PREPARATION FOR COLD SEASONS

At first I've got insulated all the doors:

Original door:


Close all holes:

































Insulation of the heating system:

Original PTC-heater:




















I'd change the 12V/32Ah lead battery with a selfmade 12.8V/48Ah LiFePO4(Headway):







Have a good trip!

Nice work with all of the insulation projects! I'm sure that's going to make a real difference this winter

I don't really understand your choice of using the Headway cells to replace the stock 12 volt battery. 1.) They are very expensive, 2.) They were designed for very high rates of discharge (up to 10C, even 15C for short bursts) which the car's 12 volt battery will never experience, and most importantly, 3.) The cars DC to DC converter was designed to recharge a standard automotove battery and not a LiFePO4 battery, so I really wonder how long your new battery is going to last - It needs a regulator to shut off the charge at a very specific voltage

If you felt the need to change out the cars 32 Ah wet cell, I think an automotive AGM would have been a better, cheaper choice, as it's more compatible with the cars installed charging system. Here's a good candidate for only $110. http://thesolarstore.com/batteries-accessories-sealed-gell-batteries-dekamk-battery-8au1h-deka-sealed-battery-p-564.html?utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=googlebase&cvsfa=3594&cvsfe=2&cvsfhu=353634

I hope your experiment works out well and your battery lasts a long time time . . . . but since you don't need a battery designed for hig discharge rates, I think the AGM would have been a better choice - It will surely be cheaper to replace

Don

Nice work on the door insulation. I'm definitely going to look into this and the heater insulation.

Thanks for the pictures.

Hey Lowracer,

We have the same car (same color and mag's).

Thanks for the pictures. I started the heater insulation on the weekend. Got most of the hoses done. It's really tight in there....

For the doors can you write up the procedure to remove the interior finishing ? I don't want to snap any plastic parts and since you have already done it you know how they come off.

Thanks again for the pictures and inspiration.

Don.....

Going to run stock and see how things go the only thing i would be worried about with what you did on the heater below the car is any salt that you get in there will be trapped and eat at the parts worse.

but besides that looks good should help you out.

Don said:

Nice work with all of the insulation projects! I'm sure that's going to make a real difference this winter

I don't really understand your choice of using the Headway cells to replace the stock 12 volt battery. 1.) They are very expensive, 2.) They were designed for very high rates of discharge (up to 10C, even 15C for short bursts) which the car's 12 volt battery will never experience, and most importantly, 3.) The cars DC to DC converter was designed to recharge a standard automotove battery and not a LiFePO4 battery, so I really wonder how long your new battery is going to last - It needs a regulator to shut off the charge at a very specific voltage

If you felt the need to change out the cars 32 Ah wet cell...

Click to expand...

I know exactly what you mean. The LiFEPO is very expensive, but it has got a very good performance! The shut off voltage per cell is 3.65Volts, 4pcsx3.65V= 14.6V
The controller charge with 70A and 14.2V! :!:
All electric power(12V&330V) you'll take with you is an big advantage.
For 2 times I run my traction battery flat, the car standing in a forest and hazard lights are flashing nearly the whole night!
If the "Battery-Turtle" comes, all 330V systems without the motor shut down.
You'll have only the 12V system, lamps, seat heating, fan, wiper.....

So, it's not a must-have, it's only an idea what's possible! :mrgreen:

Great work Lowracer

That's a major mod & improvement your doing there and lot of work.
Thanks for sharing and all the great pics.

I had a look under the car this morning using my little hydraulic jack and decided I'm not going to attempt this in my little garage without a proper lift.
Made an appointment with my favorite corner garage mechanic to evaluate the heater & pipe insulation work to be done.
Having a hard time locating the Armaflex insulation sheets locally. The pipe sleeves were easily available at the local hardware store.

I don't think I'll be doing the cabin insulation though, I'll it try this winter as is and evaluate.

Hey LowRacer, have you got a buddy with an unmodified i? It would be great to park them side-by side a few times this winter to document the rate of temperature change in each.
Otherwise- on the door insulation it looks like you covered the speaker grilles with duct tape. Doesn't that muffle the sound?

jray3 said:

Hey LowRacer, have you got a buddy with an unmodified i? It would be great to park them side-by side a few times this winter to document the rate of temperature change in each.
Otherwise- on the door insulation it looks like you covered the speaker grilles with duct tape. Doesn't that muffle the sound?

Click to expand...

At the rear doors aren't any speakers, you can close the grilles!
At the front doors are 16cm diameter speakers, cut the insulation exactly out and duct tape the insulation around the speaker!
So you'll get a much better sound!

I've checked the temperature again, it's exactly 84.5C°

very nice work! so you now have your own "winter pack".
I'm quite close to you with even colder winter.
I'm in Poland driving Peugeot iOn (same as iMIEV).
Here we have sometimes even -30C° in winter for two weeks.... but commonly rather up to -10C° between January-February....

I thought the more important thing is SALT on roads during winter period. In Poland it's very bad making big corossion when not cleaned. And I think it would be important to mount engine cover from bottom to protect against salt... what do you think?

evcar said:

very nice work! so you now have your own "winter pack".
I'm quite close to you with even colder winter.
I'm in Poland driving Peugeot iOn (same as iMIEV).
Here we have sometimes even -30C° in winter for two weeks.... but commonly rather up to -10C° between January-February....

