Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

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israndy
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Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

OK, so I got this bike at auction, it was not moving so it only cost $500 (yet registration each year is a significant portion of that price). I hoped it was just a dead battery and when I got it home as documented elsewhere I was able to hook a charger to it and bring the voltage of the pack high enough so the built in charger would charge it.

I rode it for some time but eventually had a breakdown and had to tow it home. I then decided to fix it and upgrade it since I didn't wanna take it apart multiple times.

I got a rack of 19 Leaf cells and tested them last year. Finally got the garage cleared out so I can take the bike apart there

IMG_5107.JPG

I am watching the YouTube videos from Antiscab to figure out what I am doing.

It's a lot harder than I thought, but I managed to get thru it. The two battery packs are too heavy to get out easily so I took the top layer (1/3 of the weight) out of the pack to make the rest easier to remove. I used a Ginsu knife to get thru the glue holding them down. Thought I broke a couple fingers dropping the first pack as it was on the edge of my strength (at almost 60, perhaps it would have been easier if I were still younger), but today I am OK.

I am now testing the original packs to see if I can recover the batteries to make a home battery to run items overnight. Now I am off to the hardware store to get the metal rods I appear to be missing to complete the new pack.

MOSFETmeltdown
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Randy,
Good man.

Yeah, don't charge the leaf cells unless they are under compression.

Cheers, Dave.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Oops! OK, no issues yet, but I just put the units together, I don't know how compressed they should be. I put the 3/16ths" threaded rods thru and bolted them down, but I don't know how bolted they should be. Do they need to be torqued down or just compressed a bit

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MOSFETmeltdown
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

I did mine up as tight as I could - the reason airlines has fires from lithium-ion batteries is because the phones that burst into flame were fully charged - fine at sea-level, but not at the low pressure at 30,000 feet.

You don't want your Leaf modules popping open.
So long as they can't expand you'll be fine.

FYI My write-up is here: http://tinyurl.com/vectrixfixed

Cheers Dave

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Oops! Looks like that was too tight, I went to put the interconnects on and the screws wouldn't go thru the holes. I had almost hacksawed off the extra rod, glad I didn't. I backed off a bit, plus I cannot find the end piece (if Tech Data even shipped me one) for the bottom end so a little loose will have to do. Now I got all the bolts in and tested, and it's showing 133+ volts for 19 cells and they should all be discharged after capacity testing, so that should be about right.

IMG_5143.JPG

I removed the interconnects as I don't like working with that much voltage in one place. I'll save them until after I connect the battery to the bike so I don't need the inrush resistor. Add 8v at a time as I add each interconnect.

IMG_5146.JPG

I took the cover off the circuit board thinking there was going to be some burned or charred component, but it looks pristine other than the 125v fuse. Wish I had a 200 on me before I install the battery... Seems like it'll be harder to deal with once I get the battery in. Not that I know how I am going to lift it, I can barely slide it across the floor. A friend suggested putting the bike on it's side and then sliding the battery in, makes sense, then I don't have gravity sucking the weight to the bottom of the bike and watch out if you have your hand in there!!

I'll work on it again later, as I cut myself badly on that circuit board cover, but the gloves won't let me take pics with my iPhone...

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Dangit, I went to watch Antiscab's video about re-assembly and he didn't produce one for the Leaf cells...

The good news is so far all my NiMH cells are testing great (except one burned one from the bottom of the pack). Gonna make a giant UPS out of them to run my TV or whatever when the sun goes down and then charge it up when I have solar power again.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

The Leaf pack is pretty heavy, I'll vouch for that!
I used an engine hoist initially - but if you've read my write-up - you'll know I split my pack into 2, much easier to handle. I sold the hoist, it took up a lot of space.
I had all the interconnects in place and used a couple of crocodile/alligator clips and a small electric heater to limit inrush current.

I was 60 in August by the way!

Shame about the cut hand -
My wife is allergic to petroleum oils/grease, so I've have a 30+ years of wearing gloves when working/playing.
Keeps my hands clean & cuts down. Down-side is the skin on my hands is SO soft.

Consider splitting the Leaf pack with a large core link cable? Much easier to manoeuvre, but you do need 2 sets of rods.

