My LEAF at night

Copper Lugs found in Boat Store in Boulogne - New Lugs & More Crimping

Sometimes, you do not need to go very far to find what you need; This saturday moring, I went to a first boat equipment store in Boulogne, found some nice BlueSea bus bars (made of copper) but no lugs ...

In the afternoon, I tried another boat equipment store, next to La Seine, with boats for sale, and it was a huge store ! I eventually found what I was looking for: some copper lugs for 25mm² and 35mm² cables, and also 25mm², 35mm² and 50mm² copper cables by the meter 

For a start, I got two packs of 4 lugs, 25mm² with 8mm hole and 35mm² with 8mm hole too for 1 EUR and 1.5 each, which is not bad ... I can always come back anytime ...

So on sunday, I got rid of these huge aluminum cables and replaced them by shorter twin 16mm² cables, crimped togeter in one lug

Negative cable screwed onto the Battery Bank terminal

and onto the Grid Tie Inverter negative terminal

Same for positive cable

screwed on the Tyco Kilovac contactor

and on the Grid Tie Inverters

Grid Tie Inverters stack (the ESS is ON)

Et voilà !

Last charge for my 3 LiFePO4 cells pack

As explained in my last post, it is time charge the 3 LiFePO4 cells pack again, but for the last time, because now I think I tested them enough and will put them for sell online

I do not know if I already wrote this, but I am using two 12V Mascot chargers in parallel to charge twice faster this pack, and, of course, I am carefully following the voltage using my Bottom Balancer for this as a voltmeter

A clear indication of the voltage

The two Mascot (Norvegian) chargers working together

Parallel charging and single cell voltage reading

Measuring my last Mottcell LiFePO4 cells

As I already wrote few weeks ago, I made a 3 LiFePO4 cells pack with them, bottom balanced them, charged, and discharged them few times by plugging in an iPhone / iPad 12V charger, which downstages voltage to 5V anyways (so it does not have to be 12V really to work, it could be 2 cells actually)

Few days ago, around diner time, I checked the voltage of each cell, because it had been more than two weeks and we had been charging our iDevices on this mostly

You can see here the benefits of bottom balancing the cells before the first pack charge: we are reaching the lower limits of the cells and they are still in balance, coming down together:

Voltage measured still under load (iPhone is plugged in as you can see)

Cell 1 = 2.94V

Cell 2 = 2.93V

Cell 3 = 2.92V

Pack  = 8.80V

=> So, no problem, and after reffilling my iPhone fully, it will be time to recharge the pack 

Nissan to triple number of EV fast-chargers in the U.S.

Nissan is looking to make it easier for U.S. owners of its LEAF and other electric vehicles to charge their batteries when out and about. Over the next 18 months the automaker plans to add at least 500 quick-charging stations across the country, with the roll out to include the first fast-charge network for the greater Washington D.C. area.

Nissan estimates there are currently only around 160 fast chargers available for public use across the U.S., a number that is sure to exacerbate many an EV owner’s range anxiety and keep many of them tethered fairly close to home. A tripling of the existing fast-charger count will provide additional charging options and, Nissan no doubt is hoping, improve sales of EVs.

In partnership with NRG Energy, whose eVgo Network currently operates in Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, Nissan says it will work with its dealers and local municipalities to provide extra charging options through its dealer network, workplace campus locations and within local neighborhoods where drivers spend the bulk of their time.

A major part of the charging infrastructure expansion will be a network of 40 eVgo Freedom sites across the greater Washington D.C. area that will each have a Nissan fast charger that can provide an 80 percent charge in less than 30 minutes. NRG has also announced similar networks for the San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Joaquin Valley areas.

As well as the 500 public fast-chargers it plans to install in the next 18 months, Nissan says it is looking to increase on the roughly 1,500 charging stations currently available in workplaces by getting companies who already offer such technology to share their experiences with companies interested in getting on board.



Source: Gizmag & Nissan

My Vectrix turned 33,333 km

I wanted to take a picture of  this very number yesterday,
but it came right in the middle of my commute,

 so this is the closest I could photograph ...

Low Net Power used while ESS is ON

Taken this morning during breakfast, while ESS was on ... Very small Net Usage (= Usage - ESS Generation)