6003 replies to this topic

[leehenty]

Charged up the lithium battery to keep it tip top and looked at it, then swore as the snow came down as I got a 1935 Ferguson tractor to sort out.

[fixitsan]

Charged up the lithium battery to keep it tip top and looked at it, then swore as the snow came down as I got a 1935 Ferguson tractor to sort out.

A couple of years ago , a family member who was moving back to  Ireland encouraged me to be the new custodian of his grey Fergie, which I dodged because I really don't have the space.

 

Handy for when it snows I suppose. He used to drive it in winter from his manse just outside Perth to see his parishners in isolated areas, because cars couldn't travel on the snowbound roads, with his sheepdog on board, just like the postcards. It now lives just outside Belfast

 

It's the 'dual fuel' petrol/kerosene (or paraffin ?)  one, with upgraded 12V electrics.

 

I kinda wish I had it now !

[Pantboy]

Not done today, but a while back my brother was bored and wanted a suggestion for something to print on his 3d printer or an electronic project, this was the result of my suggestion
.

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•  IMG_20210212_120357139.jpg   175.11KB   0 downloads
•  IMG_20210212_120138127.jpg   185.34KB   0 downloads

[dablik]

Hard to tell from the photo's, will the lens cover fit back on..

[Pantboy]

Yep, it sure does

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•  IMG_20210212_120855158.jpg   142.17KB   0 downloads

[leehenty]

Well impressed with that light
Tractor is TE20 TVO, petrol paraffin. By the way. Froze to death taking it to bits.

[dablik]

Nice job Pants, much better than oem..

[chrisbee]

Yep, it sure does

Are these going into production???
They look great, and loads brighter than OEM
Cheers
Chris

[fixitsan]

Well impressed with that light
Tractor is TE20 TVO, petrol paraffin. By the way. Froze to death taking it to bits.

 

TVO ! Yes that was it.

 

I fancy rocking up to the local Asda on one

[Dickiebig]

My uncle had one and spent years restoring it.

[leehenty]

Popped it on the lithium battery charger, dusted it off lovingly and put it back under it's wool blanket until better weather.

[fixitsan]

Popped it on the lithium battery charger, dusted it off lovingly and put it back under it's wool blanket until better weather.

 

Lee, which model of battery do you have ?

 

Some of the lithium batteries, mine included, have a built in charge/optimiser circuit, to prevent overcharge/overdischarge and it also 'balances' the cells to keep them at equal voltage, which allows a standard charger to be used.

 

About 2/3rds down this page there is a photo and description of what the management/balancing circuit is for, and what it looks like in a lithium motorcycle battery

http://www.fastbikeg...id=18&chapter=1

 

Any battery with one of those circuits will allow the use of a standard 12V charger. An old style mains transformer and rectifier type charger is not ideal (the rectified AC peaks at 50Hz can confuse the internal circuit), so a modern 'smooth DC' linear or switch mode supply is best.

 

A simple way to tell if your battery has a management circuit is to connect a small load to it and let it discharge while monitoring the voltage. With mine, branded as 'Shido' once the voltage drops to about 10.5V the internal circuit disconnects the cells from the terminals. At that time the battery presents as completely flat. This is something which I think will cause some people to throw them away early, and in fact that's how I bought mine for £10, taking a punt on the basis that it had just reached the 'low voltage cutoff limit'. I applied 14V DC from a bench power supply and after 2 minutes the management circuit kicked in, reconnected the cells and I measured 11.2V (off charge)....then proceeded to charge as normal.

 

The benefit of a managed battery is that unlike a lead-acid, where a vehicle alarm or another parasitic load constantly slowly flattens the battery, ruining the cells, the management circuit protects the cells from overdischarge (which makes lithium 'sensitive')  and it means that the chance of recovering a lithium which has drained down is higher than with a lead acid. It does also mean though that when the volts drop to 10.5 the alarm, any tracker or other permanently connected parasitic device suffers a power cut.

 

A bit on the balancing circuits, there are two types, known as passive and active.. A passive circuit is one which acts as a voltage limiter on each of the internal 4 cells (3.6V max each for LiFePO4 ). As each cell reaches peak voltage most of the charge current is bypassed around that particular cell through a resistor, until all 4 cells are at peak voltage. An active management circuit is one where during the charge cycle, power for one of the cells which is charging more quickly is shuttled to the cells which are charging more slowly, taking away the need to allow time after charging for balancing to occur

 

I think most of the lithium vehicle batteries use passive balancing, and this means that the balancing action of the circuit doesn't work unless the input voltage is at least equal to the battery's maximum voltage. It also means that if you monitor the charging current, even when the cells are fully charged you might measure some current flow, because the charge current is then being bypassed through the internal resistors ....assuming the management circuit doesn't disconnect at that point, because some of them don't disconnect at full charge, yet.

