My Car is Only Charging Up to 12 Bars

[9h1bw]

I have just joined and am not sure how to create a new post.
I own an iMiev for two years now and recently noticed that the km range meter is not charging up to the 120 km, and over, and am only getting around 103 km. I balanced charged twice in a row to get the cells balanced. However this did not work and the range remained the same.
What can I do?

 

[Don]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you're here . . . . but why did it take you 2 years to find us? :?:

Many things affect the number on the RR (Range Remaining) gauge, but the largest by far is how the driver is operating the car and how fast you're driving it. If your battery is charging to a full 16 bars, I would suspect it's not the battery that's giving you the lower numbers - It's more likely something the driver is doing

Don

 

[9h1bw]

Hi Dom,
Until now I did not have any problems to deal with exception that it uses up a lot of charge on going up a hill and as I live on one the range is reduced quickly. With regard to my driving style I try to drive in the ecom range. I use drive B and break with regen.
My present problem started a few months ago when I noticed that although the charge range goes to full 16 notches the km left meter is giving me a range of around 103 km instead 120 km and above. I keep a spread sheet detailing every charge I made since I bought the iMiev.

Do you have any idea why this is happening and if it is a battery fault? The battery is still under warranty.

 

[zzcoopej]

Do you have any idea why this is happening and if it is a battery fault?

You would need to go to your dealer or connect EvBatMon or caniOn to your iMiEV to find out any more regarding the source of the issue. EvBatMon displays the current Ah capacity of your battery which is an accurate indication of the state of your battery. RR can vary due to - Heater/Ac use, tyre pressure, passengers and cargo, just to name a few of the variables.

 

[kiev]

Tire pressure low?

Tire wear or alignment issue?

HVAC temperature setting not at mid point and fan set to Auto?

Colder or wetter weather in your area?

Use one of the CAN monitoring tools to see the battery condition in detail to eliminate or confirm the pack issue:

 

[9h1bw]

Thanks for both replies.

The can monitoring system should give me an indication if the battery is at fault. I have made contact with the local dealership and I am still waiting for a date. Probably they are waiting for a reply from Mistsubishi. I will give them this information to see if it speed up matters.

The only way I have to monitor the projected distance available is to keep an eye on the km left meter. Thus every time I give it a charge the amount in this meter gives me an indication of how much the battery has been charged and what autonomy I have left in them. Before I experienced this problem the km used to hover around 120km. Once I got a reading of 132km.

Do you use any other indicator?

 

[Don]

Thus every time I give it a charge the amount in this meter gives me an indication of how much the battery has been charged and what autonomy I have left in them.

No, that's not true - The 'km left meter' doesn't tell you anything at all about the health of the battery or how much charge you put into it. It is a computer generated number which approximates how far you can travel on the energy left in the battery pack based entirely on how much energy you used to travel the previous 25 kms - With no change at all in the battery, you could get 90 kms up to 140 kms after a full recharge, based entirely on your last 25 kms of travel

While it *is* true that if your battery somehow had recently lost 20% of it's normal capacity, you would also expect to see a roughly 20% drop in your meter, it's very unlikely that this would happen over a month or two or three

Personally, I would not waste my time (or money) taking it to the dealer for a 'check' as they are very likely to charge you money and tell you nothing. If/when your battery begins to fail, you will know because it will no longer be recharging to 16 bars - So long as it's recharging to a full 16 bars Mitsu isn't going to do anything to your car . . . . except charge you to tell you that it's operating normally

Don

 

[JoeS]

Completely agree with Don's posting.

9h1bw, whereabouts are you located and how much RR data do you have for cold weather / rain / slush / snow / adverse wind / driving?

If you're in the northern hemisphere, wait a few months for the weather to warm up and see what happens.

To this day I defy anyone to predict what exactly their RR will be after a full balance charge.

On the i-MiEV I just sold with almost 50,000 miles (80,000km) on it, my full-charge RR ranged from 45 miles (72km) to 90 miles (145km)!! Simply reflective of how I drove the preceding 15 miles (25km). With my wife and I having radically different driving styles, the full-charge RR number on our i-MiEVs is all over the map, yet proves to be very valuable on longer trips with consistent driving.

If you are still concerned and to repeat what others have said, get yourself a cheap Android phone or tablet with bluetooth and both CaniOn and EVBatMon and a high-speed bluetooth OBDII adapter (see those threads). Among other things, EVBatMon will tell you your battery capacity and one of the fun things with CaniOn is that it will tell you (in Wh/km) just how efficiently you drive any given trip.

 

[9h1bw]

Thank you both for your informative and helpful posts. BTW I am living in Malta with a mild climate.
I quite understand that whilst I am driving the km distance meter will reflect how I am driving and the condition of the road. In fact as soon as I switch on the airconditioner the range drops by 20km.
In my case I am reading the km left as soon as I finish charging the battery at full 16 notches and at rest. From July of last year I started noticing that I am no longer getting 120km max range but figures right down to 103km.
I understand now that if the battery is at fault it is reflected the 16 notches. That is a relief.

