LiFePO4 Lithium Battery Cells into Converted EV 

Yes

Yes, there is a 12v battery. I'll be installing it to test the car out, and show it in the next video.

That is how most electric cars are (our Renault Zoe included) ... that way they can use all the 12v car things like radios, lights, instrument clusters, airbags without having to re-certify everything for high voltage. In our car, orange cables "officially" require additional certifications to work on since they're part of the 400V Traction battery system. Most stuff can be done by anyone with a regular mechanic, just none of the orange stuff.

There'll be a dc/dc step down converter that'll take care of charging the 12v systems on the car....

Yup even Tesla have stuck with 12 v lead acid

This car came with no BMS on it which is very weird. Right now I'm piecing it back together just trying to track down all the problems with it so that I can fix them. Adding a BMS is one of the many things on the list to do.

Good idea 💡 never thought about that 😎

Right now I'm in discovery phase. I'm trying to diagnose what is good and what is bad with the vehicle. When I got it the batteries were dead, and now I solved that. check. Now on to testing the other components. Only after I identify all the issues will I make a plan to fix it.

U will be tinkering around in there so often rubbing a hole will not sneak up on you I am a fan not just a viewer i could be wrong but I am betting if someone sends you something they are a fan not just a viewer Even though I am shore your choice of words dont matter to a viewer or a fan Your humbleness may just be blocking you from thinking you have or saying you have fans but you do You have something most don't now day good old common sense comon since is not so common anymore And please understand if someone wants to give you something take it!! I know it is harder to receive than give!! Don't take their happiness away by not excepting their gift !! One of the side effects of having so many videos people fill like they know you and they do!! (And unwanted advice like mine lol) You definitely are not fake but you have no clue who they(fans ME) are surely it is a little weird but it goes with the territory Now my wife and I have taken a liking to you and your biggest blessing your little family So spread a little happiness by letting us give you something some day Some people get lots of joy by giving to others or helping others in any way they can If those that say they get joy out of giving are not fake They dont want or expect nothing in return !! Have a blessed day

Thank you Amber Smith for your kind words.

I have 12 of those blue cells in my 98 Ford e250 van which I'm living in and they are 200 ah each been top balanced BMS is a old ampere Time BMS 200 amps and I use a Daly smart balancer I have the batteries in a 3P 4S configuration my aims inverter charger is a 3000 global LF series I use a renogy 20 amp mppt 300 watt 35 volt solar panel and a 40 amp renogy dc to dc charger too 30 gal water tank 6 gal water heater too diesel heater with 5 gal tank everything in this van is over sized pretty much cause I need the max capabilities for anything I do

Oh thank you. I didn't know that there were a cotton glove liner I'm going to have to look for that

Bottom balance (2.5v), limit max charge to a safe level for the weakest cell(limit to whatever the pack voltage is when the first cell hits 3.55v). Make sure you have a battery disconnect device that limits the discharge. Re-check the bottom balance every year. Easy. Don't just let the vehicle sit fully discharged for years...

We just built our own battery bank on our sailboat (we liveaboard) using 180 amp hour, 3.6-volt CALB cells, and a DALY BMS, wiring the cells in a 4s2p orientation. So stoked on the upgrade! We charge our lithiums in 2 different ways. We send the power from our 120 amp Balmar alternator on our engine to our 100 amp-hour sealed lead-acid starter battery. From there a Renogy 60 amp DC-DC charger takes the load from the alternator and puts it in a lithium profile and in turn charges the lithium batteries. It was a fun build!

LIFePo4 batteries are so rugged and stable that a BMS some times only make it so it is just more things that can go wrong. Thermal runaway is not rely an issue. I think he should have bottom balance them instead of top balance them. You'll lose a small bit of total capacity but it is one more layer of security from stressing the batteries.

Sadly, people like this never show the result after couple years. You can only sometimes hear about it from local news or insurance reports.

@@Nizze82 LiFePO4 burns very well too. I was collecting a list of incidents for a couple of years and about half of fires was with LiFePO4.

Hahahahahahahaha!

Makes sense

Thanks for watching Bobby

Yup face shields available at all stores for coVid19

Turns out the controller is shot.

Thanks. Yes, it's good stuff. I used it in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TmqkE6KuHJc.html

The car was given to me, but not working. I don't have data on range.

Well, kinda. I got a parts car. I have a long way to go before it's road worthy. But you made your Leaf expansion look so good, that's the way I'm leaning.

@@DavidPozEnergy yes I recommend the leaf upgrade!

@@DavidPozEnergy also that DIY ev is sick

Yeah congrats on snagging a neat EV, you've got the solar to charge it too. It'll feel so good to have free miles, even if it's just neighborhood trips.

I'm not sure why the original person omitted balancing or a BMS. I'm very surprised there was no BMS on board.

Ten years ago, and as you found they stay balanced it's in the chemistry

@@DavidPozEnergy LIFePo4 batteries are so rugged and stable that a BMS some times only make it so it is just more things that can go wrong. Thermal runaway is not rely an issue. I think you should have bottom balance them instead of top balance them. You'll lose a small bit of total capacity but it is one more layer of security from stressing the batteries.

Also! Do NOT charge dead cells! They eventually develop internal shorts and this can lead to a hud and expensive fire! Been there.

