low capacity or all of that at once. Theres a reason not to go below 2.5v per cell.

[Scooterman]

Okey dokey BM I shall try that

Thanks

[Scooterman]

Well they're charging which is good.

Just have to see how it goes

[shirley_hkg]

I'll keep the current low for this recovery charge. (10A max)

[Scooterman]

Still going, fingers crossed

I've come indoors and just seen your update Shirley.

I've got them charging at 30A, I'll take a chance and leave them.

If I reduce it to 10A they'll take too long cos I'm charging them on the scooter outdoors and can't leave my laptop outside when it gets dark. Some b'stard will nick it! (steal it)

[Scooterman]

........

[Burgerman]

That looks promising. Cant really have been at 1v?

[fishinjunky]

FishinJunkie

Hi, I'm guessing 207mm is the height? 8 cells would fit in my scooter. It has 2 battery trays either side of the seat post, so 4 cells in each tray.

Battery Size:
174*53*207mm

Is this how they arrived? And the M6 studs are actually welded into the terminals? They look good and I like the way they protected the threads with what looks like a piece of heat shrink sleeving.

NB: If I can't rescue my existing pack then I'll email the lady for a GBP price.

Yea they came with the studs welded. And packed well.
The 207mm is without studs I think 224mm with studs but ask the lady to be sure
They came with heat shrink on the terminals
I'm happy with them

[Scooterman]

That looks promising. Cant really have been at 1v?

Hi BM, yes they were you can see in previous photo here:

Yesterday I they took 182Ah and the IR readings was good. But they took a long time to balance and when they all finally came together the charge terminated early at about 2.5A? I don’t know why, but it late (9pm) and dark and I was knacked, and had had enough so I took a couple of amps out of the pack to pull the voltage down and packed up. I’m going to finish charging them again today at 10A and see if they come together again and stay together for 30 mins or so (horizontal wiggly line) and terminate at set TC.



(Terminated early yesterday 9pm.)

[Scooterman]

Yea they came with the studs welded. And packed well.
The 207mm is without studs I think 224mm with studs but ask the lady to be sure
They came with heat shrink on the terminals
I'm happy with them

Hi FJ, I emailed the lady and she gave me good price and sent this. Looking at the photo some look to have welded studs and some don’t. Are yours in this photo?

[fishinjunky]

Yea they came with the studs welded. And packed well.
The 207mm is without studs I think 224mm with studs but ask the lady to be sure
They came with heat shrink on the terminals
I'm happy with them

Hi FJ, I emailed the lady and she gave me good price and sent this. Looking at the photo some look to have welded studs and some don’t. Are yours in this photo?

I think they will weld m6 studs on the any of their cells if you specify that's what you want

[Scooterman]

Part 1: CV timeout was set to 2hrs, that was why.

Part 1

Part 2: TC didn't seem to want to go below 1A so switched off pack manually.

Part 2

[Scooterman]

I think they will weld m6 studs on the any of their cells if you specify that's what you want

Thanks FJ that's useful to know

But surprisingly my cells which I thought had gone terminal

Have managed to recover and take a charge. I've not tried riding the scooter yet but will see how it goes. If I break down at the roadside I'll email the lady sharpish

But all the time they last I might as well go on using them. It's not just the expense, I'd rather not have to physically rip out the old pack and build and install a new one. The scooter is too big and heavy to get on a bench which means have to some of the work sitting/lying on a cold hard floor which isn't fun! Especially when I can't find my 10mm spanner cos I'm sat on it!

[Burgerman]

Bcause high internal self discharge? Check balance by topping up in a few days.