I have replaced my 2001 Honda Insight pack once, rebuilt it once, and I'm soon to rebuild it again (260K miles). I found these people who are actually local to me. https://bumblebeebatteries.com/products/honda-hybrid-batteries/. They rebuild Honda Insight packs using brand new batteries which are spec'd higher than the originals. They do this by having people send in their old packs, which means they have all the old cells lying around. It's been a few years, but I think I bought a pack of used cells from them for $200 then I used my MCM Super Brain charger to cycle and capacity test the individual sticks. The process takes weeks to go through a whole pack, but in the end you can pick out your 20 best sticks and use them to rebuild your battery pack which will get you a couple of years more worth of driving before the car starts throwing codes again 😊
They also offered to sell me a full pack worth of brand new replacement batteries for $1800, or of course you can use their full rebuild service. Pricing and options might have changed, but they responded in short order when I contacted them. Damon ________________________________ From: EV <[email protected]> on behalf of Lee Hart via EV <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2018 9:04 AM To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List Cc: Lee Hart Subject: Re: [EVDL] Honda Insight Lithium Upgrade From: George Tyler via EV <[email protected]> >I have been considering this too, but for some old Priuses I have. It is not >easy! Equallisation is done by overcharging the full cells at 10-15A, can't >do that with Lithium! With these cells, which are the same as my prius ones, >overcharging is allowed. Also, even with Ni-Mih they are degraded by >continuous overcharging, and is the reason they fail so often. I have >considered making another battery computer with a BMS that handles the new >battery, could either replace the old one, or you could keep both, and >generate voltages the old computer expects, drop the voltage with a divider >to make it believe the battery is low when it really is, and boost it when >the battery is full to make it stop charging. I would use Li-po4 cells for >the flatter discharge curve. I have the same situation; a 2001 Prius that runs fine, but needs a hybrid battery. I've bought 100+ modules, but they are all so old that it's not possible to assemble a "good as new" pack. In my case, I am going to try replacing them with modules from two packs of modules from newer Priuses (the 2001-2003 used more modules, and of a different size). Maybe it would be possible to use Prius modules in the Insight? It would be a lot of work to build a new battery box; but at least they are available and built for the job. Or, D-size cylindrical nimh cells as used the the insight modules can still be bought new. I suspect that new ones will be of much lower quality and performance, but might work well enough? Changing to lithium is an even bigger project. Not one to be tacked by a casual hacker or some fast-buck outfit. A bad solution is relatively easy; but one that will last and not set your car on fire is hard! -- Excellence does not require perfection. -- Henry James -- Lee A. Hart https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sunrise-ev.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C720c308332094981b5b108d5c0c6e354%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636626882800153523&sdata=n20khSz3hpN50RfUyxjrY0tIg6TrhtEx3SwOH7ahJWU%3D&reserved=0 _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.evdl.org%2Fhelp%2Findex.html%23usub&data=02%7C01%7C%7C720c308332094981b5b108d5c0c6e354%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636626882800153523&sdata=HrY2wYHVUVxYy7eiW2V37ihhqfwtV6j4FTwrWMjOyh0%3D&reserved=0 https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.evdl.org%2Flistinfo.cgi%2Fev-evdl.org&data=02%7C01%7C%7C720c308332094981b5b108d5c0c6e354%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636626882800153523&sdata=27J%2F%2FqRNe1DdbQiVg3qzW6FvyOYheY4YtVPoROE07%2Bk%3D&reserved=0 Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgroups.yahoo.com%2Fgroup%2FNEDRA&data=02%7C01%7C%7C720c308332094981b5b108d5c0c6e354%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636626882800153523&sdata=Sbt%2BXiEyHV07E4mdAr8thB8Uutxdn0MW%2F73r7GhBUSg%3D&reserved=0) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20180523/6bdf9628/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
