[ElectriCar]

My truck went down in 2012 and has been sitting since. I drove over a year with the 200ah Calb lifepo4 batteries and decided to replace the manual tx with a 700R4 automatic and put in a larger motor. Just wondering what’s in store when I go to fire it up again.

Lots of rewiring and have to reprogram the now old Soliton. Had a friend do the retrofit and he cut a few wires and totally rearranged things...

 

[john61ct]

You left the whole system completely off and ignored all that time?

If the cells were in good shape at that time, and stored 100% isolated from **any** parasitic loads, they may well be fine and last for decades more.

In which case they are now sitting at over say 2.5Vpc.

If they were drawn down to dead flat, then likely not good for anything, not worth much time spent (very carefully!) trying to resurrect them, unless as a fun science project.

Break the pack's parallel connections and measure per cell and report back. Do **not** just turn anything on, that may be the straw / camel.

Plus verify low resistance of interconnects, corrosion issues, should be done regularly, lots of check / monitoring / maintenance routines need catching up with before re-activating anything,

Personally I would've checked on the bank regularly and topped up any self-discharge, maybe less frequently once I got familiar with their behaviour, temperature effects etc.

Too big an investment to just allow it to evaporate. . .

 

[ElectriCar]

The pack was disconnected. I charged it up a little but it had really maintained well. They’ve always seemed well engineered.

I’m referring to anyone who had started using them back then. Just curious how well those batteries have held up. I was one of the first to use them.

 

[john61ct]

I know dozens of owners that bought CALB banks around then or before.

Most are still over 95% SoH, at least compared to rated capacity.

Some have been cycling well over 250 per year, as low as 85% DoD

None have been using them for high C-rate usage like propulsion however.

 

[ElectriCar]

Great thanks!

 

[ElectriCar]

You left the whole system completely off and ignored all that time?

If the cells were in good shape at that time, and stored 100% isolated from **any** parasitic loads, they may well be fine and last for decades more.

In which case they are now sitting at over say 2.5Vpc.

If they were drawn down to dead flat, then likely not good for anything, not worth much time spent (very carefully!) trying to resurrect them, unless as a fun science project.

Break the pack's parallel connections and measure per cell and report back. Do **not** just turn anything on, that may be the straw / camel.

Plus verify low resistance of interconnects, corrosion issues, should be done regularly, lots of check / monitoring / maintenance routines need catching up with before re-activating anything,

Personally I would've checked on the bank regularly and topped up any self-discharge, maybe less frequently once I got familiar with their behaviour, temperature effects etc.

Too big an investment to just allow it to evaporate. . .

Checked today, 50 series pack at 165V. 3.286 on the first 5 or so I checked. Think we’re good.

I only checked on them once during the last 6 years and let it charge maybe 30 minutes in a 5 kw charger.

 

[zapyourrideguy]

45 cell pack of 180 CA's still running decent in a Civic conversion since 2013, but I have had an issue with high resistance cells from the beginning. I was able to get 4 cells replaced under Calb warranty within the first year and now have 3 or 4 cells with high resistance. They have been managed by an Orion BMS from the beginning. Those high resistance cells shorten the range considerably because the BMS kicks in its cell protection. 80 90 mile range cut to about 60.
I could replace those cells but they would be brand new and then not match well.

 

[ElectriCar]

Finally lost a battery with about 15000 miles. The balance meter I built starting showing .3 volts where it's always been less than .01. Got back and checked it, which it was rising as I drove, measured .3 volts. I connected the charger to the pack and it did charge up some but I replaced it with a spare I bought with the others.