What should be in imiev toolkit ?

[Ozimiev]

I'm going through the boxes of bits out of my V8 trade in and thinking of what should be in my new imiev toolkit.

The plug spanner and spare spark plug can go and maybe the welding cable jumper leads. The old fan belt is out along with the can of aerostart and the 10 litre gerry can etc.

But what to put in ?

I'll still go the tow rope and roll of gaffa tape and the multimeter, but perhaps a new one made this century.
Some screwdrivers and spanners.
Must check on fuses and headlight globes.

I'd like a spare J1772 charging cable though they are quite pricey. Its just that if the charge cable gets stollen or damaged it would make life rather difficult.

Maybe a long 15A extension lead ?

Any ideas on what should be in a good imiev toolkit ?

 

[Don]

Maybe a long 15A extension lead ?

Maybe a short one and a Honda EU-2000i genset? It could replace the tow rope

Don

 

[Ozimiev]

Mmmm, retro series hybrid by genset.
EU-2000i is rated at 1600W continuous. I'd need a J1772 control box to limit onboard charger to that power (usually 2200W at 230V)

I'm never planning to run out of battery range though !
But if ....
I was thinking of getting a tow for a few km with transmission in B.
That would put some 16kW regen rate back to pack ?
8 times faster than a genset ?

Anyone tried that ?

 

[MLucas]

The owners manual clearly states this car can not be towed with any wheels on the ground or you'll risk damaging the motor, controllers and batteries. When I got my car, there was a big sticker on the windshield that said in International Language - Flatbad Tow Only!

I don't think you'll need a toolkit for this car. It will never break down on you, the motor will outlive the car and you. If any of the wires become exposed, you probably shouldn't touch them especially the Orange wrapped wires which are High Voltage. All the rest of the components are solid state black boxes, no amount of wrenching on those is going to fix the problem.

You are left basically with three things that could go wrong with the car: Flat Tire - there is a tire fix kit under the back seat for this, Dead Starter Battery - that is the one up front, the car won't start or charge if this is dead, you'll need a jump for that or replace the battery, Main Bat Pack Depleted - have the car flatbed towed to a charge point and recharge.

This car is trully that simple. Your first maintenance is at 15,000 miles/24,000 kilometers and it only covers three simple things like get the Bat Pack SOC, replace the in-cabin air filter and something else I can't remember right now.


Like my old motorcycle mechanic told me once about my motorcycle: Change the Oil, Put air in the tires and Ride the Damn thing! Well, I'll modify this for the electric car: Charge the Bat Pack, Put air in the tires and Drive the Damn thing!

 

[Don]

I don't think you'll need a toolkit for this car. It will never break down on you, the motor will outlive the car and you.

It's largely an electronic 'gizmo' so it can fail just like any other high-tech device . . . . but it's pretty unlikely you're going to be able to fix it on the side of the road no matter what you've got in your 'toolkit' and as you said, you're not supposed to tow it anyway

I'm with yoou though - I don't plan to carry any 'tools' in it - The worst that could happen is it quits about 35 miles from home and then a phone call to a towing company would have it back to the dealership (on their dime) for a warranty repair

Don

 

[Ozimiev]

Yeah, probably right there. Not much toolkit required.
I'm a bit old school with vehicles, thinking that I can kick the right spot and get the thing going again.

It will be interesting to hear of any problems folk have and what the solutions were.

A point on the towing.....
Absolutely yes, with a PMAC motor there is risk of damage to the controller by EMF generated from those neomidium magnets spinning around and the controller not being awake. The motor is a 3 phase alternator producing power even if the controller is not powered up.
So Don't tow a dead/not 'ready' or even in neutral imiev..... get a flat bed.

However, what I was thinking of was normal regeneration.
Consider the imiev on,ready,running battery(s) not flat (yet) and being driven down a hill. Steep enough for regen.
For instance regening at 40-60kmph and 16kW going into the pack (needle pegged at the LHS of blue). On a few hills near me this is possible for 10 minutes or so.

This is normal operation for regen and in this case equivalent to a 16kW charger being used in terms of power back to the battery. The whole imiev system is built for that.
Consider the same 'live' vehicle being towed, in 'B' say. The key here is that the vehicle is operating normally.
I can see no problem with that.

Thoughts ?

edit: spyelng

 

[Don]

In theory I think what you're proposing *should* work - So long as everything is working properly (key on, 12 volt battery good and the ready light on) then towing the car in the 'B' mode *should* charge the battery . . . . but we're not going to test that theory out using my car

Don

 

[jray3]

A point on the towing.....
Absolutely yes, with a PMAC motor there is risk of damage to the controller by EMF generated from those neomidium magnets spinning around and the controller not being awake. The motor is a 3 phase alternator producing power even if the controller is not powered up.
So Don't tow a dead/not 'ready' or even in neutral imiev..... get a flat bed.

However, what I was thinking of was normal regeneration.
Consider the imiev on,ready,running battery(s) not flat (yet) and being driven down a hill. Steep enough for regen.
For instance regening at 40-60kmph and 16kW going into the pack (needle pegged at the LHS of blue). On a few hills near me this is possible for 10 minutes or so.

This is normal operation for regen and in this case equivalent to a 16kW charger being used in terms of power back to the battery. The whole imiev system is built for that.
Consider the same 'live' vehicle being towed, in 'B' say. The key here is that the vehicle is operating normally.
I can see no problem with that.

Thoughts ?

Absolutely should work, I've discussed it in a number of posts as "forced regen" that this search will bring up.
http://myimiev.com/forum/search.php?keywords=forced+regen&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search\\