I am seriously considering picking up one of the fire-sale Vectrix's on Ebay for spare parts. The main concern of course is what to do with the battery. Could one rig a trickle charger that maintains the battry topped off for extended periods of time? Would storing the battery in a cold room i.e. 4 degree C help?
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hi harry, yes you can trickle charge.
you will have to open up the bike to get to the battery though.
id suggest using something like a 0.35A constant current LED driver, or smaller.
these can be wired in series to get the voltage up.
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
You might want to also think about disconnecting the pack from the scooter electronice. NiMH batteries will hold a charge for a long time if not being discharged by an external load (such as in the case of the Vectrix electronics). Just charge the pack then disconnect the Anderson connector between the batteries. Monitor the pack voltage once and a while and when it gets near 100 volts, reconnect the Anderson, charge the pack---then disconnect and do it all again as necessary. I don't think NiMh batteries like to be on "float" charge like lead acid batteries. I remember reading that somewhere but don't know if that is fact. However, all NiMH chargers I have used just turn off when the charge is complete and don't "float". Make sure you make and use an inrush current limiter (as shown in other parts of this forum) before you reconnect the pack.
the term float tends to refer to a constant applied voltage, and yes this can rapidly kill a nimh pack due to the voltage drop and end of charge.
i was proposing a small constant current, a different kettle of fish.
btw, if you were to go to the extreme of disconnecting the pack from the electronics,
dont bother recharging until you need it.
ni-mh is normally stored discharged.
Matt
Daily Ride:
2007 Vectrix, modified with 42 x Thundersky 60Ah in July 2010. Done 194'000km
What ideally I would like to do is buy one of the cheap 2007 Vectrix. Remove the battery after doing a couple of charge discharge cycles and then put it into a 4 degree cold room for long term storage until my battery fails. I do have a large cooling room with power so I could leave the pack on a charger. Keep the rest of the bike for spares, possibe share some as people need them. Would this be worth $3500? Don't know for sure but do love my bike and like for it to last another 8 years.
I was told by one of the former Vectrix insiders on this forum that Gold Peak has always insisted that a 3A charging current is the minimum effective charge current for those batteries.
That is why the stock charger does the EQ charge pulsed at 3A.
I have not tested it on these cells myself, but there might be some reason not to charge with less than 3A.
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
I am aware, and I do store some NiMH batteries in a discharged state. The only reference to the 100 volt level was to be sure the Vectrix charger would restart. I believe 85 volts is the lower limit for the charger. I had a couple of Chevrolet S10 EV's that would not recharge from the factory charger below a certain level which necessitated the use of an external charger if I let the voltage drop too far. It was much easier to pay attention to the voltage level and recharge when necessary.
hmm just a little lower, and I'd be interested myself, but have no cooled facility like you :-)
I'd just have to ride it then :-)
"doing nothin = doing nothing wrong" is invalid when the subject is environment