Chevy Volt Lithium

[swb713]

Looks good from here.
Keep us posted.

[Sergio]

Looks good but don't forget that cable from Controller B- also needs to be relocated so it goes to the "load" side of current shunt instead of directly to the battery negative connection.

Edit: Your charger negative output also needs to be connected to the current shunt "load" side.

[simicrintz]

Originally Posted by Sergio

Looks good but don't forget that cable from Controller B- also needs to be relocated so it goes to the "load" side of current shunt instead of directly to the battery negative connection.

Edit: Your charger negative output also needs to be connected to the current shunt "load" side.

Thank you for catching the cable to the shunt, Sergio! I was following wiring diagrams from the harness directions, and before I had the shunt (may be needing to order another cable now....).

Where are you seeing the charger negative wire? I guess since I haven't gotten to the charger yet I assumed (!) that I had that still to do and now I don't know where to look

Thank you VERY much for catching this and calling it out, Sergio!

EDIT: Like this (pic)? Disregard the nail holding the lines; I need to enlarge the hole on both rings to allow the large bolt on the shunt to pass through...

[Sergio]

Correct, all negatives including the charger negative (when You wire it) have to go on that "load" side (where you have the nail) of the shunt.

That is to make sure the shunt can measure any current going in or out of the pack.

It may be the angle of the picture but It looks like you have an additional wire (yellow connector) where the shunt pick-up wires connect.

If you have it needs to be removed since those small screws are only for the two wires that provide the shunt 75mV output.

[simicrintz]

Thank you, Sergio! I will address the holes on the lines that need to go to the load side of the shunt tomorrow.

I remember hooking up that yellow wire (I believe it is for the voltage reducer) but will check it as well.

Very thankful that you caught all of that and brought it to my attention!

EDIT: Confirmed that yellow wire is negative for VR. For some reason I was thinking the shunt was some big "negative distribution block" and I could put it there-DOH!!!

[Mike from Texas]

I’ve been reading and trying to make heads/tails of what’s needed to convert my 98 48V Club Car DS to Lithium.

So can someone help me understand the following:

* I have located some 2017 Chevy Volt (16 cell) lithium batteries. They are claimed to be at 67 volts nominal. He said I could remove 2 cells and get them back down to around 57-58 volts nominal as he wasn’t sure if my controller would play nice with the higher voltage. How hard is this to do?

* He also says he has a 14 cell charger so I would have to remove 2 of the cells anyway. It says that it will only charge each cell to 4.1V max?

* What is this BMS that is mentioned throughout the thread?

* Any chance my old dumb 48V charger would work? I’m thinking something would have to be installed to cut the charger off at a certain voltage because I’ve seen it over 60 volts while charging my flooded cell Trojans.

* I would be wiring (2) 55Ah packs in parallel. There seems to be concerns with this. Why would this be a problem?

Thank for answering my questions.


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[Volt_Ampere]

I have not seen how you remove volt cells from a pack. If you do that, please let us know how easy it is to do. It does not appear to be that easy to do.

[Sergio]

I have seen some videos of folks using a Dremel tool and cutting through the plastic water cooling tubes, frames, etc, it is a risky procedure to say the least.

Those metal foil connections between the cells are also tricky to rework into good low resistance connections.

[Volt_Ampere]

Originally Posted by Sergio

I have seen some videos of folks using a Dremel tool and cutting through the plastic water cooling tubes, frames, etc, it is a risky procedure to say the least.

Those metal foil connections between the cells are also tricky to rework into good low resistance connections.

It's the power connections that would interest me. The frames and cooling I could deal with. I am using Leaf modules but they are getting harder to get - and many sellers are very questionable at best. You don't know what you are getting. I plan to do another build later this spring and I need to source some cells in the next few months.

[morvolts2]

easiest way to "lose" a couple of cells is just tap them where the desired voltage is.
If you are careful you can drill a couple of 1/4" holes in the busbar portion that connect the cells and use a 2 hole compression lug to terminate

Those cells might then be used for auxiliary power,or at worst just abandon .

Its simply not worth the risk and effort to separate them for 2 or 3 cells.