Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by coulomb »

jonescg wrote: Sun, 12 Apr 2020, 10:47 mind starting another thread on iMiEV charger maintenance and repair?
Done. @Nuggetgalore, your thread is now here: Nuggetgalore's iMiEV charger failure.

Please let me know if there are other posts to be moved.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by nuggetgalore »

Hi Chris,
you were reading my mind.
I was going to ask if an Administrator could shift the relevant posts to a new thread....
Wow, done and all on a Sunday.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by brendon_m »

When the cells were out did you (@jonescg ) disconnect the bms boards from the top of any of the cells? Just wondering about someone's claim that the Cmu's go screwy when they lose power. I have my doubts it's actually a problem, but it would be good to verify that it's truly not an issue.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

Yeah certainly not a problem in this case. I totally disconnected the BMS board and the cells from the pack and re-installed. Not a single bit of grief, just charged it up and drove it out.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

I've put a listing for the cells in the for sale section, and I'll also mention that this iMiEV is also for sale. Happy to pass any interest onto Pauline.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

Just letting all you iMiEV keeners know that Graeme bought some of the 93 Ah cells for an iMiEV upgrade and they seem to fit OK. Took a bit of jury-rigging to have them fit into the cradles, but once the BMS tabs are added it looks quite viable.
93 Ah in iMiEV cradle.jpg
93 Ah in iMiEV cradle.jpg (152.97 KiB) Viewed 3438 times
4s 93 Ah in iMiEV cradle.jpg
4s 93 Ah in iMiEV cradle.jpg (175.9 KiB) Viewed 3438 times
I'm happy to undertake a full 93 Ah upgrade here in Perth, while Graeme is well placed to service East Coast projects out of Logan.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by Peter C in Canberra »

jonescg wrote: Tue, 21 Apr 2020, 16:02 I'm happy to undertake a full 93 Ah upgrade here in Perth, while Graeme is well placed to service East Coast projects out of Logan.
Excellent. I'd love to see a serious cottage industry for such upgrades getting going.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by brendon_m »

Well, they are a much better fit. They look made for it. Hopefully the whole 93Ah will be usable and the BMU won't chuck a wobbly.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by coulomb »

Looks like a great fit. But I worry about thin insulation rubbing away with vibration and causing shorts to the metalwork. Assuming that the outer frame is painted metal.
[ Edit: seems it's plastic. ]
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by brendon_m »

The original imiev cells have a plastic wrap and these cells look much the same. Not enough to trust by itself but better than paint.
Also to help prevent shorts between cells is there is a small piece of rubber (about 2cm x 4cm) between each cells keeping the cells ~2mm apart from each other

Edit: I re-read the post, the frame is plastic
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by richi »

Excellent news. Two questions:
- What kind of jury-rigging?
- Do the posts line up with the original cells, or did you need to fabricate new busbars?
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

Based on the way those buslinks fit, the answer is yes, they do line up :)
The plastic basket needed to be ground back in a few points so the cell sat snugly at the base. The plastic basket also has dividers which help keep the cells away from each other, but a little bit of EPA foam between them can't hurt either.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by richi »

Thanks. I wouldn't want to block the air moving between the cells (especially when the aircon fires up during DC charging)
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by nuggetgalore »

Peter C in Canberra wrote: Tue, 21 Apr 2020, 16:33
jonescg wrote: Tue, 21 Apr 2020, 16:02 I'm happy to undertake a full 93 Ah upgrade here in Perth, while Graeme is well placed to service East Coast projects out of Logan.
Excellent. I'd love to see a serious cottage industry for such upgrades getting going.
Yes,very good news.
Once the concept is proven by a successful repack, I know at least three iMiEV owners in Melbourne
to be more than keen.
As far as a cottage industry is concerned, rather than transporting car or battery pack to WA or QLD,
we could pay the experts to come to the cars. Either to just supervise the DIY or do the whole job.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by antiscab »

nuggetgalore wrote: Wed, 22 Apr 2020, 08:08 As far as a cottage industry is concerned, rather than transporting car or battery pack to WA or QLD,
we could pay the experts to come to the cars. Either to just supervise the DIY or do the whole job.
as someone who has attempted this with Vectrix scooters a few thoughts come to mind:
it works better if a number of vehicles are lined to to get the same upgrade
I almost always needed an oddball rarely used/needed tool that I had left at the workshop at home
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by nuggetgalore »

antiscab wrote: Wed, 22 Apr 2020, 09:19
as someone who has attempted this with Vectrix scooters a few thoughts come to mind:
it works better if a number of vehicles are lined to to get the same upgrade
I almost always needed an oddball rarely used/needed tool that I had left at the workshop at home
Talked about it with one other iMiEV fan this arvo, we could line up at least three or more , as soon as a prototype proved that it is successful.
I touched on the subject of subsidising said prototype, I am willing to chip in with some seed money and so will my mate. Who ever comes along for this ride would get his/her moneys worth back with a successful upgrade of our own vehicles traction pack.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

South Australian iMiEV owners might want to make a train holiday of it - come over to Perth for a couple of weeks and on a weekend we can do the swap. Once our quarantine restrictions are lifted, of course.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by nuggetgalore »

jonescg wrote: Thu, 23 Apr 2020, 08:54 South Australian iMiEV owners might want to make a train holiday of it - come over to Perth for a couple of weeks and on a weekend we can do the swap. Once our quarantine restrictions are lifted, of course.
ok ,lets get serious. Are actually enough of those cells in Oz to do a swap?
Or supplementary question, how long does it take to get some and what is the cost with today's dollar (marginally better than a few weeks ago when it bottomed in the high fifties)?
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

No, not right now. But they can be brought into the country within a month. Will have to get a price, but if 5 iMiEVs are in the queue that's about 450 cells (including spares).
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by nuggetgalore »

jonescg wrote: Thu, 23 Apr 2020, 19:43 No, not right now. But they can be brought into the country within a month. Will have to get a price, but if 5 iMiEVs are in the queue that's about 450 cells (including spares).
It would be a bit risky to import 5 sets of cells before the concept is proven.
We have to find a way to subsidise one prototype first, I understand it is a lot of money for one person to risk if it is unsuccessful.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by adelaide-ev »

jonescg wrote: Thu, 23 Apr 2020, 08:54 South Australian iMiEV owners might want to make a train holiday of it - come over to Perth for a couple of weeks and on a weekend we can do the swap. Once our quarantine restrictions are lifted, of course.
That's a very expensive trip!
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by whimpurinter »

Hi All,
Of course, with an IMiev, I have an interest in this discussion. I don't recall seeing any talk about a guesstimate of the likely total cost of doing one of these projects. Has anyone made any comment about this.
It does also seem to me that it would be highly recommended to do the first car and have it drive around reasonably often for at least some months and have reports of any unusual behaviour for the car in question as that is what the rest of the applicants :) would experience, wherever they were, and however far away.
Finally, I guess I should say that the true cost of this project for one car should be compared to the cost of buying a Mitsubishi battery set and a comparison be made with the difference between the performance of each, in a practical sense. :)
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

Cost will be about $13,000 in battery cells, and maybe $500 in labour.
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by brendon_m »

Battery pack from mitsubishi is $14000 plus install
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Re: Aftermarket iMiEV battery upgrade project

Post by jonescg »

So potentially twice the range for the same money, and no warranty or surety that it will last another 10 years. But hopefully it will.
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