Vectrix battery pack hot

Submitted by ngungs on Sat, 04/17/2010 - 00:17

My vectrix battery pack is getting hot after riding uphill or at (70-90Km/h) on flat road,In the past when riding at this conditions I used to hear impellers running but now not.

First I thought my impellers have packed up until few tests I conducted with the advices from this forum which proved that the impellers are still in working condition,during charging I would feel air blowing out at both sides of shocks absorber. I suspect that heat sensor on the battery pack might be faulty, so how should I go about in testing this component and is it difficult to access it?or has somebody experienced something like this before ?

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Vectrix battery pack hot
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Mik's picture

Submitted by Mik on Sat, 04/17/2010 - 03:47.

How hot does it get and in what ambient temperature?

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There is always a way if there is no other way!

Submitted by ngungs on Sat, 04/17/2010 - 05:18.

It is difficult to tell because I still have old software in my bike,This morning as I was riding to work the ambient temperature was about 19 C at 70-90Km/h battery telltale appeared,the distance from home to work is 12Km.normally here in the Cape the winds are strong(+/- 30Km/h) and sometimes temperature rise to +/- 30 C,normally avoid using my bike in hot days.

Mik's picture

Submitted by Mik on Sat, 04/17/2010 - 15:13.

Which telltales come on, exactly?

There is a battery symbol and a temperature symbol - are they both on?

Does the display on the left say "BATHOT" at the same time?

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There is always a way if there is no other way!

Submitted by ngungs on Sat, 04/17/2010 - 21:26.

yesterday it was just a battery symbol only,during the week I had 72Km trip at 40Km/h average 5km before I arrived at my destination I had both battery and temperature symbol,display on left had BATHOT at same time,the trip had two uphills road one was 4Km other 2Km long.

Submitted by ngungs on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 07:36.

I think I can rule out the possibility of heat sensor being faulty because when I plug my bike for charging I would see temperature on the left display and it would drop slowly (34c - 25c) as charging progress.

How many heat sensors are in the bike ?If bike has one heat sensor would that mean that the electronics for this is faulty or there's a bug in the software.at which temparature should the impellers switch on ?

Mik's picture

Submitted by Mik on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 13:42.

...
...

How many heat sensors are in the bike ?If bike has one heat sensor would that mean that the electronics for this is faulty or there's a bug in the software.at which temparature should the impellers switch on ?

Have a look here: http://visforvoltage.org/book/ev-collaborative-hand-books/6747

This information may be used entirely at your own risk.

There is always a way if there is no other way!

Submitted by ngungs on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 05:00.

I connected external 12V power supply to the impellers to keep them running all the time during my riding with hope I will able to keep the battery pack cool ,after riding 5Km battery telltale alone came on with the impellers still running from external source and when plugged for charging the temparature was 40C ,ambient temperature 18 C

Does this mean I have fautly cell or faulty heat sensor ? charging seems to be normal to me, before charge, 8Bars 140V two hours later 144V ,17 Bars temperature 25C.

Submitted by ngungs on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 12:04.

21042010609.jpg22042010617.jpgthis morning riding at 50Km/h from work to home on 12Km trip had battery telltale on 5Km into my trip,high temp telltale and bAthot 9 Km into my trip with impellers still running from external 12 V power supply,ambient temperature was 17'C and I did not feel any loss of power during this.

Immediately when I got home I plugged to check the temperature on the display but I could only see battery,high temp telltale and Bathot only.
I opened vectrix to get to the battery pack to measure their temparature and it was 21'C on my multimeter on all the cell.could this confirm that I have problem with the temp sensors or bug in my software .

Mik's picture

Submitted by Mik on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 13:27.

It does not confirm or rule out that you have a hot cell or a bad sensor / electronic bug.

This is because you can only reach the top layer of three layers of cells; the hot one could have been hidden from you.

This information may be used entirely at your own risk.

There is always a way if there is no other way!

Submitted by ngungs on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 14:11.

My bike finaly gave up this morning, battery meter dropped to zero and estimated range also dropped to zero ,lost power completely and could smell something like was burning in the bike,had to get AA breakdown to home

My question now is why did impellers not switch on as expected? it would be pointless replacing the battery pack without knowing what actually caused them to fail.

My dealer is 1600Km from me and he told me he is trying to get hold of vectrix in Europe so I don't know how long the bike would be out of action

Submitted by marylandbob on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 14:48.

You might have a bad cell or bad cells, or you might have a LOOSE/CORRODEDCONNECTION! A poor connection between cells, or elsewhere in the battery circuit would tend to generate a lot of heat during high amperage draw. If it involved a CELL connection, it could cause overheating of the cell, and damage it. Teardown and inspection is required to positively determine the cause.--Good luck, as service seems non-existant for us pioneer VECTRIX owners in the U.S.A.--Bob Curry

Robert M. Curry

Mik's picture

Submitted by Mik on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 00:37.

You might have a bad cell or bad cells, or you might have a LOOSE/CORRODEDCONNECTION! A poor connection between cells, or elsewhere in the battery circuit would tend to generate a lot of heat during high amperage draw. If it involved a CELL connection, it could cause overheating of the cell, and damage it. Teardown and inspection is required to positively determine the cause.--Good luck, as service seems non-existant for us pioneer VECTRIX owners in the U.S.A.--Bob Curry

The Inter-module-connectors (IMC's) are far away from the temp sensors and not likely to cause a detectable temperature rise before sending smelly smoke signals.

But the Inter-cell-connectors (ICC's) could cause the temp rise if it is one located on the same cell as a ICC with a temp sensor. The smell / smoke would then be from the overheating cells connected to this ICC.

Neither of these scenarios seems very likely to me. I bet on a single dying cell which has now melted the plastic spacers separating it from the other cells.

I agree that only dismantling of the battery is going to definitively solve the riddle!

The majority of cells is likely going to be in fine shape and fully capable of causing explosive discharge currents, fires and electrocution if handled improperly! Because it has a fault and something has apparently melted, it might be much more dangerous than a "normal" Vectrix battery.

This information may be used entirely at your own risk.

There is always a way if there is no other way!

Submitted by ngungs on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 22:50.

Mik you were spot on one cell is swollen and has melted the plastic spacers separating it from other cells,my dealer has promised me new battery pack that he is got in his stock.in the meatime I have bypassed the faulty cell to keep on going and the bike seems to be behaving normal. thanks to everyone who contributed to this topic.

Mik's picture

Submitted by Mik on Sat, 05/01/2010 - 00:38.

This thread has been added to the Vectrix Collaborative Handbook, please stay on topic!

This information may be used entirely at your own risk.

There is always a way if there is no other way!

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