Sure - it's a low pressure system. You can probably jam a hose in and wrap it with duct tape, and that would work, too. I wouldn't suggest that...
2012 Chevy Volt Battery:
Paid $2000 + $150 shipping from a junkyard.
It is a work of art. I'll be sad to tear it apart for the cells, but that's life.
I'm getting 373 vdc for the battery, and 3.88 vdc per cell.
IF there are 288 cells. Already things aren't making sense. I count 72 modules about 1" thick.
Video: http://youtu.be/X8J-zfBnSEQ
It is a work of art. I'll be sad to tear it apart for the cells, but that's life.
I'm getting 373 vdc for the battery, and 3.88 vdc per cell.
IF there are 288 cells. Already things aren't making sense. I count 72 modules about 1" thick.
Video: http://youtu.be/X8J-zfBnSEQ
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I have to apologize. I was reviewing my setup and realized that I forgot a key part: I did use the o-ring from the original fittings. The nylon thread/barb fitting (Lowe's stock) had a nice shoulder on it that captures the o-ring well enough with the removal of a thread or two (dremel tool). The thermostat/heater housing that the fitting threads into has a recess for the o-ring.Sure - it's a low pressure system. You can probably jam a hose in and wrap it with duct tape, and that would work, too. I wouldn't suggest that...
That's interesting... so it works basically as intended, but limited in engagement force and fit by the thread taper mismatch. Probably just fine for the low pressure.
Hmm? Neither of the threads is tapered.That's interesting... so it works basically as intended, but limited in engagement force and fit by the thread taper mismatch. Probably just fine for the low pressure.
That's interesting... so it works basically as intended, but limited in engagement force and fit by the thread taper mismatch. Probably just fine for the low pressure.
Sorry! I had typical plumbing threads in mind and was thinking of NPT, even though this was clearly about the "garden hose" thread. Of course that's not tapered (it seals with a gasket against the end of the male fitting, like a crude version of an ORF fitting) and there's no issue here.
Hi All. I'm a bit late to the party, but I managed to get a 2012 volt pack for a screaming deal, which I hope to be able to use as a test pack for my current project, and then eventually in another conversion that doesn't need much range.
My goal is to use this as-is initially, although I am not 100% sure it's possible - just keep the entire battery in it's enclosure, hook up ground, 12v, and CAN wires, contactor enable wires, and high voltage cables, cooling lines if in the vehicle, and use it. Is this possible, including getting the bms to self balance? It seems so according to the code on Damien/Tom's AmperaBattery repo in GitHub
It's been sitting for a while and the voltage is currently 348v which I think maybe ok, but would like to charge it up in case it sits for any longer (it might at the rate I am going ).
So, using the external connectors I hooked up 12v to X2 pins 1,4,9 and ground to pins 5,10. I hooked up X1 pin 1 to CAN high, and pin 3 to CAN low. SavvyCAN reads messages just fine, but I only see one message interpreted showing battery voltage for cells 1-3 (0x460) using the DBC file I got from the AmperaBattery project, whereas it (and Damien's video) shows several others that I should be getting.
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I then tried connecting directly to the internal CAN network @125kbps using the slave module wiring harness connector instead of via the BECM per the wiring shown in the repo and video (CAN high, CAN low, Gnd, 5V along bottom row right), but i don't even get any CAN messages that way.
It doesn't matter if I have the service disconnect in or not.
Two odd things worth mentioning.
The first is I have another front piece which has the BECM and connections, but nothing ese connected to it, and I get the same set of messages, which is suspicious! Maybe these are cached in the BECM?
The second is the voltage on cell 3 fluctuates from 0 to 3.5ish volts - i am hoping this is not accurate and just my shoddy test wiring or something. For the "head" only it fluctuates but in the 0 - milivolt range.
Any thoughts? Is it just that mine is sending different message ids and I need to get/use another dbc file (or figure the messages). I don't want to try enable the contactors and charge it until I understand it's condition better.
tia,
charles
My goal is to use this as-is initially, although I am not 100% sure it's possible - just keep the entire battery in it's enclosure, hook up ground, 12v, and CAN wires, contactor enable wires, and high voltage cables, cooling lines if in the vehicle, and use it. Is this possible, including getting the bms to self balance? It seems so according to the code on Damien/Tom's AmperaBattery repo in GitHub
It's been sitting for a while and the voltage is currently 348v which I think maybe ok, but would like to charge it up in case it sits for any longer (it might at the rate I am going
).So, using the external connectors I hooked up 12v to X2 pins 1,4,9 and ground to pins 5,10. I hooked up X1 pin 1 to CAN high, and pin 3 to CAN low. SavvyCAN reads messages just fine, but I only see one message interpreted showing battery voltage for cells 1-3 (0x460) using the DBC file I got from the AmperaBattery project, whereas it (and Damien's video) shows several others that I should be getting.
I then tried connecting directly to the internal CAN network @125kbps using the slave module wiring harness connector instead of via the BECM per the wiring shown in the repo and video (CAN high, CAN low, Gnd, 5V along bottom row right), but i don't even get any CAN messages that way.
