Threaded rod is not very strong..and the sharp threads can do damage in the holes they run through. Plain rod can be had in many grades.. all better than hardware crap threaded rod.. not hard to thread the plain rod. You will like it in the long run and it's cheaper too.
From what I have seen, the Leaf battery packs are mostly at around 65% life. Is there any real value in building these large packs. They are expensive also.
I bought a Leaf battery pack directly from a Salvage yard, took it apart, and used it as the pack in the cycle. The car was very low mileage, but was wrecked by being crashed into a tree. I only needed about a third of the pack. I sold the rest. The profit from that paid for buying the pack in the first place. So, I went from having an electric cycle with NO functioning Nihm pack, to a fully-functional lithium pack, at essentially no financial cost, (but a bunch of elbow grease!) So, YES, there's definitely value in this.
These are cell modules. Each has two cells in series and two cells in parallel inside the tin can. So, the voltage is DOUBLE what you might otherwise thing. I can charge this pack up to 150V.
I noticed you are not putting any insulation pads between each battery cell. Wouldn't this be a good idea in case of cold weather to help keep the battieres warm and not ruin mileage efficiency?
TekReview's I'm basically just trying to use the batteries in the same way there were when in the Nissan LEAF. The LEAF did not have any insulation in the battery pack. I don't ride motorcycles in the winter, so it's not really an issue. The capacity of this battery pack is also so large compared to my range needs that even if it was at lower voltage due to temperature, I would STILL have plenty of range.
BenjaminNelson Most EV conversions have some sort of water cooling/heating setup. So the batteries in the Leaf might not last as long if they don't have some way of heating them in the winter like other cars such as the Volt.
SclohOne I might try gluing it back on with some silicon. Just one corner like that exposed isn't dangerous. This all goes in to one big plastic box when it's done anyways. What is dangerous is touching both of the far ends of the battery pack, (or dropping a wrench across a few terminals) Each individual module is only around 8v.
***** An entire LEAF pack is 24Kwh. This section of it is 9Kwh. On a cycle, that works out to up to 90 miles range, about the same as a LEAF! The wire harness coming off the end of the orange bus-bar cover goes to every cell in the pack. I plan to wire a balance charger to that as needed for balancing. I'm thinking about putting a quick disconnect for it under the seat. I have a Revolectrix Cell-Pro Powerlab 6, which I think should work fine for doing that.
BenjaminNelson Wow, a 90 mile Vectrix. That will be fantastic. How fast do you think it will charge (I guess you have to use 110v or 240v and can't use fast chargers?)
FFVoyager We really don't have any DC fast chargers in my area anyways, so not a concern. With 90 miles range, WHO needs that kind of charging?! I'm not riding cross-country! The stock charger in the Vectrix can run on 120 OR 240, although the plug is wired for a typical 120V standard American outlet. I built an adapter to be able to plug it in to public J1772 stations, and that works great! 300mpg.org/2015/03/31/the-diy-j1772-charging-adapter/ The charger is about 1500 watts, so it really doesn't change charge time whether I'm on 120 or 240. I'll just do overnight recharges.
BenjaminNelson I guessed as much about the chargers (I saw the adapter already). We have a pretty decent network of free fast chargers in the UK - it would be awesome to be able to fast charge the 'half a Leaf' Vectrix in, I guess, half the time folk can do a Leaf in - which is around 80% in 30 mins!
Hey Ben, thanks for your vids, I have watched them all. I have two questions. How many modules did you use in the pack, and is there any difference or benefit in using the 1st gen pack vs the 2nd gen. I am having a hard time finding a wrecked Leaf or even the battery pack, down here in Texas. The Leaf is not really a popular vehicle here, and the salvage yards that do have them, want a mint for them. With that in mind, could a Prius pack be used?
There are certainly other batteries you can use. However, if it is specifically for a Vectrix, Leaf cells are ideal, like they were MADE for this bike. Besides salvage yards, there are also eBay sellers and HybridAutoCenter sells them too.
BenjaminNelson Yep, it's a 2007 Vectrix that I bought off Facebook. I have been searching for weeks for a Leaf battery, so I will keep looking. Thanks, Ben. Keep up the amazing work, sir.
@@TimFrentz is there an online website where I can buy them. I jus t purchased a 2007 Vectrix and my dash kept reading "BUsVLT" does anyone know what that means.
Hi I have 27 motorcycles Vectrix VX-1 Li 2012 new in their boxes of packaging, only the batteries no longer work, you will know who are interested in buying or I can get new batteries, I have them in Laredo Tx
V10PDTDI I'm looking to sell or part out the iMIEV. If anyone needs a door, bumper, window, etc, please let me know. (No battery. Tires/rims are sold.)
Nice work . Bummer on the plastic piece. Keep us posted . I'd love to see the numbers on range and charge time . Thanks for sharing.
the lesson on the buss bar connector.. is to start both bolts before tightening
And how much capacity the battery pack, and a voltage at the output of the elements ...
Threaded rod is not very strong..and the sharp threads can do damage in the holes they run through. Plain rod can be had in many grades.. all better than hardware crap threaded rod.. not hard to thread the plain rod. You will like it in the long run and it's cheaper too.
From what I have seen, the Leaf battery packs are mostly at around 65% life. Is there any real value in building these large packs. They are expensive also.