I thought the more important thing is SALT on roads during winter period. In Poland it's very bad making big corossion when not cleaned. And I think it would be important to mount engine cover from bottom to protect against salt... what do you think?

Click to expand...

Yes, it's my own winter pack! :lol:
If you will have a garage it's better for charging the battery in the coldness.
If you charge outside at -20C°/-30C°, you must drive with tactic, after the trip charge your iOn directly.
If you will wait a few hours the battery the will be cool down (oh kurwa :roll: ) and you cannot get the full charge because the system stop the charging process!

I've seen much corrosion at my i-MiEV, I'll take a few days to spray "Teroson" protective undercoating. The engine, gearbox and the axles don't need a salt protection.

Another bad thing, at the doors, keylocks, "fuel tank caps" etc... Here's no oil and no grease!
Ok, that's not a good choice for winter time.
I had taken "Ballistol"-Spray to lube all the hinges and moveable parts...

I always thought that in Luxembourg there is no big winter... but maybe I'm wrong
Salt is BAD thing.. maybe better not to drive it in winter and keep in garage? ....

I wonder what is the highest temperature without your mod. I assume you got 85 deg celcius with maximum heat (PUSH MAX) possible?

Well I bought into this solution. Here is my take on it.

I used armaflex on everything but the heater itself. I could not find any sheet armaflex so I used styrofoam and aluminum tape since i had both those materials hangin around the house. I packed about 1 inch of syrofoamaround the entire heater with about 1.5 inch in the front between the line in and out. then sealed it all up with tape. Melting point of syrofoam is above 100 Deg C so I think I should be fine using it. I have not done any testing yet but this mod makes sense. This method of insulating is also easy to reverse or redo anytime in the future. Just cut the tape and re-pack the heater or put it back to stock.

Pretty easy to do for the heater itself but a little difficult to insulate some hoses just because it is very tight in there. It took me 3 days to finish it an hour here and an hour there.....

One thing that was easy was driving the car up on the ramps. Just engage and apply power and the car just went up in a very controled fashion.

Thanks Low racer for shareing your idea. I donèt know if I will do the doors like you did. Depends on how restless I get.

Don.....










Hmmm haveing a little problem with getting pictures to show up.....

DonDakin -

I'm about to go this route with the Styrofoam and was hoping for some feed back, - what type of foam did you use, Extruded, Pink , Blue, & how thick 1"?

If possible I would be interested to see your picture - if posting them is a problem please send them to me by e-mail
[email protected]

I made an appointment with my mechanic & looking at insulating mine doing the following

1) I will cover the heater wrapping it tightly with aluminum foil and aluminum tape - like a turkey in the oven - LOL

2) Install tube insulation sleeves on the pipes and wires coming from the heater and tape the ends using high heat tape.

3) Then make a box using 1" styrofoam & Aluminum tape , cutting away to allow the pipes and wires to fit through the sides.

4) I will drill some holes in the Styrofoam so I can shoot some low expansion spray foam
(Like the kind they use for windows and doors). The spray foam is rated for temperature over 100c (it's marked on the can) so it should be fine for our heater

5) I might wrap all the Styrofoam box using the aluminum foil tape on the outside to protect it before replacing the plastic cover.

Likewise if I ever need to get at the heater I can easily remove the insulation by cutting it away - it will not be stuck on.

Any words of wisdom you may have are welcomed.

Sandy

I've been thinking of covering the heater with 1 inch thick foil backed duct insulation. It has an R4 rating. This stuff:

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...gId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

Any thoughts? How would this compare with the styrofoam insulation Don has used (I hope you can get the pictures up)?

tony

DonDakin said:

Hmmm haveing a little problem with getting pictures to show up.....

Click to expand...

Don, try posting the pics on http://imgur.com/ and inserting links here.

tony

I think your duct insulation would be a better product than the foam for what you're trying to do
1.) It's foil backed and the aluminum duct tape was designed specifically for it
2.) It's fiberglass, so it would be better at higher temps
3.) It can be squished and squeezed to fit places where the harder foam boards would present problems

Don

I considered a similar product but uncertain for maximum temperature, rating - and the mat could absorb water and salt like a sponge - could be a problem

Hi There,

I put the pics on skydrive and it didn't work to well in the forum. I'll send you a link with the pics.

Like I said it's tight in there for the hose insulation. I didn't remove anything to do this but if you are willing to start removing things it might be a bit easier to work.

For the heater itself there is very little room above and below it. Less then an inch. I put about 3/4 inch on the top and same on the bot. Still had some trouble to get the black plastic proctector back in the same position but it can be done. You have to do some "fitting" just get some 3/4 inch syrofoam. Mine was flat sheets left over from packing material. I had to break it into pieces and jam it in here and there. then I covered it in tape. I was not able to get any tape on the top. I just wedged 3 sections on the top inbetween the heater and the body of the car. It's really tight so it's not going anywhere. I think if you insulate most of the area and then pack it how every you can even with fibreglass wool in any irregular areas you will do just fine. Just get some aluminum tape and seal it up nicely.

I think it's a hard mod to measure the improvement. I'm sure it's worth it. Most of the improvement will be when the car is moving in very cold air. I think you might get slightly hotter air in the cabin but more importantly I think it will take less power to keep the air at the same temp.

Here is another try for the pics (Thanks Tony)

http://imgur.com/a/rhHhm/embed

Don......

Thanks Don
The link for the pictures works.
I'll be doing mine next week