I do have an android tablet and I will try the software you recommend. However does the i-Miev have Bluetooth? I thought the remote control (which I have never used) works on a different RF. I will have a look at the manual.

Regards

Chris

 

[Don]

I quite understand that whilst I am driving the km distance meter will reflect how I am driving and the condition of the road. In fact as soon as I switch on the airconditioner the range drops by 20km.
In my case I am reading the km left as soon as I finish charging the battery at full 16 notches and at rest.

After a recharge, it's still telling you the same thing it's telling you while you are driving - How far you can go (now with a full recharge) based on the energy you used to drive the 25 kms before you plugged in to recharge. The computer determines how many watts you were using per km and then divides the energy in the full battery by that amount to give you a new range number. As Joe mentioned, the number you get after a full recharge can be all over the place, and frequently is, unless you drive the previous 25 kms the same exact way every time. If you are getting nearly the same number after every recharge, you have a very steady foot!

Don

 

[zzcoopej]

However does the i-Miev have Bluetooth?

To connect your Android phone/tablet to your iMiEV a Wifi or Bluetooth OBD adapter is required. For iOS only Wifi OBD adapters are supported. The iMiEV is quite fussy about the OBD so for EvBatMon we recommend Scantools LX or MX for the best connection.

 

[9h1bw]

Thanks Dom for that explanation. I never knew it worked like that.
I looked up the software you recommended and I need the obd ii bluetooth dongle to be able to communicate with the iMiev computer. I went on eBay and found a variety of dongles with varying extremes in price. I read also that one has to be careful as not all the dongles will work on the iMiev. What model number did you buy?

Regards

Chris

 

[kiev]

ScanTool LX , but beware of fakes and cheap clones on ebay--only a real LX will work.

 

[9h1bw]

Thank you all for your help. I am now more serene that I do have a problem in the battery but that I was relying too much on an inaccurate meter.

Have a nice day

Chris.

 

[PV1]

Ed5000, any updates on your situation? I take it that the dealer has the car now?

 

[ed5000]

Ed5000, any updates on your situation? I take it that the dealer has the car now?

Hi PV1, The dealer has had the car since Monday morning. At first they were not sure if its the inverter or battery pack but now they said they're 90% sure it's the battery pack. They also said that the "battery won't take a charge" which is a new development.

So far the dealer has been great to work with. They offered me a rental car but so far I'm having fun taking my folding bike on the BART train. He said the car rental didn't have any electrics anyway. I'll probably call them Friday if I don't hear from them sooner.

 

[ed5000]

I checked in with my Mitsu dealer today (Monday) and they have ordered the battery and expect it by the end of the week. He said they have to order a device to install the battery (battery lift?) as there's only one device like this on the entire West coast. It sounds like I could have the car by next week.

 

[Don]

While getting the battery replaced is a bit of a pain, it will be really NICE to have a brand new battery in your 5 year old car!

Kinda wish one of mine would crap out so I could get it replaced :lol:

Don

 

[ed5000]

While getting the battery replaced is a bit of a pain, it will be really NICE to have a brand new battery in your 5 year old car!

Kinda wish one of mine would crap out so I could get it replaced :lol:

Don

It will be very nice. It sure caught me off guard though. Wasn't expecting that. I am sure missing the car, especially at first but now I'm getting used to taking the Bart train. There's definitely a learning curve to it if you don't regularly take it.

It's a little OT but I've decided that the Bart system is a very valuable system to the Bay Area. Construction started in the 1960's when I was very young; I remember Market Street in SF being ripped open for years. Then I recently read how unique the system really is with it's early computerized controls, extra wide non-standard tracks (for speeding through corners?) and a 1000 volt drive system voltage, unique to only the Bart system (and maybe foreign bullet trains) for extra fast takeoffs between stations. Having a 330 volt I-miev and comparing to the lower voltages of my sparrow and various electric bike voltages (up to 90 volts!) I have an appreciation for that.

 

[ChaplainBill]

My car is in the dealer shop, again. I was so happy with my brand new traction battery installed via warranty last month (took over a month here in Honolulu to get it done though!) that I was thinking of leaving my newly purchased Chevy Bolt in Portland and shipping here after July. (closed the deal on Dec 28th, 2016 and already got my tax credit/refund filed=getting the whole amount as a result!). BUT. . . Went to start the I-Miev, which was showing ranges (90-96miles) comparable to when brand new, and the wonderful "Ready" bing sound did not ring!!! What a surprise ! All the dash indicator trouble lights came on, but no "ready". It was like the computer needed a reset, so I disconnected the starting battery, waited a few minutes, and tried again. No new response, just lots of lights (including engine trouble-go to dealer!),tried the next day, after attempting to charge up-no change; so I had AAA tow it in on a trailer/truck and the dealer has still (after 3 weeks) not come up with a diagnosis. They keep calling Japan, sending test results, telling me a fuse has blown, but not sure which one?? Anyone have a similar crash of the car's "operating system"???? The Mitsu service representative said a controller part/unit may need to be replaced, but no idea which one is faulty. She is really trying, but so "in the dark" about my vehicle.
Aloha, and Mahalo for any help or ideas for my sad car.