Cheers, Dave.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Good to see that there are still occasional posts on this site. I owned a 2008 Vectrix and drove happily for years until battery degraded. I rebuild a new one from two old i got each cell and that lasted another year or so. Then gave up and sold the bike. No that I am 60 as well, I have some internet in tinkering ns have identified a used 2008 with old NIMH battery about to tackle the same lithium upgrade you guys are doing. I too watched the videos but am a little unclear about the plug and play of the charger. Do you guys use the original charger? I also no longer have my can use cable and adapter and of course not even an old dos computer around anymore. I guess I will need to update the software eventually?

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Yep, stock, silver charger.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

I was thinking about doing the hoist as the battery is tough to get off the ground, but a friend suggested if I can lift either end, why not place the bike on it's side and then swing the battery into the bay and then lift the other side of the battery and slide it into the bay and then pick the bike up just like if you dropped it while riding.

I am planning on hooking the battery to the motor controller and then putting the connector plates on so that I attach one cell at a time until I have the full battery built, trying not to drop the screwdriver on the bike, YIKES! Already did it once as a test. But this way I don't need to hook a lamp to the one leg of the battery before I connect it so that there isn't a giant arc of power going into the motor controller.

What did people use to extend the negative cable from the motor controller to the far end of the battery?

Any input on this would be appreciated...

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antiscab
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

There are a few leaf conversion videos online done by others already, I don't think I can add much value by putting one up myself
It's great to see so many - long term success of a product relies on a large number of people with repair and maintenance knowledge

I likely won't be doing any more leaf module conversions - the leaf modules available in Australia are all from 2011 - 2012, and are pretty degraded
cells like Samsung SDIs are more cost effective to bring in now, and have way more capacity.

I haven't compressed any of the leaf modules in conversions I have done, I just slide them in one by one, the put in foam packers so they don't move around
In a leaf the bolt downs are more about restraining the battery rather than compressing them
No harm in compressing them, though it does make putting the modules in somewhat more challenging

I dismantled a gen 1 leaf module ages ago, the plastic spacers at the bolt holes take all the compression

That motor controller still has the original mild steel phase terminals - those tend to burn out after a while.
mild steel is a poor conductor, thermal cycling tends to lead to a bad connection eventually
I use copper sleeves - 13mm outside diameter with 5.5mm inside diameter - gives a cross section of 108mm2 of conductor area
I still have a heap of the sleeves

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2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

I search YouTube for "Vectrix Leaf" and the only How To video I am seeing are the Ben Nelson ones. The AntiScab videos didn't use the Leaf batteries. If you know of any other videos for the install I would love to see it.

Personally I still like the Leaf cells, used they are REALLY cheap. I never put too many miles on my motorcycles, even the one I drove across country. I figure the cells will outlive my use of the motorcycle.

I bolted the cells together, I got a couple of end pieces with them that fit in the concave side of the battery, but I am missing stuff to hold the other end of the pack, though it seems OK with just using washers to hold it together...

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Wow! I hadn't seen this before, a meter that could handle all the voltage and amperage coming out of our battery with a big pretty display. It's still no BMS or even a battery balance system, but this seems like a good deal:

DT24P DC1000V/0~200A Digital Display DC Power Supply Voltmeter Ammeter Battery Capacity Tester Battery Fuel Gauge Meter US $18.28

Meter Display

There is even a bluetooth app for your phone so you can watch it charge from the comfort of your couch. Now I wonder if I shouldn't get the same meter for my other (still NiMH) bike...

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

OK, got the battery installed and balanced (electrically) and I hooked it to the motor controller. Initially I thought I was supposed to use a 10watt 120volt bulb to do the pre-charge of the controller, but my nightlight bulb just sat there on, so I assumed I needed something with more watts. I took a lamp and turned it on and touched one side of it's plug to the battery and the other side to the positive lead from the bike and the lamp lit and went out, I guess I needed to leave it there longer as I still got a little spark when I connected the battery to the bike, but I have a spare fuse if I need it.

IMG_5279.jpeg

Unfortunately I am getting the Temp light and the Battery light now. The battery is about 130 volts but when I plug the bike in it won't charge, it starts to charge but then bails. This was the problem I was having after the popcorn sound from under the seat. I still think that was one issue as I found that melted battery, but perhaps I have another issue, or perhaps I just need to get the firmware upgraded to ignore the missing temp sensors and fans.

