Brought on by the sudden decay of cell #10 in Bear's battery pack while parked, I thought it was about time we condensed all statistics of failed packs on the forum into one thread. I know we've discussed this here and there, but some good info has been buried.
So, for the folks who've went through having had their battery pack replaced, what were the initial symptoms, preceding conditions, manufacture date of the affected i-MiEV, and weather/climate conditions? Also, charging habits and number of times turtles would be helpful.
So, initial symptoms for me was that I noticed via OVMS that the car stopped at 96%. I triggered charging with the remote (power, charge button on side, then send) and watched on OVMS as the charge dropped to 91%, then 86%, then 76% with each send of the charge command, and the car was not charging. CaniOn showed that cell #10 was .085 volts lower than the other cells. It has since drifted to .125 volts lower than the others. Preceding conditions were a few 90 degree days with non-highway driving and level 2 charging at night. I drove home Friday, left it sit for four days at 9 bars, then charged it up the night before seeing the conditions above. Totally unexpected and healthy up to this point. Bear was manufactured in February, 2012 and spent a year at the dealer before I purchased it. My local weather conditions include summertime high in the low 90's for a few days each month. Wintertime has dropped to -10 F for at least one day each for the last two winters. I try to keep my pack between 32 and 85 F by using level 1 charging in the winter and level 2 in the summer. I have turtled Bear 3 or 4 times over the last two years, with the lowest charge level of 8% when reaching the top of a mountain.
So, for the folks who've went through having had their battery pack replaced, what were the initial symptoms, preceding conditions, manufacture date of the affected i-MiEV, and weather/climate conditions? Also, charging habits and number of times turtles would be helpful.
So, initial symptoms for me was that I noticed via OVMS that the car stopped at 96%. I triggered charging with the remote (power, charge button on side, then send) and watched on OVMS as the charge dropped to 91%, then 86%, then 76% with each send of the charge command, and the car was not charging. CaniOn showed that cell #10 was .085 volts lower than the other cells. It has since drifted to .125 volts lower than the others. Preceding conditions were a few 90 degree days with non-highway driving and level 2 charging at night. I drove home Friday, left it sit for four days at 9 bars, then charged it up the night before seeing the conditions above. Totally unexpected and healthy up to this point. Bear was manufactured in February, 2012 and spent a year at the dealer before I purchased it. My local weather conditions include summertime high in the low 90's for a few days each month. Wintertime has dropped to -10 F for at least one day each for the last two winters. I try to keep my pack between 32 and 85 F by using level 1 charging in the winter and level 2 in the summer. I have turtled Bear 3 or 4 times over the last two years, with the lowest charge level of 8% when reaching the top of a mountain.
