On 02/17/2016 11:31 AM, Seth Rothenberg via EV wrote:
EVers,
With some talk about increasing battery size or adding another
compatible battery, I was thinking about this....I don't know
how complicated it is or isn't to have 2 batteries and load-balance,
and share the charger, etc.....that's fancy stuff....
but what about having a spare (charged) battery and a
transfer switch? Or, in its most primitive, a long cable
with an Anderson connector (great for POC).
The 2013 leaf battery has 3 main connections to the car. One is a +/-
high voltage power cable (200+ amps) that goes to the motor. One is a
multi-connector cable which probably has CAN bus and other 12 volt
power/signal wires. The third is a high voltage cable that goes to the
cabin heater (if you don't have the heatpump option). You would
probably need to switch them all over at once.
And of course, the battery is physically mounted with lots of big bolts
and a few grounding straps, so you would want to have a grounding cable
from the 2nd battery box to the frame of the car.
It seems to me it would be simple to manage.
Drive to work, observe Oh No! only 10 miles of range left!
Press the A/B switch, Wow! 99% remaining!
It is possible that the cars computer checks the VIN number / serial
number of the BMS of the battery, and won't work with a different
battery. (Or maybe it doesn't care....if it does care, there must be a
way to change/reset the serial number check for when Nissan replaces a
battery.)
In Phase 1, use the same onboard charger;
Charging would take twice as long...
When I get home, I plug in as is.
The next day, when my carpool drops me off,
I hit the A/B button to charge the other battery.
(Soon enough, I may have L2 charging at home,
so the change could be made in the morning
before riding in carpool)
If you can "switch" the batteries back and forth, this would certainly work.
In Phase 2, might have a second onboard charger
(might be able to get it from the SAME crashed LEAF :-).
If this worked, I could pull into a Nissan dealership
that isn't blocking the chargers....and use 2 chargers at once.
The 2013+ chargers are integrated into the power distribution block on
top of the motor stack. The 2011/2012 Leaf's used a separate charger
located in the trunk area, so it might be better to use one of those for
your secondary charger.
The question is, is there a good source of batteries
already removed? Or, is it "Easy enough" to
a) learn how to test the battery before taking apart
a strange dead car
b) get the tools needed - floor jack, dolly, custom screwdrivers, etc.
and then go to my local crashed car lot?
(I work not far from Hunts Point Auto Parts :-)
You can buy a wrecked Leaf at many auto auctions in the CA / GA areas.
The biggest issue I see is carrying around the extra battery, it sure
won't fit in the hatchback area, even with the seats folded down! You
could potentially disassemble a battery and fit it into a "box" that
would fit with the seats folded down, but then you would have lots of
heavy battery modules inside the passenger compartment without the
factory battery box around them. A trailer seems like the best bet for
detach-ability / flexibility and ability to retain the factory battery
box without modifications.
Jay
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