I booted my Mac into Windows but I don't seem to have it set up for running the Vectrix Diags any more (it's been at least 5 years). Anyone know where I can get the Vectrix tools to update the firmware and the firmware to run the bike on 19 Leaf batteries?

EDIT: OK, my wife's PC was apparently the one I used to talk to the VX-1, so I got that running, but I still need the firmware to get the error lights to go off

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

OK, it took the ENTIRE day to re-read this site looking for a link to the Laird or info on the Degas firmware to use with the Leaf battery pack I built. The ONLY link I found going back to when the issue first bit me on this bike years ago was on this page:

https://visforvoltage.org/comment/78332#comment-78332

Thanks to @flexy for the link https://www.dropbox.com/s/rb2lx9slvwxa5yp, unlike many links on this site, this one is still live.

And it had only ONE file, but it looked like the one I needed for a 19 battery 38 cell Leaf upgrade, to get the red telltale lights to stop blinking due to the lack of fans and the lack of temp sensors.

I downloaded it and it now shows LION60AH as the identifier of the firmware for my ESD Charger. Good, would have sucked if it failed during the update.

I then plugged the bike into the wall and UNLIKE EVERY TIME I have tried this the last many years (started in 2017) this time the charger ramped up to 10 amps and kept right on charging unlike the videos referenced above.

I still have to do a few full charges to be sure, and I still have to put the bike back together and (find a helmet and) take it for a ride! Just in time for Bay Area summer!

I also have some AliExpress items winding their way to me that will go in the bike, a battery monitor that handles the high voltages and a couple of 20 cell energy transfer battery balancers that I will cascade on the battery. Cannot wait to see how the new firmware will treat the battery, how full will it go, how empty will it go, how will that be reflected on the fuel gauge?

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

OK, so some progress. I got that meter from AliExpress and it took forever to figure out how to mount the shunt as it was not encased in plastic and my battery leads are exposed inside the bike where I wanna mount this. I bought a bunch of plastic boxes but the cable is so big that it always distorted whatever I tried to wrap it in. Finally got it SLIGHTLY working, enough to power it oh (had to tap 12v from the motor controller) but was greeted by "Voltage 149.9v > 72v" with constant beeping and no ability to get to the interface of the device. So I guess they sent me the wrong meter and display. The good news is the dispute seems to have been in my favor and a refund is being processed, the bad is this took a month. So I got another display that can handle 150+ volts (500 actually) from Amazon and it was here in two days.

In the mean time, I just put the bike together w/o a meter and with balance boards, and updated to the Degas software, I still had original Vectrix software, other than the charger that was lithium aware. Plugged the bike in and it didn't charge. OK, I'm sure it's just full.

The next day I did my first real roadtrip. I drove to San Francisco and after 25 miles the meter went to zero, but the bike kept going. I hit the kill switch to check and it was still above 140 volts, but I thought I should top up. I tried my J1772 adapter on a free ChargePoint charger but it STILL wouldn't charge. Oops! Probably should not have gone to zero w/o testing this. Since the voltage wasn't bottomed out I decided to try for home.

This wasn't smart, but I am typically very lucky, and again my luck held out, I drove ALL the way from SF back to Alameda, could easily have failed on the bridge, but instead it failed in front of Carl's Jr. with a 104v pack. So I stopped in and got some grub. When I returned to check the bike it was showing 114v, but my quick math determined that was it for the pack, so I pushed the bike the remaining 3 miles, sometimes rolling down slopes and using the motor to help me up slopes, but Alameda is pretty flat.

I had two battery modules that were below 3 volts (2.88v and 2.84v), but the rest of the pack was in great shape for 50+ miles of driving, almost double my normal range. I plugged the bike in and it started charging just fine. Was it the 240v at ChargePoint that caused it not to charge? Nine minutes later I had my answer as the charge cycles stopped as though the batts were full. The default settings for lithium on the Degas software were for 3.6v per cell max. I looked online and found 4.2v is what Li-Ion can take, so I set the SW to 4.1v (incase batts are out of sync) and charged and it took 3 hours and 7kWhs before charging finished.

