CHAdeMO is so much faster, it's ridiculous

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wmcbrine

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2015
Messages
447
Location
Laurel, MD
It's literally ten times faster than (the i-MiEV's best) level 2 charging. (It starts out even faster than that, but slows down to below that rate by the end.) I knew that, in principle, but it was really driven home for me today, when I made a special trip just to try it for the first time. I went from about 23% to 80% in twenty minutes.

I noticed a funny smell from the air conditioner after the fast charge, but it wasn't much, and didn't last long. The CHAdeMO connector was a bit confusing, not as straightforward as a J1772. But worth it. :)
 
Generally it is normal to not smell anything. Charging (and discharging) is a chemical reaction of ions transported thru an organic electrolyte. The reaction rate is influenced by temperature.

Most cells have some sort of vent to release excess pressure of gas or vapors generated by high temperatures. i have seen one-way vent valves and also burst disks used in various cells, but i'm not sure what is used on the myev cells, i.e. the LEV50.

Do you have the canion app, or maybe someone in your local area has the bluetooth link and app, and can make a scan to see what your cell voltages are doing? Not trying to get you all worried, but a simple check can give you an answer and peace of mind.

The cars have the dcqc port and should be able to use Chademo without issue.
 
kiev said:
Do you have the canion app
OK, I do now. :) I see that one cell, #8, is consistently the lowest... but then I realize that the range from lowest to highest is only 3.96V - 3.99V. (This is while sitting in the garage.) So I guess I'm OK for now?

BTW, coincidentally I read this last night:

"High capacity Lithium Iron LiFePO4 cells and packs for industry and mobility: No toxic acids, no evaporation of gases ..." -- http://gwl-power.tumblr.com/post/128909665831/i-miev-ha3w-workshop-manual-2011-mitsubishi

Does that mean the main battery won't vent?

Could the odor be from the 12-volt? Or...?
 
Maybe you were smelling radiator fluid from the front of the car pulled thru the A/C vents.

With canion you can keep up with the cells to be sure they are acting fine.

Now you can go you use the dcqc again with canion running to watch the cell temperatures and see if cell 8 responds differently than the rest, and check for any funny smell.

The pack is covered under warranty so no need to worry, but if it does have a problem then better to get it out in the open sooner rather than later.

If something is marginal then i would want to push it over the edge to failure and get a new pack. You need to have confidence that it is not going to lay down while you are out in traffic and depending upon it, so test it under controlled conditions and have a backup plan, etc.

The LEV50 cells in our cars do have ball check valves on the top surface next to the electrodes. You can see them in some of the pictures that Martin posted on page 2 of his cell replacement thread.

Cell 8 is the rearmost corner cell in the pack at the right rear of the car. Martin replaced cell 23 which is just one cell row up from the rear along the middle column at the midline of the car. PV1 got a new pack after cell 10 went bad, which is between 23 and 7 in the same cell row up from the rear. So the rear rows may have some thermal issues back in the right corner quadrant. That is the area directly under the pack exhaust port.
 
Yep. I used a quick charger twice yesterday. Each shot was 12.5 minutes (first was from 4 bars to 70%, second from 8 bars to 80%). I was watching my charge on a level 2 EVSE after that and it was like watching grass grow compared to quick charging.

I do notice a slight electrical smell from the vents. My guess is that it is either the blower motor itself or the plastic ductwork giving off the odor. I mainly notice it on hot days with the windows down and the air is forced through the dash vents. I haven't noticed any issues and my blower runs just fine. The smell has been there since the car was new.
 
Chademo is great! All of our longer (200-250) mile trips involve one or more DCQC charges.
We have never noticed any odors during Chademo charging.
I agree about the connector being awkward. On the ones that have the weird locking latch one can have to fumble with it to get it to lock just right. On the ones like the one at Marshall Auto in Milwaukee its just as easy as L2 charging.
 
Back
Top