My Blingo battery change report.

[ChrisB]

Well I've finally managed to secure another Blingo electric with what appears to be a good set of batts in her but with a dead field winding on the motor.
I've carried out a maint charge and topped up the batts and they all seem fairly happy, well so they should they are 2001/2002 units
So my next plan is to pull the packs out and then put these into my running van which has batt probs. Mainly batts with holes in never a great idea for batts.

Anyhow I could do with a weather improvement first before I start to pull the packs.

The other option would be to change the motors over, but on thinking about this I'm wondering if the controller might not like this so much also my old van is slightly better condition than the new one so I think I'll stick with the battery change.

I post some pics as I do the swaps and also do a little write up for those who might want to change there packs in the future.

ChrisB

PS I have started to change the batts over, dont forget to look at page 2 for all the pictures and report.

[ChrisB]

Right I've now got from E-bay some Air Bag Jacks to assist with the battery removal.

Not sure if they are going to be of any help but it seemed a good idea at the time

I just want some decent weather now

ChrisB

[johnandpam]

Congrats Chris hope all goes well. You should get your money back selling spares unless you want to keep everything, Blinko's seem to be worth more dead than alive, people always need spare bits. Pam n John

[ChrisB]

They do seem to fetch ridiculouse amounts on e-bay I know

I think its due to the spares issue, or rather lack of

I'm going to be keeping everylast nut and bolt of this one to keep the mine running, I may even pull the motor out and get the feild windings looked at.

I must really thank John the BVS chairman for selling it to me, as it was his orginally, before putting it on e-bay, John and I go back a few years now as he actually bought my CF from me that I owned many years ago.

ChrisB ( still hoping for a nice weekend to be able to get on taking the batts out )

[floydster]

How reliable is the Electrique? I had a Berlingo Diesel for a while and it chewed up suspension bits like nothing I've ever owned before! Snapped all four springs and had to replace the drop links about every eight months.

Maybe I had my usual bad!

Floydster.

[ChrisB]

I'll let you know once I get mine running again

I find the vehicle actually quite nice , well I did for the short time I used it before the pack blew up

ChrisB

[floydster]

Other than the suspension problems it was great. Very comfy over long distances, regularly used it for 300 mile round trips.

Had a multispace before it and it was so well thought out. Would be great to see an Electrique multispace, would be much more useful than all the other electric city cars.

[ChrisB]

Right , well today I have started with the task of pulling the spare bingo apart and getting the packs out.

Started with getting the controller out , then the little petrol heater and finally undoing the pack from behind the controller.

Nothing too tricky so far, in fact I was surprised as how easy this first bit was.

Managed to pull the pack towards the front of the engine bay but as it weighs around 55KG gave up at that point and will have friend help me out with it tomorrow.

Remember when working on these vans that :-

a) You are looking at 162 volts DC nominal at the controller and you want to remove all fuses and links from ALL the packs before you fiddle with anything just to be on the safe side.
b) The packs are VERY heavy and you really need 2 people to handle them.
c) I would highly recomend wearing goggles and any other safety clothing you feel is required, certianly goggles/safety shoes are a must but you might want to also wear cloves.
d) If you are actually going to take the packs apart again be aware that you will be dealing with a LOT of stored energy, and I would suggest using fully insulated tools once the covers are removed, even if the packs or batteries are considered flat or duff you may still get a large flash over if you where to short a pack out in an un controlled way.
e) I would say have a bucket of water handy as an emergancy washing facility, we also had a hose pipe handy, especially if you are dealing with packs that have damaged batteries in as there is a high likley hood that electrolyte will spill from the center drain in the pack and it may be mixed with anti freeze.
f) Lastly it would be a good idea to have a fire extinguisher handy.....just incase.

Feel free to add to that list, but I wouldnt take anything off the list to be honest.


Pics coming soon.

ChrisB

[ChrisB]

Day two:-

Started a bit slow due an unexpected visit from some friends.

Anyhow at about 11.45am we got started and pulled the front back clear with ease, next up was a quick run around disconnecting stuff cables pipes etc
The worst bit of the front lower pack is removing the nasty little clips that hold plastic covers around the wheel arches on and the two pipe clips that are mounted on the top front edge of the pack that are just behind the rad, a complete pain to get to.

The air jack idea isnt looking too useful at the moment as they appear to be a little unstable, but I'm hoping they will help the center back down.

Right back out to do some more.

ChrisB

[floydster]

Any more updates?

Floydster