OK, looks like the bike is ready to get for real.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

OK, another day, another issue. With the full battery (I had one module go over 4.2 volts so I put a battery balancer on it to bring it down) I took off, this time for Marin where my range could be better tested and where I knew there were free chargers I could hit up.

Only by the time I got to Emeryville (my old employer where I did MOST of my riding all these years) I got a Up Rst error and the bike died. Pulling over to check what that means the bike seemed like it was already ready to go. Later I found that means a microprocessor reset, possibly a bug in the Degas software. I pulled back into traffic and got a third of a mile further and was greeted with an HS Hot message. OK, that's also a new one. I struggled to get to the next exit and even more to get to a charger, the error kept returning even when I was going super slow in parking lots.

But it was time to see if the settings change also meant that I could charge at a public charger, I plugged into the Volta charger thru my J1772 adapter and sure enough, it woke right up and started charging. I walked over to my old Apple Store and walked around for a time, wanted to see if the 1200 watt plug adapter was going to overheat. When I returned the charging was still going and the cable was only slightly warm to the touch. I decided to head home to find out what HS Hot means expecting to have to keep pulling over whenever the red light comes on, but I made it ALL the way home.

Looks like the error was saying my Motor Controller was overheating, I was driving full speed for many minutes into a major headwind, so I guess that makes sense, but others have done this install and I read that they all have removed their fans from the bikes as the batteries don't get hot. How do you handle the motor controller getting hot? Where is the heat dissipated? Should I put the fans back?

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Bummer to hear about your potential motor controller issues. I have been running Team Laird's 19-module charger and MC firmware but keep meaning to try out the Dugas Engineering firmware.

Out of curiosity, what are using to balance your modules, and what was the item you purchased from Amazon? I'm going to reopen my Vectrix at some point to replace the phase terminals with copper, install Leaf BMS wiring and bus bar covers (at least until I figure out what sort of reasonably priced BMS to install), and a J1772 charging port from a Leaf.

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2013 Nissan Leaf SV

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

From Amazon I got https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09742DP5T

It's a battery monitor that goes to 500 volts and 500 amps with a wireless display and a non-contact current sensor. I hooked it up with the current sensor double sticked to the battery pack so it won't move, wish I could get the temp sensor to the heat sync, the 12v was tapped off the motor controller to drive the monitor and I ran the included USB cable into the trunk so I can have the display there, but I also have a cable in the glovebox that I tried using to attach the display to the center of the handlebars.

The same unit is available on AliExpress with closer specificity to the Vectrix, they have one that is 200 volts and 200 amps. But it's about the same price and the accuracy is the same so it didn't matter to me. I had already waited a month for the wrong battery monitor I posted about above, to arrive from China. So for ~$10 more I went with Amazon.

From AliExpress I got https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000790255916.html

Its a non-resistive 20s battery balancer that I got two of and will cascade to move power from over charged cells and use them to charge under charged cells. It's slow, only .8 amps, but it will be running while parked so not in a hurry. It will illuminate an LED for any cells being discharged so that will use some energy, but when the cells are balanced the energy draw will likely be much less than the self-discharge from the original NiMH. Sadly I am still waiting for them to arrive from China.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Re BMS
I've been running Team Laird's 19 module software too, for over 4 years now, over 10,000miles now, and the cells are prefectly balanced with no BMS.
Just checked them today, all within 0.014v, which is even better than my Leaf can do with the same cells and a BMS.

Regards,
Peter

-----------------------------------------------------------
Central Scotland

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Re: No BMS ... risky idea

You say that you've measured the voltage and found them to have practically identical measures. But, measuring the at-rest voltage, when it's sitting in your garage with no load on the pack, doesn't tell you anything.

What's important is to see how the pack behaves when under load. Any difference in health from one cell to the next will readily show up under load, but not be seen at rest. That's what I learned from driving my Karmann Ghia for the 3 years I had it -- it had a BMS, and the BMS had a display showing voltage per cell. My task as the driver was to not only drive, but keep the load low enough so the per-cell voltage did not go down to the danger range below 2.7 volts. While most of the pack was fine, there were two cells that always dropped more than the rest.

