<VV> Electric Corvairs

Fri Dec 2 08:56:05 EST 2011

We attended the Detroit Homecoming this last August and after the club visit 
to the Heritage Center, I walked back to the rear of the building where our 
trailer was parked. GM also operates the building immediately to the west of 
the Heritage Center, and at least 50-60 Volts were parked in rows out back. 
The entire rear of the building was filled with Volts on lifts, in various 
stages of deep maintenance, many with RH front wheels removed. This didn't 
look like any regular pre-delivery checks going on. It resembled a bunch of 
cars that had serious drive problems that needed attention, in a hastily 
prepared post-production area. Too bad, I was originally rooting for the 
success of this car.

Mel Francis
Oconomowoc, WI
Monza SS replica

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ricknorris at suddenlink.net>
To: <info at california-camping.de>; <jvhroberts at aol.com>; 
<joelsplace at earthling.net>
Cc: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 5:44 AM
Subject: Re: <VV> Electric Corvairs

> So,
> Concerning GM's problems with the Chevy Volt and recalls...means they have 
> a revolting development!
>
> Chester A. Riley (look it up)
>
> ---- jvhroberts at aol.com wrote:
>>
>>  It's not so much the same voltage among the cells, it's the issue of 
>> overcharging/undercharging any given cell, which is utterly fatal to 
>> Li-ion cells. As such, each cell needs to be monitored and charged 
>> individually. Look at a laptop battery connector. The number of terminals 
>> is the number of cells +1 for that reason.
>>
>> Fortunately, thanks to cheap integrated circuits, there's lots of chips 
>> out there that do exactly that function, and lots of times, they're built 
>> right into the battery.
>>
>> That way, the battery, at the end of charge, has all the cells fully 
>> charged and none overcharged. Also, when the battery is discharged, the 
>> battery shuts down when any one cell hits the low voltage threshold.
>>
>>
>>
>> John Roberts
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ulli Dittmar <info at california-camping.de>
>> To: Joel McGregor <joelsplace at earthling.net>
>> Cc: virtualvairs <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
>> Sent: Thu, Dec 1, 2011 5:47 pm
>> Subject: Re: <VV> Electric Corvairs
>>
>>
>> The major thing on charging lithium -Ion batteries is that any cell has 
>> to have
>> almost the same voltage - there is a min/max difference between the 
>> single cells
>> of 0,01 Volt.
>> This is the challenge to any charging unit- the charging is the key to 
>> have a
>> reliable system and enduring batteries. You have to monitor any single 
>> cell and
>> have to have a monitoring and a charging curve for any cell in the 
>> system.
>>
>> Ulli
>>
>> * This E-Mail was made with 100% recycled electrons!
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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>>
>>
>> California-Camping.de by blendend
>>
>> Ulli Dittmar
>> Ahornweg 4a
>> D.85354 Freising
>>
>> Tel.: +49 - (0)81 61 - 533 84 78
>> Mobil +49 - (0)172 - 850 53 74
>> Fax +49 - (0)81 61 - 533 84 79
>>
>> www.california-camping.de
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 01.12.2011 um 22:41 schrieb Joel McGregor:
>>
>> > The car batteries are treated much better.  I think the computer in the 
>> > car
>> keeps the charge level between 10 and 90% or something like that.  They 
>> all have
>> cooling systems for the batteries too.  Heat and over/under charging are 
>> the
>> quickest way to kill Lithium-ion batteries.  Most laptops will completely 
>> charge
>> and discharge the battery which supposedly shortens the life 
>> significantly.  My
>> experience with laptops is that newer batteries are much worse than older 
>> ones.
>> I have a Compaq R3000 that is about 8 years old and the battery is still 
>> fine.
>> A lot of other laptops I've had the battery starts degrading quickly 
>> after about
>> a year.  My Fujitsu charges the battery to 100% but won't start charging 
>> again
>> until it drops below 92-94%.  The Fujitsu will completely self discharge 
>> in a
>> couple of weeks where the Compaq only loses around 2%.  I've had much 
>> better
>> luck with cell phone batteries but my phones all quit charging when the 
>> battery
>> gets hot.
>> > Corvair content:  The laptop I use to monitor/tune the Megasquirt in my 
>> > '65
>> has about a 10 year old battery in it and only lasts about 2-3 minutes 
>> which is
>> good enough for when the inverter drops out when I'm starting the car.
>> > Joel McGregor
>> > ________________________________________
>> >
>> > If lithium-ion batteries are so long lived, then why do the ones we use 
>> > in
>> > our laptops die out after 4 or 5 years?  The first one I got with my 
>> > Dell
>> > lasted a little over 4 years and the second one is already down almost 
>> > 40%
>> > in  capacity after about 3 years of use.  My usage is primarily plugged 
>> > into
>> > 120 volts AC with only very occasional use on only the Li-ion battery.
>> > What aging experience do the rest of you get with the Li-ion batteries 
>> > in
>> > your laptops??????????
>> >
>> > Frank Burkhard
>> > Boonton, NJ
>> > _______________________________________________
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