 

Most of this I had to learn for building the battery management circuit of my electric bike, with 800 individual cells !  (Arranged into groups of 18 series 'packs', based on my lead acid management system)

 

Bottom line, if the battery has a management circuit then a nice smooth 14V DC supply can charge it. When you think about it, when you fit a lithium battery you don't need to make any modification to the bikes charging circuit, it just supplies a reasonably smooth 13.8 - 14.2V....so if the bikes charging circuit which used to charge the lead acid can work, so too can a bench supply, or modern switch-mode charger.

Edited by fixitsan, 20 February 2021 - 11:04 am.

[Gdogg]

Yep, it sure does

That is neat Pantboy, good job
Not that I require one but would you knock some up and sell on ?

[Sphere]

Well today, I've done this

 

Started here....

 

 Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.31.png   234.43KB   2 downloads

 

Then did this.....

 Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.47.png   225.48KB   2 downloads

 

Ended up with this....

 

 Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.10.png   423.77KB   2 downloads

 

Turned out lovely. Well chuffed.

 

Had to celebrate with cake 

[Studley Ramrod]

Top job Sphere.

[Apache]

 
Bottom line, if the battery has a management circuit then a nice smooth 14V DC supply can charge it. When you think about it, when you fit a lithium battery you don't need to make any modification to the bikes charging circuit, it just supplies a reasonably smooth 13.8 - 14.2V....so if the bikes charging circuit which used to charge the lead acid can work, so too can a bench supply, or modern switch-mode charger.[/quote]

Exactly, stator generates AC, rectifier converts to DC, DC charges battery. Never understood all the different chargers. I've had the Same 4A self regulating car type charger for 30 years or more and charged acid, AGM and leisure batteries no problem......I was in the garage today checking stuff and the 4TX and old Triumph have Motobatt AGM installed and haven't had any charge since September. Both showing 12.4 / 12.5. Impressive methinks

Well today, I've done this
 
Started here....
 
Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.31.png
 
Then did this.....
Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.47.png
 
Ended up with this....
 
Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.10.png
 
Turned out lovely. Well chuffed.
 
Had to celebrate with cake 

Nice, what's involved Sphere ? New cover only or cover and foam ? I've got a spare seat to experiment on......

[Sphere]

Nice, what's involved Sphere ? New cover only or cover and foam ? I've got a spare seat to experiment on......

 

 

New cover only, from Top Sellerie in France, not cheap though. With shipping costs just over £70.

 

Fitting wasn't that hard, but you do need a powerful stapler to re-attach the new cover, that plastic Yammy use for the base is tough stuff! You do need a bit of patience, getting it all lined up and gradually pulling it taut and looking out for creases.

 

For me it was worth the cost, this has been my winter/lockdown project, everything has been serviced and cleaned. Only job remaining is valve clearances and cam chain tensioner. As I plan for this to be a keeper, those can wait until it hits the 24k miles.

 

I think this makes the whole look of the bike much more up to date, without losing it's character and distinctive TDM style.

 

 Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 22.09.34.png   426.3KB   0 downloads

Edited by Sphere, 20 February 2021 - 10:36 pm.

[fixitsan]

Well today, I've done this

 

Started here....

 

Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.31.png

 

Then did this.....

Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.47.png

 

Ended up with this....

 

Screen Shot 2021-02-20 at 19.53.10.png

 

Turned out lovely. Well chuffed.

 

Had to celebrate with cake 

 

Nice one Sphere, how have you secured the edges ?

[fixitsan]

 
....I was in the garage today checking stuff and the 4TX and old Triumph have Motobatt AGM installed and haven't had any charge since September. Both showing 12.4 / 12.5. Impressive methinks

That is good, I wonder what it might have been in the recent cold snap

 

My TDM900 battery was 12.3 last week at -5 Celsius, and now it's warmed up to 11 degrees today it's 12.5V

Edited by fixitsan, 21 February 2021 - 10:22 am.

[leehenty]

Mines a Shido and has a BMS
Just fitted Hel performance braided lines all round.