A simple way to measure under load is to jack up the bike so that at least the rear wheel is off the ground. Then twist the throttle, allowing the motor to run, while you measure voltages on the cells.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

With the uprst and hshot issues

If you get the uprst message, you need to power cycle the bike (ignition off, count to 5, ignition on).

That error cuts power to the fan on the controller heat sink leading to the over heat message.

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2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

I am actually confused how this BMS setup works in relation to connecting the battery to the motor controller. When I do it I have to use an inrush limiter. But the BMS just flips a relay? Won't that cause all the issues the service manual warns us about? If I found a BMS that wasn't as expensive as the Universal BMS from Vectrix I'd be all over it. But instead I am just using a meter for my dash and a balancer that is always running.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

For a vectrix, you would wire up the BMS to disconnect the AC to the charger when any cell voltage is too high.

There's no practical way to stop over discharge

The beauty of the vectrix BMS is that the BMS talks to both the charger and motor controller.

If you interrupt the DC side, then yes it will need precharging every time. Would also need to be able to handle 120A continuous and 250A peak. Also, if it cuts out momentarily while riding getting back to go is a major pain, and dangerous

Daily Ride:
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

"If you get the uprst message, you need to power cycle the bike (ignition off, count to 5, ignition on).
That error cuts power to the fan on the controller heat sink leading to the over heat message."

THAT'S what I needed to know. I have driven the bike since and not seen the issue and the fan was working great, so I couldn't imagine what I had done wrong that day, but your description matches my experience. If only there was a manual with all these tips and tricks in it.

"The beauty of the vectrix BMS is that the BMS talks to both the charger and motor controller."

Not sure what that means. Not sure what good the BMS is if it won't disconnect the big battery, no use for Over-Current, or Over-Temp, or Under-Voltage. I have my charger set to 155 volts on my 38 cell pack so that leaves me some slack in case some of the cells are out of sync and it means I don't have issues with regen after a full charge. That only leaves Under-Temp, and living in California on the ocean I will NEVER see freezing temps.

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

""The beauty of the vectrix BMS is that the BMS talks to both the charger and motor controller."

Not sure what that means. Not sure what good the BMS is if it won't disconnect the big battery, no use for Over-Current, or Over-Temp, or Under-Voltage. I have my charger set to 155 volts on my 38 cell pack so that leaves me some slack in case some of the cells are out of sync and it means I don't have issues with regen after a full charge. That only leaves Under-Temp, and living in California on the ocean I will NEVER see freezing temps."

Overcurrent is handled by the motor controller first, and the fuse second (after the motor controller burns)

disconnecting the big battery means everything going dead, even lights and dashboard.
I did at one time look into disabling just the motor controller, by way to tripping the side stand switch, however, the BMS I was using at the time had a fixed low voltage limit, that could be reached with a full battery under hard acceleration in cold weather (and it doesn't really get cold here in Australia)

The Vectrix BMS can tell the motor controller to raise it's low voltage limit to protect the lowest cell.

There's two schools of thought here:
1, when the batteries get old, just let the low capacity ones die and replace or bypass them (the method I actually use).
This doesn't require a particularly complicated BMS, and ironically is pretty reliable
It does mean you unexpectedly kill a cell once in a blue moon when going to the limit of your range

2. when the batteries get old, limit acceleration and discharge depth dynamically to the smallest cell.
This approach I have found to be less reliable, due to more things have to go right in order for the bike to move
It does mean you expectedly can't accelerate properly or get stranded once in a blue moon.

approach 2 is what Vectrix and every OEM uses, and is probably the right way to go

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2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km

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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Oops! I accidentally spelled Dugas "Degas" earlier, hope that isn't a problem for those searching to follow in my footsteps. I downloaded the software for free from here:
http://dugasengineering-com.3dcartstores.com/VX1-HEX-Files_ep_56-1.html

I was worried about installing it as I couldn't find a manual for the software, but since I had already just tried some charger software I found on the net and *it* worked w/o killing my bike, even brought it back to operating for the first time in years, I went ahead and installed it. I didn't brick my bike like others have. And I even configured the bike for the number of cells I have. After an interrupted drive home that became a push home I discovered that I hadn't set the correct voltage for the battery and I continue tweak the settings for my specific pack.

