Vectrix Cell Replacement Advice Requested

Hi Martin,

First of all you need to take the pack apart and measure each cell. Only then you might have an ideia of how many cells are bad. If any...
You might even have all cells ok (like me) and only have about 20 miles of real world range, or 30 miles in turtle mode (that is 40 mph max speed).
I guess the 42.000kms (26.000 miles) of my pack are taking a toll on it. Specially if most of them where done with the original, and damaging, software.

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http://visforvoltage.org/forum/11525-50ah-li-ion-conversion-successful

You might even have all cells ok (like me) and only have about 20 miles of real world range, or 30 miles in turtle mode (that is 40 mph max speed).
I guess the 42.000kms (26.000 miles) of my pack are taking a toll on it. Specially if most of them where done with the original, and damaging, software.

You have exactly the same range as I get from my Vectrix. Also with most of the time on the original SW.

Hi Martin
There are a multitude of ways of doing this. The way i did it recently was simply this.
(which is no better nor worse than others)
1. Charge the bike
2. Get the packs out of the bike
3. Strip the packs down to block level and essentially re-assemble on a flat surface so that you have the 145v (or whatever your charge is getting to) at the end point.
4. Get a cheap ceiling rose and 240v bulb and connect to the end of the pack. Bulb will glow.
5. As each cell is easily accessible you can use a volt meter to check each cell ***IMPORTANT*** whilst they are under load.
6. Checking the main voltage over time , and checking the cell voltages individually you can quickly assertain which are not as good as others. I mark them with a marker pen putting a cross on the silver part.
7. Its important you don't turn the bulb off when testing each cell as they quickly "bounce" back when there is no load.

You can take the test as deep as you like in terms of voltage. Obviously the lower you go - the higher chance of cell damage for the really bad ones. However if they are coming out anyhow then that's your choice.

Once you have determined how many are dead then you can remove the lightbulb assm and take the packs apart. If you give them 30 mins you'll see why marking them off with a pen has become important as they will suddenly all look the same voltage again (withing a margin) lol.

I posted a youtube video on how to dismantle a pack and re-fit a cell somewhere here. Not difficult at all with some off cuts of wood and a couple of g-clamps.

Also one other thing which irrespective of voltage that is a good indicator of condition is cell swelling and your fingers are better at detecting this than your eyes.

Needless to say - be careful with metal tools and remove finger jewellery when working with the packs.

Hi Martin
There are a multitude of ways of doing this. The way i did it recently was simply this.
(which is no better nor worse than others)
1. Charge the bike
2. Get the packs out of the bike
3. Strip the packs down to block level and essentially re-assemble on a flat surface so that you have the 145v (or whatever your charge is getting to) at the end point.
4. Get a cheap ceiling rose and 240v bulb and connect to the end of the pack. Bulb will glow.
5. As each cell is easily accessible you can use a volt meter to check each cell ***IMPORTANT*** whilst they are under load.
6. Checking the main voltage over time , and checking the cell voltages individually you can quickly assertain which are not as good as others. I mark them with a marker pen putting a cross on the silver part.
7. Its important you don't turn the bulb off when testing each cell as they quickly "bounce" back when there is no load.

You can take the test as deep as you like in terms of voltage. Obviously the lower you go - the higher chance of cell damage for the really bad ones. However if they are coming out anyhow then that's your choice.

Once you have determined how many are dead then you can remove the lightbulb assm and take the packs apart. If you give them 30 mins you'll see why marking them off with a pen has become important as they will suddenly all look the same voltage again (withing a margin) lol.

I posted a youtube video on how to dismantle a pack and re-fit a cell somewhere here. Not difficult at all with some off cuts of wood and a couple of g-clamps.

Also one other thing which irrespective of voltage that is a good indicator of condition is cell swelling and your fingers are better at detecting this than your eyes.

Needless to say - be careful with metal tools and remove finger jewellery when working with the packs.

That's a good summary of how to do it.

The only thing I would add is to do a self-discharge test, meaning you charge the pack, leave it standing unused (and not connected to the MC) for a week or two, then do the test with the light bulb again. However, that probably complicates matters more than it is worth, because cells with high self-discharge rate will probably have suffered enough damage during reverse charging so that they show up in a simple capacity test immediately after a charge.

However, if you were testing cells with unknown history (i.e. they have not been used together in the same pack by yourself, or they come from different packs), then a self-discharge test would be very important.