Anti_Climax
Well-known member
Depends on the temp. At 120-something it forces a stop. Below that is a range where it's degraded performance and below that a range where there's no error but it's totally bypassing the cabin evaporator.
SSN Fix: DIY Upper HV Pack Heat Exchanger (Cooling Plate) Removal
- Thread starter skyguy_6153
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Anti_Climax
Well-known member
How hot did it get though? Was it a yellow warning or a red warning?
Anti_Climax
Well-known member
Had to unplug my charger and the car sat in the PHX sun all day. Can confirm, hybrid battery temp of 122 gave a "stop now" message.
Changed to "severely limited performance" with a red turtle at 121-120F. When it switched the battery indicator (which was up above 99%) showed 0 miles range and began counting up to 95+ miles.
At 118-117F the turtle went yellow and just "limited performance"
At 114-113F the warnings went away but AC was still fully redirected to the battery loop.
At 112-111F, the AC began working in the cabin.
Changed to "severely limited performance" with a red turtle at 121-120F. When it switched the battery indicator (which was up above 99%) showed 0 miles range and began counting up to 95+ miles.
At 118-117F the turtle went yellow and just "limited performance"
At 114-113F the warnings went away but AC was still fully redirected to the battery loop.
At 112-111F, the AC began working in the cabin.
Quick addendum here:
Ford addressed this issue in the 33.5 kWh packs by adding clamps to keep the cell stacks compressed. At first glance, this seems like something that it would to be easy to retrofit the 23 kWh packs with. However while there is plenty of research on compressing new pouch cells, I could not find any on compressing aged pouch cells.
My concern is that the pressure would crush the hollow heat exchanger plates and we'd be right back at square 1. The ideal solution would be to vent the accumulated gas somehow. While doing so safely is relatively straightforward, there doesn't seem to be a reliable way to re-seal the cells afterward, as the electrolyte contains a solvent which would degrade any adhesive patch. Since the electrolyte and the gasses that cause the cells to swell are both highly flammable, this makes such a solution a complete non-starter.
Unless I can find a way of reliably re-sealing the cells, I'll probably just try the clamp retrofit without venting the cells first. Maybe with a quick shutoff valve installed in the coolant loop
Ford addressed this issue in the 33.5 kWh packs by adding clamps to keep the cell stacks compressed. At first glance, this seems like something that it would to be easy to retrofit the 23 kWh packs with. However while there is plenty of research on compressing new pouch cells, I could not find any on compressing aged pouch cells.
My concern is that the pressure would crush the hollow heat exchanger plates and we'd be right back at square 1. The ideal solution would be to vent the accumulated gas somehow. While doing so safely is relatively straightforward, there doesn't seem to be a reliable way to re-seal the cells afterward, as the electrolyte contains a solvent which would degrade any adhesive patch. Since the electrolyte and the gasses that cause the cells to swell are both highly flammable, this makes such a solution a complete non-starter.
Unless I can find a way of reliably re-sealing the cells, I'll probably just try the clamp retrofit without venting the cells first. Maybe with a quick shutoff valve installed in the coolant loop
Have found a further downside to this mod: at high-ish ambient temps (was seeing this at 90-100F), charging throttles hard.
This seems to be due to the onboard charger (SOBDM) overheating. As best I can tell, whether the car activates the chiller in the battery coolant loop is based solely on the temperature of the coolant going into the battery. When battery cooling is bypassed, this always reads ambient. So as long as ambient temps are below chiller activation temps, the SOBDM relies on ambient cooling.
I'm not even sure whether the coolant runs through the radiator yet. I'm thinking probably not though; the temperature of the coolant going into the SOBDM was ~124F when ambient was ~90.
This seems to be due to the onboard charger (SOBDM) overheating. As best I can tell, whether the car activates the chiller in the battery coolant loop is based solely on the temperature of the coolant going into the battery. When battery cooling is bypassed, this always reads ambient. So as long as ambient temps are below chiller activation temps, the SOBDM relies on ambient cooling.
I'm not even sure whether the coolant runs through the radiator yet. I'm thinking probably not though; the temperature of the coolant going into the SOBDM was ~124F when ambient was ~90.
Anti_Climax
Well-known member
You could potentially set up a temp sensor in the coolant stream and make it think it's in the upper pack.
And for sealing cells after degassing - perhaps something that isn't an adhesive in the traditional sense like epoxy?
And for sealing cells after degassing - perhaps something that isn't an adhesive in the traditional sense like epoxy?
In follow up to my previous post (where I removed the upper HV battery pack), I'll post this so you can at least have an idea on how to disassemble the battery pack. Make sure you have some insulated tools or if you can't afford those, just wrap them in electrical tape. It has been some time since I have worked on the battery, so most of what I'm posting is off my memory. Please be aware you are dealing with high voltage around 360 Volts, and this can potentially kill you. *** Have a phone or camera handy and remember to take plenty of pictures, as there is a lot of wires/ connectors that MUST go in their designated spots!*** Once again, Thanks to Tareq Awad and Sebastian Zuzga on the FFE facebook group for the guidance and help with this!
Bypassing the lower pack is recommended, yes. It will eventually leak as well. As for the upper pack, draining it alone is not likely to fix the SSN message. If you do end up removing the cooling plates, please let me know. I would like to purchase a few dozen.
So I did end up removing the cooling plates from the upper pack and I have a whole box of them.
Just sent you a PM