But then riding the other day I discovered this:
IMG_5515.jpeg

If you hit the kill switch and pull the left brake it still shows you the voltage as the bikes firmware has always done, but if you turn off the kill switch while the brake is still held (or the opposite, I need to test this more) it leaves you with the C in the location where the time usually is and then the two digits represent the current current draw (although they don't show when you go negative, so you have to figure out when it's charging and when is driving). It also shows the current voltage where the normal Guess-O-Meter would be.

This is really nice as it shows you how close you are to hitting the red light. Of course since you have control over these settings you can just set the red light higher than the point where you actually need to stop driving. I am not sure the effect of hitting the red light on a Li-ion pack either, perhaps nothing. I watched the charge cycle carefully, but I did accidentally interrupt it so perhaps any special red light cycle was skipped. I have been driving the battery to the bottom as I am trying to find the best settings to control the fuel gauge and to get an idea how far I can reliably go now.

And the pack remains pretty close at the bottom of the pack even though I balanced it at the top of charge. No real issues and I got a confirmation my battery balancers are going to be delivered soon.

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I also own a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiev

israndy
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Got an update from David on my questions about how to use his firmware:

Randy
To invoke the emergency lights:
With LOW BEAM active and blinkers OFF, pull and hold hi beam flasher button, then turn on right blinker. Both blinkers will be active.
For cruise control:
Tap horn button at desired set speed, then apply full throttle to activate cruise control. Note that applying throttle will not accelerate scooter past set speed.
Any braking or regen will cancel CC.
DAvid

BTW use DavidDugas [at] comcast.net

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I also own a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiev

israndy
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

Got another response to a question about my headlight indicator blinking all the time:

Use this to customize ICON threshold:

image.jpeg

Activate low beam then toggle check box. Same for high beam. It stores the average lamp current then uses that value +-20% as the valid range.

Since I was getting responses I quickly followed along with another question about using the Vectrix Config App of his to set when the red light comes on:

The SW package is meant to operate without a BMS. That is, there is no low cell voltage info passed from CH to MC. During charging, the max pack voltage is always used to reduce charge current and during discharge, the min pack voltage is used to reduce MC power. The cell configuration is just for convenience to determine the max pack voltage for charger, and min pack voltage for MC. The min pack voltage still has to be set in the MC config window. This tells the MC when to cut back power. The max bus voltage in MC window limits regen.
So basically you are configuring the min/max pack voltage. Max for charger, min for MC. Num of cells times the max cell voltage sets the max pack voltage in charger, and the num of cells times min cell voltage calculates the min pack voltage which has to be entered in the MC window.
Without a BMS and integrated SW there isnt much more you can do.
The battery ICON illuminates when the min pack has been reached for a few seconds. If you hit the regen limit, the MC reduces regen to maintain max voltage.

Such helpful information, I totally couldn't figure it out w/o reading this info. If the software wasn't free I'd be suggesting that the put help buttons in with this info.

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I also own a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiev

israndy
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

I live my life by Murphy's Law. So after waiting more than a month for my Balance Boards to arrive from China I realized that the ONLY way I was going to get them quickly was to completely re-assemble the bike. I appear to be missing one of the covers over the passenger foot pegs. But I don't remember taking it off. Perhaps the bike was always missing it, guess if I didn't notice it before...

So anyway, worked like a charm, the boards arrived the next morning. I took the bike apart again and added the boards, As you can see two cells on one board and one on the other needed to be balanced:

IMG_5585.jpeg

Cannot wait until Monday when I am back (off to the cabin for the weekend) to see if it finished, could easily still be going as it's a pretty slow balance for the large Nissan cells, but it wasn't THAT out of balance. With the lights I can look thru the hole under the seat that the fans used to plug in thru and see when they have finished balancing.

Just took the Cabin Vectrix out for a ride and the spaceship sound the gears make is much less pronounced in this bike. Wonder what the difference is.

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I also own a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and a 2012 Mitsubishi iMiev

UncleMike1
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Re: Another NiMH -> Leaf Battery upgrade

I have been reading your thread with great interest. I just purchased a 2007 VX-1 with a dead NiMH pack. I have found a good source for my Leaf batteries but they won't be in for a while. I am glad to see I am not alone on this journey.

Mike

IMG_0237.jpg

2007 Vectrix VX-1 Work In Progress

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