Dealer battery calibration

I just did the 1-yr service on my i-Miev. They want to charge me an additional 100$ for a "battery calibration". From what I've read here, it seems like that's not necessary, and I might as well just get an OBDLink MX with the money and just recharge it slowly from low SoC.

Or is it good to have the capacity documented with them in case there are problems later?

Surdas

That was taken out of regular service shortly after the car hit the US. To calibrate, just run the car down to 2 bars or lower and recharge to full.

The OBDLink with CaniOn is a very wise investment.

suradasa, check out this letter from Mitsubishi:http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=263&p=1031#p1031
Even though most of us end up fully recharging (and thus top-balancing the pack) at least a few times a month, Mitsu is allowing as a full recharge from two bars only needs to be done once every couple of years :!:

I agree with PV1, Android with CaniOn and a good Bluetooth interface is better use of the money and will give you far more insight into your battery pack than a single report from the dealer.

Does anyone know exactly HOW the dealer's Mitsu test equipment actually determines battery capacity?

BTW, suradasa, whereabouts are you located (you might consider updating your profile so it shows)?

Thanks for the info. That letter is interesting - I don't think I ever received that info and I bought mine in 2013 (2012 MY). I usually only let it get down to 2 bars in winter, so I guess I should do it at "normal" temperature sometime. Is it better to recharge it L1 from low SoC?

Location is Gatineau, QC, Canada (across the river from Ottawa, ON) - just updated the profile.

From everything that I've read 'till now I probably wont be doing the battery calibration service with the dealer.
Before purchasing the car I asked the dealer what the yearly maintenance was and was told that they completely discharge the battery using the A/C or heating and then slowly recharge it to full and repeat the process 5 times. Doesn't seem to me that would be beneficial at all for the battery pack... especially from what I've read on reputable sites about InfoLithium batteries.

mixmike6 said:

...was told that they completely discharge the battery using the A/C or heating and then slowly recharge it to full and repeat the process 5 times.

Click to expand...

That would take forever! That's at least 10 hours per cycle if they use level 2 and the heater, not to mention burning up 80 kWh, literally.

If that's what they do, that's crazy. Definitely not interested. Just ordered my OBDLink MX, though.

The dealership I go definitely doesn't seem like it's full of experts on this car either.

mixmike6 said:

Before purchasing the car I asked the dealer what the yearly maintenance was and was told that they completely discharge the battery using the A/C or heating and then slowly recharge it to full and repeat the process 5 times.

Click to expand...

I can just see the i-MiEV engineers at Mitsubishi rolling their eyes over this one - another reason Tesla is doing the right thing by keeping every aspect of their car captive within their organization.

I think this is also a problem with what we have been programmed to happen. We are so used to repair and maintenance on ICE vehicles, that if we do not get any that somehow we are not doing right by our vehicle. Therefore, we make sh*t up just to feel like we are doing the right thing.

A car with no or very little maintenance is just not possible. Well, with a BEV, it is possible but the dealership still believes otherwise and is trying to profit from our ignorance.

Dave

Yea I get the impression the dealers say just about anything.
I wonder if Japan has any idea how cars are sold in North America.. I think they'd be shocked to see how misinformed clients are and how sales rep treat their clients.