It turns out that the batteries weren't the only thing bad. The speed controller is internally shorted. A replacement is $1700, which is more than the car is worth. Right now I'm thinking I'll pull the motor and maybe try to use it in something else. I'd love to find a mini-excavator to put it into.

@@DavidPozEnergy - - “speed controller… more than it’s worth” All the components & batteries in the car are more than what the car is worth! LOL! Can you get a speed controller from the junk yard from another hybrid or ev car, and retrofit it?

I agree with you. the car came with 48 cells. 3 cells were 0 volts, swollen, and self-discharging. What you see in this video is 45 cells that all had 0.1 volts or more. They seem to have recovered fine.

Must be little bloat, indication is went back in, in Prius, 28 tightly bolted in compression

Yes, it would be great to upgrade the batteries.

So was I.

I converted a motorcycle using similar cells. There is a multipin connector with all the cell connected so i can hook up an external balancer (regen type with supercaps). I did an initial balance and now after 1 year and 8000km done the cells are still within 20mV. I did not top or bottom balance but mid balance as I keep the battery between 20 and 80% SOC.

You don't. I didn't build this EV conversion. The person who built it didn't use a BMS and some of the cells drifted over the last 8 years. I took all the cells out and tested and top-balanced them. Then, I put them back in the car simply to test the other components in the car. My intention was to add a new BMS if everything else tested good. But, it turned out the speed controller was internally shorted and with supply chain issues it's a challenge to find replacement parts.

Don't overdo fuses, especially on lifepo4, which are not capable of runaway, There is a penalty to fusing everything and that is wasted Wh. Professional installed batterypacks don't use any fuses in the high current circuit, but monitor individual cell voltage and temperature. Only case where you might want to fuse individual cells are with taped together battery packs made of 18650 cells, where production quality varies and you can't have thousands of monitor leads and the "don't care" approach to shorted cells just means you'll be driving around with an increasing number of failed cells without knowing, and remember it is not the bad cell that blows it's fuse, it is the good cells in parallel with it, that have to carry more current and gets taken out, the under preforming cell just stays connected!. The other caveat is that as you don't monitor individual cells, you won't know in advance if 5 cells contemplate to fail together and start a fire anyway. With cell monitoring you are warned well in advance of deviant behavior. No serious EV manufacturer uses a setup like that either, except Tesla, but nobody have ever considered Elon serious, and even he has finally recognized that monitored and data-logged prismatic cells is the way to go. Back in the old days, it was not even that common to have a contactor to disengage the battery pack from the motor-controller, and it was simply always powered, while charging or parked, not to have to re-precharge the capacitors every time, which wears them. Motor-controllers were only disabled through different fail-safe systems like "key off" and "charger connected" signals, which was 100% reliable with analog controllers, that don't get software hiccups and decides to takeoff!

This vehicle was converted by someone else 8 years before I got my hands on it. I'm going through trouble-shooting steps. I didn't want to purchase a $2,000 BMS until I knew things were working. Turns out, the speed controller was shorted, and some of the cells were self-discharging. So, it was a good thing I didn't throw money at this prematurely. However, if everything else had checked out, I would 100% add a BMS.

It should have one. I'm running a test in this video to see if the rest of the EV works. (It didn't)

Yes, I have a torque wrench. I could not track down a torque value. I tried to find one, but couldn't.

I agree. Anything in particular you like to use? A link would be great.

This is an older conversion. The original setup didn't run any BMS. I was planning to add an Orion BMS, but the project didn't get past this video. There ended up being other things broken that would have made it cost prohibitive to fix.

No, this is the first video showing the car. It was converted by someone else 8-9 years ago before I got it. I'm learning as I go.

There were more problems hiding. No follow up yet.

Norm Abrams is awesome.

Nope. It turns out the speed controller is fried. It's $1900 for a replacement and I don't have that right now. If you come across a good deal on a series DC speed controller 144v, let me know please.

Thanks

I fix one thing, and then another problem shows up. and another. There were a lot of things wrong and this car is just going to get scrapped.

I found this old Lamborghini Diablo in a barn find, let's see if we can make it run!

I found a battery and build an ebike. Wait, no I didn't.

Why is that a lol

After I tested and re-grouped the batteries I installed them. But then continued to have issues. I spent some time tracing wiring and eventually concluded the speed controller is shot. That's $1900, so the project is on the back-burner right now.

@@DavidPozEnergy Thanks for the reply, I really like the car and the use of the LiFePO4 cells, don’t see much of that in a DIY.

180ah cells according to the serial#

@@DavidPozEnergy so they have been previously replaced? If not, impressive performance

I would say if you can find the nominal voltage of the cells just find cells that have the same voltage and put them in parallel with the current one, or better yet find 2 more batteries from the truck and just place them in parallel and have everything else stock. If you parallel the individual cells rather than just the ends of the pack, you won't even need a BMS as the additional and stock cells will have the same voltage, and that's what I would do, at least some thin cables that parallel the original cells to the additional ones so that the built in BMS knows its voltages too. Only downside to that is that if one cell is dropping more than others, you won't know if its the original or the additional one, but for peace of mind it's probably the best option.

Why do they never hybrid diesel

@@williamgoode9114 epa in the US.