tiistai 5. heinäkuuta 2016

A Leaf among other things

So, yeah, got a Leaf. Traded in the C-Zero. It was a nice little car, but more range is more range. Something like 50% more. The Leaf I got can get about 19 kWh on a full charge and 18 kWh from a quick charge. Much more than the C-Zero, which was down to something like 14 kWh, making the usable kWh between quick charges aroung 12 kWh. Plenty for in town, but not so much between towns.


I also kinda sorta started putting the electric kWsaki motorcycle back together. I've been bottom balancing the 40 Ah cells I have left. Looks like I might be able to put together 29 anyway, even though many of them bloated previously. They seem to hold voltage now, so I'll just have to drive them to see if they keep working ok. Eight of them have been in the Xsara, four as an extra battery to take it from 25 to 27 cells (two 40 Ahs in parallel, since it has 60 Ah cells) and two as it's 12 volt battery. 

Having a higher voltage on the Xsara might have caused it's DC/DC converter to blow up, but as is often the case with something blowing up I've also learned something. Turns out the issue I had with the 12 volt system was caused by the DC/DC converter. It was quietly draining the 12 volt battery when it didn't have high voltage connected, thus causing me to loose a few lead acid batteries. Well, now I know not to leave a DC/DC converter always connected. You need to disconnect them from high voltage to keep them draining the traction battery and from the 12 volt battery for the same reason. Nasty buggers. I've also learned that I don't really need a DC/DC converter in the car. At least with four LiFePO4 40 Ah cells in series it works fine without and the battery stays full instead of the car draining it.


Also the 2000 W 87.6 V charger I originally had in the car seems to be ok as well. It just had blown a fuse when I last had it in the car. D'oh. Well, I replaced the fuse and it's working again. Very happy about that. Now I just have to decide what to do with the controllers. I have the better 120 V 600 A controller in the car, but the higher voltage pack available for the motorcycle as well as a 102.2 V charger for it. Not sure if the 72 V (90 V max) AXE7245 I had in the car and before it in the motorcycle is completely functional though. It started go offline while driving, which is why I put the 600 A Kelly into the car. I guess I'll figure it out eventually. I haven't been driving the Xsara after I got the Leaf though, so I might just store it and put the better controller into the motorcycle anyway.