LiFePO Battery install 2001 e825

Look ok. I note you packed in 5 cell packages. That I am sure they appreciate at ups. Typical oil leakage on packaging.

Yes, I re-did them for you and UPS.

Out of five, two came thru without the cells being loosened. The other three are loose and I will slowly use a rubber mallet t center them up.

A bit more concerning was it appears that at least two sets have plug issues and leaked fluid. It appears they road some ways upside down. The styrofoam was dissolved around the cells vents.

I could smell it also. Some of the plugs are definitely loose. On two bricks the plugs are white silicone like on first set I bought. The other three look like fresh silicone was used to plug but didn’t adhere and is leaking.

Any chemical issues I should know? Also what’s best to clean off oil and acid in your opinion? I think I can reseal with silicone if I can clean.

BTW what voltage should these have now?

B

Plugs are to keep dirt out. Most of them fall out eventually. A hot glue gun is what I use.
I would not attempt to clean around the opening except maybe a dry rag or paper towel.
There is no acid in lithium batteries.
They will be at various volts.All are 90% empty, but voltage on the low end doesn’t matter.
As long as they stay above 2.8v they’re fine.I believe they were about 3-3.1v when shipped.
If a cell is leaking it’s not because of the plug, it may have vented. or a case may have been cracked by the rough ride.

SOme of the mineral oil that is on them seeps under the plug . when turned on their side or fully charged the first few times it will come out . normal , not a propblem .

Dave, installed and charging, have no idea what the Zivan charger will do, the light went to red and it’s been charging since. Will check steady voltage in morning. I ended up 4 boards short. One started smoking from a component as soon as I connected, and two had broken power LEDs.

Will post some images later.

Not good. Don’t let them over charge. It will damage them.
My advice on the Zivan was try it and see, meaning that you need to watch carefully, not let it charge.
When a few red lights come on stop charging. These cells have NOT been balanced.
Also, the ones without boards can over charge uncontrolled. You need to stop charging if one gets to 3.7v.

I can get you more boards sent out out if batteries survived.:exploding_head:

Ooo No did you over charge? What is the cell voltage???

So far so good, I charged for about five hours last night. Left it off overnight and this morning the cells are all about 3.33. Have plugged it back in and I’m watching to see what happens with charger. It is gonna get very hot today and I figured to not be charging during peak heat.

Even though it drops to 3.3v does not mean it was not overcharged. Cells will always drop to a low level. It’s very important to monitor all cells at end of charge cycle.
Ask @LithiumGods. :slight_smile:

If you think that you’re done, I’ll send some balancers.

What makes you fear it could be overcharged? The Zivan is on a FLA setting.

Is the voltage at the immediate end of charging a concern? Haven’t checked that.

Charging again for about 2 hrs, the 90% full yellow LED is on. None of the balancer show overcharging, all are still green. By feeling the power cord, I can tell it’s not pulling amps as hard as it was last night as cord was warm, not now. Want to see if it will show full like the quikQ does on my other GEM. Will let it sit a bit and then check voltage.

It’s not the total voltage, but the cells.
If one of the cells fills first, the voltage can go over 3.7v before the others fill.
It wouldn’t be as much concern if I sent enough boards. :slight_smile:
FLA setting can easily go over the max volts for 25s. And that’s if perfectly balanced.

As I mentioned before, it may take another cell to match your charger.

In a half hour, checked again. Red balancer lights on. Checked voltage to ones w/o balancers and they spiked to 4.0 to 4.1 on the 4 without boards. Unplugged and an hour later all were lower voltage. It’s pretty hot today and I am done charging for sure.

What if any signs of overcharging damage might I expect?

I ask since fitting in another cell won’t be so clean an install. With my DQ set up they are working fine.

Definitely not on the right setting, without shipping it out to Sacramento, is there any way to change algorithms on a Zivan?

You might try a different setting. You can also add a high voltage cutout to stop the charger wherever you want.
If they aren’t bulging or venting they may not be hurt much. It shortens life, over or under charging. Only time will tell.
At least it’s only 4 cells.
I’ll get you a link to hvc Michael’s buddy is using.

Find out if Zivan has a disable circuit to stop charging. Will it stop by disconnecting temperature sensor? Then run sensor wire through hvc relay contact.

1 Like

Have not found much info on the Zivan.

Would love to try some other settings but it’s running and I am waiting for dealer to schedule open recalls. An advantage of a big city, they will make a house call. Waiting on the dc-dc converter and parking brake fixes.

Can you send me 4 boards? I think If I added more batteries I would go for 5 cell blocks but at this time doing the disc brake upgrade is first.

Thanks. Once again this is a great solution.

Here’s what’s on my Zivan

@inwo Thank you Sir, package arrived. Install tonight. Been hot in LA and it makes them run faster! On the new set, been sitting for about 5 days. All are at 3.324. Plugging in for an hour to see what happens once boards are installed.

I recall my temperature probe failing(turned out to be the cap, not the chip) and it would not charge with the broken probe plugged in. I think I documented it in my rejuvenation thread.

I was thinking of using the temp probe to vary output voltage and put a heat gun on the probe and the charger stopped charging. once it cooled down it would charge again. But I don’t recall if it actively checks the probe during operation or if it was only during startup(AC power applied).

BTW, I found an interesting thread on the Zivan NG1 - https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9167

I have mine off the GEM and open… I replaced the burned AC L connector and hacked a fuse while I wait for the replacement fuse holder to arrive. Still don’t have a good fuse but that’s another story.

I think the Zivan does monitor the temp probe while charging, as I had mine trip offline while charging and alarm on high temp a few weeks ago due to environmental conditions and the probe location having shifted.

I don’t know if it adjusts voltage / charge profile based on temp or not though. And, with everything Zivian on these GEMs it seems that there might be variations based on the date the charger was built / revision and what was done during the firmware upgrade, if performed.

1 Like