I bought a Leaf battery pack directly from a Salvage yard, took it apart, and used it as the pack in the cycle. The car was very low mileage, but was wrecked by being crashed into a tree.
I only needed about a third of the pack. I sold the rest. The profit from that paid for buying the pack in the first place.
So, I went from having an electric cycle with NO functioning Nihm pack, to a fully-functional lithium pack, at essentially no financial cost, (but a bunch of elbow grease!)
So, YES, there's definitely value in this.
Hi Ben - ahm - how are 18 cells enough? Aren't there 36 required? What's the nominal voltage of one of these cells? 3.7 or even 7.4 - I don't get it.
These are cell modules. Each has two cells in series and two cells in parallel inside the tin can. So, the voltage is DOUBLE what you might otherwise thing. I can charge this pack up to 150V.
hello Ben
have you made a BMS on the nissan leaf cells
if so what type and brand
I noticed you are not putting any insulation pads between each battery cell. Wouldn't this be a good idea in case of cold weather to help keep the battieres warm and not ruin mileage efficiency?
TekReview's I'm basically just trying to use the batteries in the same way there were when in the Nissan LEAF. The LEAF did not have any insulation in the battery pack. I don't ride motorcycles in the winter, so it's not really an issue. The capacity of this battery pack is also so large compared to my range needs that even if it was at lower voltage due to temperature, I would STILL have plenty of range.
BenjaminNelson Most EV conversions have some sort of water cooling/heating setup. So the batteries in the Leaf might not last as long if they don't have some way of heating them in the winter like other cars such as the Volt.
Hi how much do you want for the hole car ? And we're is the car located ?
Are you going to glue that broken plastic bit back on? Seems a bit dangerous leaving it exposed.
SclohOne I might try gluing it back on with some silicon. Just one corner like that exposed isn't dangerous. This all goes in to one big plastic box when it's done anyways. What is dangerous is touching both of the far ends of the battery pack, (or dropping a wrench across a few terminals) Each individual module is only around 8v.
That looks so good Ben! Question. How Manny kWh was the original battery? Still wondering how your going to balance charge this thing! Wohoo! ~Russ
***** An entire LEAF pack is 24Kwh. This section of it is 9Kwh. On a cycle, that works out to up to 90 miles range, about the same as a LEAF! The wire harness coming off the end of the orange bus-bar cover goes to every cell in the pack. I plan to wire a balance charger to that as needed for balancing. I'm thinking about putting a quick disconnect for it under the seat. I have a Revolectrix Cell-Pro Powerlab 6, which I think should work fine for doing that.
BenjaminNelson
Wow, a 90 mile Vectrix. That will be fantastic. How fast do you think it will charge (I guess you have to use 110v or 240v and can't use fast chargers?)
FFVoyager We really don't have any DC fast chargers in my area anyways, so not a concern. With 90 miles range, WHO needs that kind of charging?! I'm not riding cross-country! The stock charger in the Vectrix can run on 120 OR 240, although the plug is wired for a typical 120V standard American outlet. I built an adapter to be able to plug it in to public J1772 stations, and that works great! 300mpg.org/2015/03/31/the-diy-j1772-charging-adapter/ The charger is about 1500 watts, so it really doesn't change charge time whether I'm on 120 or 240. I'll just do overnight recharges.
BenjaminNelson I guessed as much about the chargers (I saw the adapter already). We have a pretty decent network of free fast chargers in the UK - it would be awesome to be able to fast charge the 'half a Leaf' Vectrix in, I guess, half the time folk can do a Leaf in - which is around 80% in 30 mins!
FFVoyager Its not the power of the charger that will dictate the speed, its the "C" rate. :(
Hey Ben, thanks for your vids, I have watched them all. I have two questions. How many modules did you use in the pack, and is there any difference or benefit in using the 1st gen pack vs the 2nd gen. I am having a hard time finding a wrecked Leaf or even the battery pack, down here in Texas. The Leaf is not really a popular vehicle here, and the salvage yards that do have them, want a mint for them. With that in mind, could a Prius pack be used?
There are certainly other batteries you can use. However, if it is specifically for a Vectrix, Leaf cells are ideal, like they were MADE for this bike. Besides salvage yards, there are also eBay sellers and HybridAutoCenter sells them too.
BenjaminNelson Yep, it's a 2007 Vectrix that I bought off Facebook. I have been searching for weeks for a Leaf battery, so I will keep looking. Thanks, Ben. Keep up the amazing work, sir.
18 Leaf modules in your pack?
Tommy - I'm east of Dallas. What have you found in Texas for salvage batteries? I'm paying $75 ea. leaf module from tech direct right now.
@@TimFrentz is there an online website where I can buy them. I jus t purchased a 2007 Vectrix and my dash kept reading "BUsVLT" does anyone know what that means.
Hi I have 27 motorcycles Vectrix VX-1 Li 2012 new in their boxes of packaging, only the batteries no longer work, you will know who are interested in buying or I can get new batteries, I have them in Laredo Tx
I want 1
hi I see that you still have the I miev are you going to do something with it or are you looking to sell it ?
V10PDTDI I'm looking to sell or part out the iMIEV. If anyone needs a door, bumper, window, etc, please let me know. (No battery. Tires/rims are sold.)
how much you would whant for the hole car or the front clip meaning the hood fender bumper cover headlights etc. where are you located
what material is the bus bar?
Lol, away towards enemy ;)
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