Sv: Drammen

[cs]

Hello.

I am a proud Think City (PIV4) owner from germany.
Very happy with the car. We are very few Thinkers here in germany and know, help and meet each other.

By occasion I will be able to buy a Think 2008 in the next time. I browsed this forum to find out about the new gen Think.
Technically it is very different, more Ford than PSA parts and electrically 400 Volts to 114 Volts.

As for my Classic I have the opportunity to make a fast charge plug relativly easy I am wondering if someone has done this for the new Think.

I read about fast charging at special electric car charging stations, but that is not what I mean. I want to plug a second charger parallel to the on board charger.

Has anybody experience how to do this ?

I know 400 Volts are dangerous, but we know what we are doing, we build a 400 Volt Spyder Roadster from scratch.

Regards Chris


www.schall.de.tf (Thinkers Page in Germany)

[Go-carter]

Hello and welcome!

If I dont remember wrong, then I'm afraid of that the zebra battery isn't capable of quickcharging, and the fastest possible is about 3 hours from empty to full, if you could make a charger to it.

I'll guess someone else that know more will reply soon;-)

Es ist doch ein schönes Auto!

[cs]

Hello.

I found a MES DEA Document.
They state:

ZEBRA® batteries are normal
charged in 6-8 h (Fig. 3) and
can be fast charged with a 1
h rating up to 80% SOC.

Louis Palmer who drove around the world with his Solartaxi and Zebras writes: you can charge up to 50% in 30 Minutes.


But there is no further explanation what cut off voltage.

Chris

[Ken]

How old is this MesDea document. I have heard that later generation batteries could take a faster charge but nowhere near the  1C charge you mention.

[cs]

Hello.

The Document is from 2000. It was for the EVS17 electric car meeting.

http://eaaeurope.org/ZEBRA_EVS17_Montreal_2000.pdf

Chris

[elektrolux]

I'm no expert on the Zebra, but from the experiensed I have heard that even if the Zebra can take fast charge, its limited by temperature increase due to internal resistance, and may be limited to as little as 1 min fast charging before the charge must be limited to keep temperatures at bay.

[cs]

Hello

Yesterday I drove 150 Km with my Zebra Th!nk, my max. Range so far and used up 75% of the capacity.
This morning after 11 hours the cars was on 80%. I think it was in the calibrating mode on 80% because it didn´t charge  at that moment. After a while it started again, but then I had to drive off.

I wanted to change the EVSE Box in the charging cord because it is the 10 A Version without power button (16A).But now I got this Information from a german Think importer: if the serial on the PCU is 590.2000.E charging at 10 A is mandatory.
If you have PCU 590.2000.F the PCU can do 10 A and 16 A charge.
I sadly have the E Version, so 10 Amps....
Any comments/experience on this ?


This is one more reason to install my 350 V Zivan NG3. This will be far from fast charge but a bit more "normal world" than 14 hours.

But where is the best way to connect ? Over the heater circuit as somebody has done in the GEN1 Think ?

CS

[Go-carter]

Arv,  i think his username is. He had one of the first a306 think's, and changed something to get 16a charge. You can try to contact him :-)

[Ken]

Du må vite at de Zebra batterier in din bil kan takle høyere ladeeffekt. Det har vært en utvikling i Zebra og de nyeste kan lades hurtigere.

[cs]

Hello
The battery is a quite new one. After the company I bought it from it was exchanged this year.

CS

[cs]

Hello.

Ok, after some requests and research this is my summary (spoke with arv and oyvind and looked up mesdea docs).

10 A Charge is the limit for my Think because it has the PCU gen1 No.590.2000 E
If you have a PCU no. 590.2000.F 10 A AND 16 A charge is possible.

So my only chance is to charge with an additional charger (Zivan NG3). If I watch the voltage graph of the zebra cell, this should be carefully possible up 50 % or a bit more, with no problems.
The current from the PCU on board charger PLUS the Zivan will be around 15 Amps DC.
Only question is: where to pick up the battery pack voltage to connect the Zivan.

Regards CS

[elektrolux]

Only question is: where to pick up the battery pack voltage to connect the Zivan.

I really do not know, but what about inside the PCU?

When using additional charger(s) its wise to let the original charger control them.

My vertion of this is to use a current sensing relay to measure if the original charger is pulling power ore not.

I intend to use this: http://octopart.com/841cs8-uni-magnecraft-100983 and let it switch on additional charger if the original charger pulls over 7-8 Amps.