O.K. lets just get this out right now---I have lost my mind (a long time ago). However, when I bought my I-MiEV, I thought it was like my leased I-MiEV which had the battery warming option. I wasn't aware that I needed at least that option to get any kind of cooling air to the battery. So seeing how I owned the thing I was trying to figure out how to get the parts to modify the car to get cooling to the battery. The dealer (and Mitsubishi) was of no help because they do not service anything inside or attached to the traction battery pack. The dealer isn't even authorized to do anything inside the pack---the whole thing needs to be removed and exchanged. What a nightmare. But I did the logical thing to get the parts I wanted---I just bought another I-MiEV--this one is a SE with the premium package. The car should be here next week but I looked it over before I bought it. Not sure of the miles on it, but it still had the dealer temp tag on it and the dealers stock tag on the keys. Good for me that someone crushed the rear in about two feet so the price was pretty low. In any event, over the next few months I am going to merge the two cars together to get the one I really wanted (in the color I wanted). QC which I will attach my 12 kW charger to, cooling ducts, and if it works the nav radio and backup camera. My only concern is the condition of one of the main harnesses that needs to be changed as I couldn't get the hatch open to check for damage. I am pretty sure there is damage to the charger and inverter and possibly the motor. The battery pack looks intact so it is just a question of what the pack voltage is. Someone pulled (and lost) the interlock plug so it is just self discharge I need to worry about.
That brings up one other issue--how to store the pack? The owners manual says to store with only a couple of bars showing and not to store it full. However, the Technical information manual for the I-MiEV says (for long term storage) to fully charge the pack and then re-charge every three months. If you don't, the pack voltage could fall to a point were the pack would need to be replaced. So I fully charged the pack and let it balance. Later that evening I dropped the pack and took the cover off to look at the pack and module voltages. I was suprised to find the pack was charged higher then the four volts per cell as normally reported. About twelve hours after the back came off charge, the total pack voltage was 359.3. Individual modules were between 32.66 and 32.69 volts (with the two 4 cell modules at 16.34 volts) This is very close to the 4.1 volt maximum cell voltage and running the cell to 100% capacity. I am suprised that Mitsubishi is really running the cells this hard.
Anyway, I will report back every time I break something on the car--and what I am going to do with the modules out of the original pack.
That brings up one other issue--how to store the pack? The owners manual says to store with only a couple of bars showing and not to store it full. However, the Technical information manual for the I-MiEV says (for long term storage) to fully charge the pack and then re-charge every three months. If you don't, the pack voltage could fall to a point were the pack would need to be replaced. So I fully charged the pack and let it balance. Later that evening I dropped the pack and took the cover off to look at the pack and module voltages. I was suprised to find the pack was charged higher then the four volts per cell as normally reported. About twelve hours after the back came off charge, the total pack voltage was 359.3. Individual modules were between 32.66 and 32.69 volts (with the two 4 cell modules at 16.34 volts) This is very close to the 4.1 volt maximum cell voltage and running the cell to 100% capacity. I am suprised that Mitsubishi is really running the cells this hard.
Anyway, I will report back every time I break something on the car--and what I am going to do with the modules out of the original pack.