It doesn't matter if I have the service disconnect in or not.
Two odd things worth mentioning.
The first is I have another front piece which has the BECM and connections, but nothing ese connected to it, and I get the same set of messages, which is suspicious! Maybe these are cached in the BECM?
The second is the voltage on cell 3 fluctuates from 0 to 3.5ish volts - i am hoping this is not accurate and just my shoddy test wiring or something. For the "head" only it fluctuates but in the 0 - milivolt range.
Any thoughts? Is it just that mine is sending different message ids and I need to get/use another dbc file (or figure the messages). I don't want to try enable the contactors and charge it until I understand it's condition better.
tia,
charles
To my knowledge nobody knows how to get the BECM to balance the pack. But we do know how to command the BICMs to do so:Hi All. I'm a bit late to the party, but I managed to get a 2012 volt pack for a screaming deal, which I hope to be able to use as a test pack for my current project, and then eventually in another conversion that doesn't need much range.
My goal is to use this as-is initially, although I am not 100% sure it's possible - just keep the entire battery in it's enclosure, hook up ground, 12v, and CAN wires, contactor enable wires, and high voltage cables, cooling lines if in the vehicle, and use it. Is this possible, including getting the bms to self balance? It seems so according to the code on Damien/Tom's AmperaBattery repo in GitHub
It's been sitting for a while and the voltage is currently 348v which I think maybe ok, but would like to charge it up in case it sits for any longer (it might at the rate I am going
So, using the external connectors I hooked up 12v to X2 pins 1,4,9 and ground to pins 5,10. I hooked up X1 pin 1 to CAN high, and pin 3 to CAN low. SavvyCAN reads messages just fine, but I only see one message interpreted showing battery voltage for cells 1-3 (0x460) using the DBC file I got from the AmperaBattery project, whereas it (and Damien's video) shows several others that I should be getting.
I then tried connecting directly to the internal CAN network @125kbps using the slave module wiring harness connector instead of via the BECM per the wiring shown in the repo and video (CAN high, CAN low, Gnd, 5V along bottom row right), but i don't even get any CAN messages that way.
It doesn't matter if I have the service disconnect in or not.
Two odd things worth mentioning.
The first is I have another front piece which has the BECM and connections, but nothing ese connected to it, and I get the same set of messages, which is suspicious! Maybe these are cached in the BECM?
The second is the voltage on cell 3 fluctuates from 0 to 3.5ish volts - i am hoping this is not accurate and just my shoddy test wiring or something. For the "head" only it fluctuates but in the 0 - milivolt range.
Any thoughts? Is it just that mine is sending different message ids and I need to get/use another dbc file (or figure the messages). I don't want to try enable the contactors and charge it until I understand it's condition better.
tia,
charles
1st Gen Chevy Volt BMS Balance Commands Found
Here's how to command your OEM Chevy Volt BMS BICMs (slaves) to bleed charge off of specific cells in order to keep them in balance. This does not involve the BECM (master). I wasn't able to figure out the command(s) to send the BECM to get it to initiate this work. This is a more manual...
www.diyelectriccar.com
I don't know why you aren't seeing traffic on the BICM CAN bus. As noted in the thread above, there should be constant polling of the BICMs by the BECM once it is powered up. Did you disconnect the BECM to connect to the BICMs? If so, you can shoot a 0x200#020000 CAN frame and all of the BICMs will dump their cell voltages and temps.
First, thanks for taking the time to reply, and confirming the balancing can be achieved with Tom's code. I should have chosen my words better - having to have some code to send CAN commands to achieve this is perfectly fine if I can get it to work! And thanks for linking to the other thread. Despite searching and reading for hours I clearly haven't found all the info out there on this
When I was using the BICM CAN bus I had it disconnected from the BECM. I was expecting a burst when it got 5v, like Damien observed. But your hint of sending the 0x200 message makes perfect sense so tried it, and initially did not get any results (but was only sending 4 bytes instead of 8 at the time - i thought savvycan will fill in the rest). So I hooked up both buses at the same time and sending the 0x200 with 8 bytes and then started fiddling around with the wiring and started getting sporadic results. I'll try explain what I am seeing, but I think I have a bad BICM, or maybe a wiring harness issue.
This is with the BICM harness connected to the BECM, the BECM getting 12v and ground, and the 500kbps CAN connected. I see a 0x460 there all the time with inn-accurate voltages. I also get a 0x200 there all the time, but with different data and several other messages shown above I haven't tried to decode.
Along with the above, I connected to the back side of the 125kbs CAN pins of the BICM harness while still connected to the BECM.
Initially I was getting nothing. I do not think me sending the 0x200 was actually doing anything, but in this configuration I see a 0x200 on the bus with a data payload of 52 C0 00
Looking at the front of the battery (so it looks like a T) If I disconnected the front BICM connector closest to the front cover I get the 0x300, and 0x310 messages (all others connected). I got a lot of these so maybe they just started at some point and continued - not sure now It was acting "flakey" at best for a while.
