B40 fault B8 system fault

[Korbin Dallas]

This is really just to get the pcb off the cell tops. You will need to take at least one of the end caps off to get the batteries out and replace the bad cells. then the whole thing will be free to expand.
 With very slight clamping pressure on the module. remove the 2 screws marked in red that have the metal clip under the head. then remove the Allen screws on the bottom marked in green.

[Korbin Dallas]

new video added of upper module opened and running diagnostic software. notice blinking lights on the boards and the humidity numbers on the screen? This battery has been completely disassembled to look for any signs of water. then reassembled and has sat in my garage for the last few weeks with the cover off. No significant rain fall in a couple of months. Garage is very dry and comfortable to work in. Temps in the upper 80s during the day. todays humidity is 20%. I have not recorded previous humidity levels locally. So why the wide range of humidity numbers between the boards? Discuss

[EV promise]

It wonderful to see it coming together and operating in the video.
 Have you managed to find a source for the firmware and how many boards are you thinking of changing in the lower module?
I'm really impressed and hold out hope for other bikes. Hard work is paying off.

[Korbin Dallas]

The lower module I will only replace the #5 circuit board. We did get a firmware but won

[EV promise]

I think as the boards measure relative humidity, the value depends on temperature. As the chips on the boards are not calibrated to each other, the values differing by a few percent creates no real issues. Mine have a similar variation. In the housing, with the cells warm they move closer. Anything over 80% and a difference of 30% flags an issue. I'm curious to know read other thoughts.

[Korbin Dallas]

I hope to get the cover on the upper module today and connect the silica dryer to it and monitor the humidity to see if it will decrease just with that on it.

[Korbin Dallas]

More pictures added. Started build up of the lower module. Took the three batteries apart and salvaged enough good cells to make 2 batteries. I then took apart my highest voltage Brammo battery (13V). I salvaged all cells from it. no leaks or swollen cells and all at 3.40 volts. Strangely enough this was the #7 battery which is the lower rear most battery on the Brammo it is also installed upside down. The interior had a high water mark on it so you could definitely tell that water was in there.
The first cell has been on the charger for about 5 hours at 1 amp , so time will tell if we can get 4.1 out of them. by putting all the salvage cells from the brammo into one battery I can monitor their progress independent from the other batteries. they could be 3+ years older and i think the bike had 5600 miles on it . Fingers crossed

[EV promise]

Hi Korbin, quite the watermark. Was the circuit board ok in that module? Also how many cells have you needed to salvage? Looking forward to seeing the module power up and pass the on-screen tests. I'll be interested to know when it's all back together and being ridden how you felt about the repair / time taken and experience in hindsight! 
On the image with the three cleaning products, which did you think worked best on the cells and busbars? Thanks.

[Korbin Dallas]

I can't tell if the circuit board is damaged. The bike never ran under my ownership. Also I have not made the connector for the boards yet on that bike. As for the cleaning products none of them did anything. I ended up scraping the metal with a utility blade to remove the crusty stuff. then lightly sanded with 320 grit sandpaper. Some of the bars with heavy corrosion I turned upside down so the cell taps had a better surface to connect to. I have 21 cells total from all three batteries that have some form of corrosion on the tabs. There might be a way to clean them but I can not say for sure that they are not leaking. There are a couple for sure that have leaked and you can see it. So did it just spill out to the other cells? It appears that way. not taking any chances on the suspect ones. I would like to know of a way to neutralize chemically the areas where the leakage occurred. I feel like this is a viable repair...at this point...Time will tell
 

[EV promise]

I've read the leakage from the cells is hydrofluoric acid. This can be neutralises by sodium hydroxide (caustic soda)  which is readily available in small bottles from hardware stores on a cotton bud. Not something to come in contact with though so goggles perhaps. It's possible the glue / sealing methods used to seal the pouches deteriorates with age.
Yes, a valuable repair. Even if in time the pouches are replaced with 2170 cells or similar in the future.

[new-brammo-guy]

I received this from a trusted inside source regarding the Brammo batteries leaking: "I am not familiar with this failure but it appears to be water ingress to the lower module. Electrolyte leakage due to the module being inverted is unlikely in my opinion as the manufacturer claims the cells can be mounted in any orientation."

[Korbin Dallas]

I really want to believe this! So now how do we clean the cells? The cells are not swollen and have a good charge. Is there a lab somewhere that can test the cells I have removed?

[KaFr]

new video added of upper module opened and running diagnostic software. notice blinking lights on the boards and the humidity numbers on the screen? This battery has been completely disassembled to look for any signs of water. then reassembled and has sat in my garage for the last few weeks with the cover off. No significant rain fall in a couple of months. Garage is very dry and comfortable to work in. Temps in the upper 80s during the day. todays humidity is 20%. I have not recorded previous humidity levels locally. So why the wide range of humidity numbers between the boards? Discuss

From the location of the blinking LEDs on the boards, it is now clear why they are only visible from the outside on one side of the battery pack (through the sight glass at the back of the upper pack and at the front of the lower pack).

A humidity difference of 10% between modules 1 to 4 seems a lot, but I think it's ok, at least according to the data from my upper battery pack. What were the moisture values ​​before you opened this package?

When I looked at my data from 2016, the humidity in all seven modules was between 28-30%. These are probably the best values ​​that can be achieved.

I don't have the B40 and B8 problem yet, so I recently tried reducing the humidity by just unscrewing the two sight glasses of the lower package:

1st test: I unscrewed the sight glasses while charging outside, in sunny weather. The relative humidity decreased by about 5% in all three modules during charging.

2nd test: I unscrewed the sight glasses, placed a dust filter on the lower hole, and used the upper hole to vacuum the air inside the module with a hand-held vacuum cleaner for half an hour. The relative humidity decreased by about 10% in all three modules.

In both cases, the ambient humidity was about 45-50%, the temperature about +26 Celsius and a slight breeze. Unfortunately, after one or two days when the motorcycle was in the garage, the relative humidity in all modules returned to its original (higher) values.

[Korbin Dallas]

Atmospheric vent on the case at both ends next to the sight glass. I don't think we can plug this.

[Korbin Dallas]

Just an update to the progress. more pics added. apparently too many for google so I may have to split that into two groups.
Cells from the Brammo battery are still charging. I have about 8 more to do then I need to balance them. Wish I had set the power supply up to charge to the same voltage for all and just let it be. As it is now I will get it as close as I can to the 4.10v. I have seen no significant drop in voltage from the earlier cells that I charged first. So my plan then is to use 10 of the Victory cells and 30 of the Brammo. My thought is that the BMS sees the rows of 10 as one cell. So hopefully I can forecast a problem down the line if things start to go bad with the Brammo cells. Please chime in if anyone has other thoughts. I appreciate the feed back