Another RG250 with Colossus Motor

[Bluefang]

nahh we still need to get the electronics checked, i just cheated on my scooter and was under 60V so it was not required. Pitty the guy i got to do the inspections etc was unknown to me and everything so he was going to make me pay $1k+ to get a official speed test done to register the scooter under 50km/h. Yours i hope is straight forward, its not what your know its who you know

[SplinterOz]

Ok did a little bit of work this weekend. All the batteries are wired up in series and parallel and the BMS is wired up in a temp fashion. Now I get to wire up the charging controls.

So a question, I am going to use a kilovac contactor to enable the charge leads for the off board charger. When the bike key is in the Park position the contactor will be engaged and the charge leads will be "live". I was thinking of using the HVC alarm just to turn off the contactor so the charger would see open circuit and just shut down. What do you think?

[SplinterOz]

The method of testing has been to use three 1.2Ohm 1kW resisters in series. These then draw about 21 amps from the battery pack and I time it until the low voltage trips on the BMS. With this draw I would expect to get about 2 hours of discharge (50Ah pack 80% usable). After that I would charge until HVC. After the first two cycles the pack was fairly well top balanced with all cell groups going into shunt mode before the HVC was tripped. Now my charger is rigged to go to 87.6V (24 * 3.65v) but the BMS is designed to trip at 86.4V (24 * 3.6v) so I will have to look at trimming it down a little.

So with the battery pack in and testing the BMS and cells I have found a few things.

The BMS works. It cuts out the charger on high volts and also cuts the throttle at low volts
The wiring from the cells to the BMS should be fine as is
I have some bad cells

Number three is a concern it appears that at least some cells in the 7th parallel set are not holding capacity. That set consistently hit low voltage first and at about 1.9kWh which is about half the expected capacity. Also the high voltage is tripped when the whole pack is at 83.7volts when it should be 86.4V. Now do you think that the 7th set would be in the inner or outer sections of the pack? You guessed it, they are in the inner... so I will be disassembling the pack (unfortunately) to locate and replace the bad cells. I might even test the pack outside the bike before fitting it again

I hope to do that this week.

[jonescg]

Ahh Tony that blows. Believe me, you will get good at ripping that electric RG down and putting it back together in no time. Is it just me or is it common for Headways to have such a high dud rate? Jon was forever pulling them out of his bike.

[SplinterOz]

Honestly it is my fault... I should have checked every cell before I put them in. I don't think I will get the rate of failure Jon did... won't be pushing them that hard.
Mind you I have to find a good way of checking every cell before installing.

[adrian_sm]

I tested a bunch of headways a while back. Including capacity tests, self-discharge, resting voltage, .... But the best health indicator seemed to be internal resistance. If the internal resistance was good, the rest of the parameters seemed to be good.

Our crude test was measuring voltage drop when discharging ~25 Amps through a big fat resistor. You need to be very careful about the timing of the measurement, and the conditioning of the cell prior to test. But the test was quick ~60 seconds, and proved to be the best check.

A better method would be a proper internal reistance test. I think some of the RC chargers do this, iChargers maybe, I can't remember.

Good luck.

[Arlo1]

[SplinterOz]

...
A better method would be a proper internal reistance test. I think some of the RC chargers do this, iChargers maybe, I can't remember.

Good luck.

Adrian,
thanks for the info... I have a cheap IR meter that I can use hopefully it will be accurate enough. If not I can borrow a iCharger from a mate for a few days to go through my 144 cells to pick the best 120.

Tony

[SplinterOz]

Cheeky!!!!

[Arlo1]

[SplinterOz]

Ok so I can't measure for cr@p... but with a little work I can use this box.

BMS fitted

BMS Mounted - 00 by Splinter, on Flickr

12 volt and control plugs

BMS Mounted - 01 by Splinter, on Flickr

Bad Measurement on my part (fixable)

BMS Mounted - 03 by Splinter, on Flickr

Fan if needed

BMS Mounted - 05 by Splinter, on Flickr

Plugged In

BMS Mounted - 06 by Splinter, on Flickr

Lights On

BMS Mounted - 07 by Splinter, on Flickr

If I could get a week off work I would love to get this done and dusted.

[jonescg]

Love the hole cutting Tony Looks like something I'd do, except there wouldn't be a straight line anywhere.

Must be so frustrating for you to be so close, yet have next to no time to finish it

[SplinterOz]

Must be so frustrating for you to be so close, yet have next to no time to finish it

Indeed it is... as Arlo1 would say... Hurry Up!

[Arlo1]

Must be so frustrating for you to be so close, yet have next to no time to finish it

Indeed it is... as Arlo1 would say... Hurry Up!

lol I was thinking that before I even clicked on your thread

[SplinterOz]

Today Luke dropped over with a few of the panels that have been painted. The rest will come next week as the guy is having problems with the fiber-glass panels and bubbling. (sorry for the photo quality I was loosing light fast)


Some Panels fitted by Splinter, on Flickr


Some panels fitted by Splinter, on Flickr


New tank by Splinter, on Flickr


With nose cone by Splinter, on Flickr
The nose cone is not yet done, this is the older one that is a little broken.

So what to you call a tank that does not hold fluid anymore?

[jonescg]

Looking good Tony! The tank cover looks very professional! I should get around to designing a better cover for Voltron one day.

Does it turn a wheel yet?

[SplinterOz]

Does it turn a wheel yet?

Not with this battery pack but prior to the pack construction yep. Next two weeks is to build the controller and contactor mounts. Then ride again.

[SplinterOz]

Ok so a few more panels later and a wet, dank, dark day....


IMG_20120603_162900 by Splinter, on Flickr


IMG_20120603_162600 by Splinter, on Flickr

[SplinterOz]

Ok due to the fact that work is taking over my life, winter is here and in my tin shed it is normally -2 in the evenings I haven't done much.

But what I have done is looking good.


Panels fitted - Semi Naked Style by Splinter, on Flickr


Panels fitted by Splinter, on Flickr


Panels fitted by Splinter, on Flickr

[jonescg]

Looking good Tony! Did you get all of the panels re-made in fibreglass? Or just tidy up the ones it came with?

Sorry to hear about work taking up valuable e-moto time. I have the opposite problem, except my e-moto time isn't particularly valuable

Why is the motor still out?

[SplinterOz]

Looking good Tony! Did you get all of the panels re-made in fibreglass? Or just tidy up the ones it came with?

Sorry to hear about work taking up valuable e-moto time. I have the opposite problem, except my e-moto time isn't particularly valuable

Why is the motor still out?

Ducktail and side panels are original. Nosecone and middle panels are fibreglass, lower ones are currently original (not on bike)

Motor is still out as I am yet to get the mounting plate for the controller, contactor etc. Once I have that on I will be able to get everything bolted up in it's final location.

[SplinterOz]

Yes that is my bike, yes it goes, yes the Colossus is running fine.

Not as much getup as I would like... will be looking into that.

[jonescg]

I'm guessing the jacket is for the climate, not for safety reasons

Nice work Tony! I'm impressed the little colossus does the job, but I can understand the need for more power

Should be good for some on-board footage now

[Lebowski]

what kind of controller are you using ? Voltage, current, phase amps ?

[SplinterOz]

I'm guessing the jacket is for the climate, not for safety reasons

Nice work Tony! I'm impressed the little colossus does the job, but I can understand the need for more power

Should be good for some on-board footage now

Yes a max of 9 here today. To be honest that is one of the reasons not much has been done... my shed is cold.

The little colossus is not working hard just the controller not pushing it yet.