If I disconnect the middle BICM connector (2nd furthest from the front) with all others connected I get 0x460-0x463, 0x470-0x473, 0x4e0-0x4e3, 0x7e0-0x7e3. They stop as soon as I reconnect. The temps seem inaccurate at -25c - -27c when it's in the 60+F range here, but that could just be the dbc file.
So it looks like the middle module is causing a problem and not only breaks the chain, but stops other traffic too.
I tried plugging in the left rear and right rear connectors to the middle BCM there was no change, but if I plug the left rear connector the to right rear BICM the messages stop again (although this might have been during the next step - lost track, sorry).
Interestingly if I take the middle connector and plug it into the next BICM in the chain (left rear) I then get 0x465, 0x475, 0x7e5. But nothing if I try do the left rear into the right rear (next connector in the chain). Maybe this is due to the module size differences and the BICM has to match the connector position (middle and left rear are the same size modules).
So really confused, but at least all the cells appear to be a healthy 3.52 volts so far!
Any ideas on what's going on here? Since the middle connector works on the next module, I am assuming the harness is ok, and its the BICM.
thanks,
charles
When I was using the BICM CAN bus I had it disconnected from the BECM. I was expecting a burst when it got 5v, like Damien observed. But your hint of sending the 0x200 message makes perfect sense so tried it, and initially did not get any results (but was only sending 4 bytes instead of 8 at the time - i thought savvycan will fill in the rest). So I hooked up both buses at the same time and sending the 0x200 with 8 bytes and then started fiddling around with the wiring and started getting sporadic results. I'll try explain what I am seeing, but I think I have a bad BICM, or maybe a wiring harness issue.
This is with the BICM harness connected to the BECM, the BECM getting 12v and ground, and the 500kbps CAN connected. I see a 0x460 there all the time with inn-accurate voltages. I also get a 0x200 there all the time, but with different data and several other messages shown above I haven't tried to decode.
Along with the above, I connected to the back side of the 125kbs CAN pins of the BICM harness while still connected to the BECM.
Initially I was getting nothing. I do not think me sending the 0x200 was actually doing anything, but in this configuration I see a 0x200 on the bus with a data payload of 52 C0 00
Looking at the front of the battery (so it looks like a T) If I disconnected the front BICM connector closest to the front cover I get the 0x300, and 0x310 messages (all others connected). I got a lot of these so maybe they just started at some point and continued - not sure now
It was acting "flakey" at best for a while.If I disconnect the middle BICM connector (2nd furthest from the front) with all others connected I get 0x460-0x463, 0x470-0x473, 0x4e0-0x4e3, 0x7e0-0x7e3. They stop as soon as I reconnect. The temps seem inaccurate at -25c - -27c when it's in the 60+F range here, but that could just be the dbc file.
So it looks like the middle module is causing a problem and not only breaks the chain, but stops other traffic too.
I tried plugging in the left rear and right rear connectors to the middle BCM there was no change, but if I plug the left rear connector the to right rear BICM the messages stop again (although this might have been during the next step - lost track, sorry).
Interestingly if I take the middle connector and plug it into the next BICM in the chain (left rear) I then get 0x465, 0x475, 0x7e5. But nothing if I try do the left rear into the right rear (next connector in the chain). Maybe this is due to the module size differences and the BICM has to match the connector position (middle and left rear are the same size modules).
So really confused, but at least all the cells appear to be a healthy 3.52 volts so far!
Any ideas on what's going on here? Since the middle connector works on the next module, I am assuming the harness is ok, and its the BICM.
thanks,
charles
I can only offer minor comments (subject to remembering correctly; it's been awhile):First, thanks for taking the time to reply, and confirming the balancing can be achieved with Tom's code. I should have chosen my words better - having to have some code to send CAN commands to achieve this is perfectly fine if I can get it to work! And thanks for linking to the other thread. Despite searching and reading for hours I clearly haven't found all the info out there on this
....
Any ideas on what's going on here? Since the middle connector works on the next module, I am assuming the harness is ok, and its the BICM.
thanks,
charles
Yes, it does sound like the #2 BICM is bad.
Yes, the CAN bus goes through each BICM so you won't see downstream BICMs if you disconnect one in the middle.
To make sure the #2 BICM is bad, you can swap it with #3 and see if the symptoms follow. BICMs 2 and 3 are completely identical. They take their identity from which pins are shorted in the connector (there's a little loop of wire).
Thanks. Sorry I took two sentences to mention it, I’ll try start with it next time .
Anyone know for certain, and/or how to tell?
.Anyone know for certain, and/or how to tell?
Nope, after
But at least with my bad BICM #2 I thought the communication chain broke at the bad one, so I’d need to start with a working #1.
My bad module had water damage. I cleaned off the corrosion and will test with that, in case by some miracle it works now
thanks
But at least with my bad BICM #2 I thought the communication chain broke at the bad one, so I’d need to start with a working #1.
My bad module had water damage. I cleaned off the corrosion and will test with that, in case by some miracle it works now
thanks
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