How to remove main battery pack?

[bennelson]

Hi folks,

I'm working on a salvaged Mitsubishi i-Miev and I need to remove the MAIN battery.

After taking off the belly pan, it's pretty obvious what bolts to pull that hold the pack to the frame of the car. After that, it would just be lowered, similar to removing a large gas tank.

However, it is NOT obvious how the high-voltage (orange) power cables are removed from the pack. Has anyone ever removed the main battery? What's the trick to taking off the orange cables?

(Yes, I've already pulled the service plug.)

 

[bennelson]

Aha! I figured it out.

Removing the small access panel reveals the actual power connections. I remove the bolt holding in the electrical terminal and then the bolt on the outside, and the cable pulls through the case.

Any info from anyone who has ever pulled a battery is still appreciatted!

 

[RobertC]

The Mitsubishi iMiEV 2012 Service Manual CD is available for $125.00 from Helm. Here's the link:
http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result....12&Category=&Keyword=&Module=&selected_media=
The service manual contains detailed instructions on how to remove the traction battery, and it is in the form of pdf files.
I would love to have a salvage iMiEV. How did you find yours?
Thanks,
RobertC

 

[Logandzwon]

When the dealer swapped my batter they had to use a special lift Mitsubishi shipped them special from Japan. It was almost as large as the car itself.

 

[RobertC]

It looks like the instructions are also available online at the following link:
https://www.mitsubishitechinfo.com/epacarb/2012 I Dismantling guide.pdf
It looks like you can use a rolling cart with a couple wooden 4x4's if you have a lift available.
I would pay special attention to the high voltage warnings.

 

[DonDakin]

Hello,

I would love to see some pictures of the work you are doing.

If you could post some pics of the battery and the process that would be great.

Don......

 

[Llecentaur]

Yes, please document the work you are doing, this is going to be useful in a few years as we will have to upgrade the batteries.

By the way, why are you taking out the battery pack. Are the batteries totaly out or are you aiming to repair some other damage ?

Maybe an opportunity to search around the market for other battery packs with more interesting data...

Keep us posted.

 

[RobertC]

Here is Ben Nelson's hurricane Sandy flooded i-MiEV project on YouTube. I believe that Ben purchased the i-MiEV at a salvage auction in North Carolina where it had been transported from the Mitsubishi dealership on Staten Island (which really got slammed from Sandy). Ben then had the i-MiEV shipped to his home in Wisconsin. It looks as though the car may have been completely submerged in salt water. These are great videos and are very informative, but prepare yourself because it's a horror show. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmHss3DBZUikU6Iae3UlaNH73UojlDIkM

 

[aarond12]

Interesting videos. I wonder if Yuasa would be interested in taking the battery back to see how a flooded pack did filled with salt water. Maybe they will give him a "core return" on the flooded battery and give him a new battery less the core return.

 

[JoeS]

Ben's writeups and videos are posted on this website, in chronological order starting from the bottom:

http://300mpg.org/

 

[fjpod]

I'm pretty sure I test drove that car. I am from SI and visited that dealer before the storm. Although it's a shame what happened to the car, the damage to people's homes in the area is still a major problem.

 

[peterdambier]

The radical cure - clean the car as best as you can. Forget ECU and BMU and maybe the inverters and try to feed the motor from an ac controler. I'd take motor and transmissing apart and clean them first. This could make a nice conversion and interesting to compare it to an original i-MiEV.

I'd be afraid to try charger and inverters.

 

[Llecentaur]

This project could be very helpful to our community in about 6 years. Please all techies, support this.

And documentation would be highly appreciated.

Totally wild idea, what about putting some funds for that research and documentation ?

I am talking of hundreds, not thousands.

Makes any sense ?

Of course if OP agrees and commits to the task.

 

[Don]

I'd be afraid to try charger and inverters.

I think the charger and the inverter may be two of the few things he can actually save - They weren't powered when the car got wet, so cleaning them well with fresh water, and drying everything, they may be salvageable

Nothing's going to be cheap, but if he can somehow get 330 volts worth of 50ah Optimas to fit under there, he may well have a driveable car there one day . . . . it'll maybe have a tad less ground clearance, but still a driveable car

I really appreciate him documenting everything so well - We're all going to lear a lot about our cars by following his adventures!

Don

 

[sandange]

Quite the Project , totally enjoying the video documentation
bennelson - I appreciate the effort, and work evolved and thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[jray3]

Thank you RobertC! That dismantler's guide is a much quicker reference. It also settles any debate about water tolerance; 20" is enough to guarantee that the pack will get flooded. Now that the 'guaranteed dead' depth is established, I wonder what the safe depth limit might be (excluding turbulence from driving, waves, etc., and all bets are off for saltwater immersion). 6-12" of non-flowing water over the road was a regular seasonal occurance where I grew up in Louisiana, and one learned their vehicle's limitations quickly...
This review claims that the Mitsu water driving test was for 30 cm (11 13/16").
http://www.cbt.com.my/2012/04/27/i-miev-test-real-world/
That's a good number, and a deeper puddle than I'll EVer voluntarily enter!

 

[RobertC]

Ben Nelson has some new articles and videos of his flooded i-MiEV.
They can be viewed here:
http://300mpg.org/2013/04/29/stripping-lithium-cells/
http://300mpg.org/2013/04/30/i-miev-charging-lithium/
In the first article he removes the remaining cells in the battery pack, shows the regular and quick charge ports, shows the high voltage cables under the car, and washes the car.
In the second article Ben updates the progress of charging the cells.

 

[MLucas]

Was wondering what was going on with this project. Definitely learning more about my car as he disassembles it. Too bad that battery is too far gone to do anything with.

 

[JoeS]

As I mentioned on another thread, Ben was kind enough to respond to my request and has provided a video of the fan in his (CHAdeMO-equipped) battery pack. Here's the link to that video of the fan:

http://300mpg.org/?p=2382

I bet he'll be able to salvage a fair number of cells and they would certainly be usable in another EV if he doesn't want to rebuild this pack.

 

[Don]

Neat!

I'm guessing this fan is one of several differences between CHAdeMO equipped cars and all others? If 'ordinary' cars do not have this fan installed, it would explain why some cars do not have the fan noise when plugged in for charging

Kudo's (again) to Ben for all the helpful videos and documentation he's providing while disassembling his project car

Don