Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

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skooler
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Re: Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

Postby skooler » Wed Aug 13, 2014 1:13 pm

Hi Colin,

My company might be interested in taking it off your hands but given the battery is likely duff and your remote location we likely can't offer much.

Send an email to mike at indra.co.uk and we can discuss.

Cheers,

Mike
Posts by Mike Schooling
Director and tech lead at indra.co.uk

Mazda RX8, Soliton Jr, 24KWH Sinopoly LiFePO4, Kostov 11alpha
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/sh ... 61556.html

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timpootle
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Re: Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

Postby timpootle » Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:10 am

*confused*

cjstephen wrote:... I'm near Birmingham,


skooler wrote:... given ... your remote location ...


Birmingham is the least remote city in England. Maybe a good deal after all?
Tim Crumpton

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skooler
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Re: Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

Postby skooler » Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:14 am

timpootle wrote:*confused*

cjstephen wrote:... I'm near Birmingham,


skooler wrote:... given ... your remote location ...


Birmingham is the least remote city in England. Maybe a good deal after all?


Ah.... I must have got confused with another thread.... I had Elgin in my head for some reason!

Colin,

I'll happily take it if the price is right. I can arrange collection :)
Posts by Mike Schooling
Director and tech lead at indra.co.uk

Mazda RX8, Soliton Jr, 24KWH Sinopoly LiFePO4, Kostov 11alpha
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/sh ... 61556.html

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skooler
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Re: Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

Postby skooler » Sun Aug 17, 2014 8:52 pm

Hi All,

I purchased the scooter from Colin and thought I'd continue this thread with its repair.

It had 15 miles since new (2012).

Diagnosis
The reason for this appears to be a faulty battery pack. We found that the pack was not wired correctly in series and there was one connection where the positive terminal on one cell went directly to the positive terminal on another. Obviously this will be the reasoning behind the problems.

After removing the pack, each cell has been charged to 3.34v to see if it will hold a charge. 5 cells have been identified as faulty so far and have internal shorts leading to reading 0v and being fairly warm about 8 hours after charging! The remaining 15 will now sit for a couple of days to monitor any possible internal dischage. If ok after that, they will be capacity checked using a powerlab8.

As long as the cells hold up ok and give a good capactiy, my plan is to replace the faulty ones with new Sinopoly 60s which I have on the shelf. If the existing cells dont perform well enough then the entire pack will be replaced.

Findings

Some other things I have noticed after removing the fairings and digging around:

1. There is no pack fuse whatsoever! No excuse. Quite usefully I have an 80amp bussman fuse on the shelf which perfectly replaces a cell busbar.
2. Cable insulation is rated for 36v, pack voltage is 72v.
3. Cables/conduit is not orange in colour as is required when working at life voltage (48vdc+).
4. There is no 12v battery, not a major safety issue but would be nice and ties in with the next point.
5. The dcdc is switched on through the ignition barrel by switching the pack voltage input to it. This means that 72v passes through the ignition.
6. Various types, sizes and colours of cable used in the same circuit
7. Very poor crimps and joins.
8. Motor controller not secured, just sits loose under the seat.
9. No cover for the battery tray, one cell terminal bolt was had happily been knocking against the frame.

This is a complete shocker and whoever built these should not be allowed to sell to the public. The power involved can be lethal and this particular example is nothing short of a death trap.

This is exactly the kind of thing which will get conversions banned and make things extremely difficult for small carmakers in this area.

If anybody has any details on who is behind elecsoot and if they are still trading (perhaps under another name) I would be extremely interested in knowing their details. I'm thinking perhaps trading standards should be made aware?

I'll update this thread with pictures later through the restoration.

Cheers,

Mike
Posts by Mike Schooling
Director and tech lead at indra.co.uk

Mazda RX8, Soliton Jr, 24KWH Sinopoly LiFePO4, Kostov 11alpha
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/sh ... 61556.html

ChrisBarron
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Re: Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

Postby ChrisBarron » Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:10 pm

Thanks for the update Mike, nice to know it's in good hands

One request - if you're so sure it is the sort of thing which gets home conversions banned can you not pass the info to trading standards for a couple of months, I haven't got mine finished yet !

Chris

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skooler
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Re: Elecscoot E4 scooter with LiFePO4 cells

Postby skooler » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:22 am

ChrisBarron wrote:Thanks for the update Mike, nice to know it's in good hands

One request - if you're so sure it is the sort of thing which gets home conversions banned can you not pass the info to trading standards for a couple of months, I haven't got mine finished yet !

Chris


I'm going to keep it to myself for now but have documented the quality of the scooter with notes and pictures.

If elecscoot or its owners pop back up at any time I'll take action.

Further update soon. currently capacity testing the 15 remaining cells that hold charge.
Posts by Mike Schooling
Director and tech lead at indra.co.uk

Mazda RX8, Soliton Jr, 24KWH Sinopoly LiFePO4, Kostov 11alpha
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/sh ... 61556.html


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