Sunday, February 13, 2011

Overdischarged, but seems to be OK!

Quest for an Electric Porsche Boxster(click for evalbum).


Started with 374Ah on eVision, and drove aggressively today. Did not bring laptop assuming I had a safe 72Ah. I was wrong. When driving hard, more capacity may be lost as heat on high amp loads, but Evision does not account for this and I was not watching pack voltage. When I hit 307Ah (67Ah used) I started to see the low voltage battery indicator from the Zilla at moderate loads, followed by loss of power from the Zilla low voltage cut off, so I pulled off the freeway and into a parking garage as quickly as possible. I immediately turned off the breakers for all the strings to stop any 12V draw. I left the Porsche there for about 20-30 minutes and got a ride back to the house to get a long extension cord to use at a nearby outlet in the parking garage. Here is the BMS readout when I returned with the laptop:

rob@ubuntu:~$ ./summary.sh
spawn [open ...]
blade/millivolt/temp in C (4 columns of cells in a blade)
Rear Pack String:
01 3193 034 3213 034 3198 034 3198 034
02 3200 035 3208 035 3185 035 3192 035
03 2589 037 2712 037 2576 037 2720 037
04 2526 044 2645 044 2574 044 2619 044
05 2516 046 2460 046 2463 046 2505 046
06 3189 043 3197 043 3194 043 3190 043
07 2701 042 2740 042 2751 042 2753 042
08 2867 040 2770 040 2850 040 2844 040
09 2682 039 2718 039 2692 039 2691 039
10 2572 050 2554 050 2706 050 2736 050
11 2533 048 2551 048 2501 048 2513 048
12 2540 049 2559 049 2505 049 2615 049
13 2605 049 2535 049 2578 049 2587 049
14 2517 048 2512 048 2511 048 2597 048
15 2598 046 2570 046 2557 046 2562 046
16 2677 044 2724 044 2722 044 2678 044
Middle Pack String:
17 2773 037 2825 037 2799 037 2780 037
18 2498 046 2529 046 2507 046 2540 046
19 3188 042 3205 042 3185 042 3194 042
20 2463 044 2517 044 2502 044 2487 044
21 3191 042 3212 042 3195 042 3191 042
22 3189 041 3207 041 3194 041 3190 041
23 2633 045 2666 045 2706 045 2720 045
24 3191 036 3208 036 3189 036 3189 036
25 2486 042 2495 042 2575 042 2549 042
26 2587 047 2515 047 2722 047 2692 047
27 2437 053 2462 053 2448 053 2451 053
28 2515 054 2487 054 2475 054 2538 054
29 2728 050 2644 050 2636 050 2681 050
30 2561 047 2509 047 2593 047 2574 047
31 2535 047 2527 047 2460 047 2524 047
32 2495 038 2561 038 2613 038 2636 038
Front Pack String:
33 2573 039 2657 039 2726 039 2777 039
34 2578 046 2562 046 2559 046 2617 046
35 2588 048 2636 048 2541 048 2612 048
36 2780 051 2707 051 2745 051 2809 051
37 2584 048 2530 048 2558 048 2659 048
38 3192 048 3207 048 3198 048 3198 048
39 2708 048 2710 048 2598 048 2689 048
40 3192 049 3211 049 3187 049 3184 049
41 2512 049 2554 049 2518 049 2546 049
42 0723 054 2505 054 2536 054 2543 054
43 2652 051 2638 051 2660 051 2670 051
44 2612 049 2534 049 2570 049 2572 049
45 3186 046 3211 046 3186 046 3188 046
46 2582 045 2568 045 2551 045 2585 045
47 2814 044 2767 044 2784 044 2802 044
48 2612 038 2582 038 2585 038 2624 038
Max Voltage: 3213 (12)
Min Voltage: 723 {421)
Max Temp: 54
Min Temp: 34

After charging 45min at 120V 10A, I was able to drive home safely. I turned off the front pack breaker since 42-1 was at about 2.9V at rest. I charged up the pack and it took in about 85Ah. 42-1 did not charge up first, or lag behind its peers in the same blade, so I think this is a bad blade even before this run. I performed a partial range test on Sunday, and the pack seems fine so far. I will try and perform more range tests after the pack is balanced fully.

3 comments:

  1. Rob,

    So with this slow discharge you are doing right now can you monitor the BMS from inside your house? Does it have a WiFi or Bluetooth capability?

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rob,

    Also, how many "blades" do you have, what is each one rated at and what is their overall configuration? Thanks.

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  3. The guys at Revolt developed the BMS circuit boards and are still working on the control software. In the meantime I am using a linux laptop connected to the BMS which is on my wireless network. I SSH to the laptop from my other laptop and can watch the voltages while charging. I then manually turn down the charger when the pack is full. I also watch cell voltages when driving for range tests. See my evalbum for specifics on the blade arrangement. http://www.evalbum.com/3201

    ReplyDelete