MikeT's C5r 1.6 hdi Estate

[MikeT]

As with any theory, it needs testing before it's needed in earnest. Not sure how to accomplish that.

[MikeT]

Aha! Solved:
I have a used Xantia battery I can sacrifice if need be. However, the booster-pack project is going on the back burner for now...

If you have the means and opportunity it would be advisable to put your battery on a trickle charge for 48 hours.

Doh! Talk about not seeing the wood for the trees. I'd completely overlooked the LiPo charger itself, which has a number of programs for different battery chemistries, including Pb.
As I mentioned earlier, it also runs off 10-18DCv input. Winning!
While it may be quicker to just connect the LiPo's to the car's battery as a booster-pack, that solution was to address a worse-case scenario of a flat battery.
Prevention being better than cure, would be as you advise Steve, to top up my battery mitigating the risk of excessive discharge.

A fair few of the more modern electronic chargers have a battery conditioning mode, if yours has this, may well be worth a shot.

I don't want to count chickens but I've severely underestimated these chargers, (which I've only ever used for my hobby batteries) and have seen some inspiring usage of it since getting re-aquainted with it last night, including hacking of the firmware. (Cue; imagination runaway)
I'm not ruling it out, but even if it can't recondition my ailing car battery, I'm optimistic I can now keep it in service far, far longer than I initially anticipated.
I just need to make suitable cables and connections (need to wait for next month's budget) then work out the issues and strategies regarding unsupervised, in-situ charging.

[MikeT]

Regarding the booster pack idea, looks like it could work really well except there's a need for an inline diode or other safety device for when the car starts and provides it's own charging voltage. I think a 4S pack wouldn't be overly stressed until it's quickly disconnected but best not take any chances as when these LiPo's do blow, it can be spectaculary dangerous.

Meanwhile, using ad-hoc connections I tested charging my car's battery in-situ via the multicharger using a charged 4S as a power source this morning. It seemed to go ok, but I got bored and cold after 90mins so stopped and came back indoors for a cuppa and a warm. According to the charger, I'd discharged over 3000mA @14.4v during that time so the 4S still had a little more to give before reaching critical discharge. All in all it looks promising so far which is good as I witnessed a lot of window scraping this morning and at least one no-start car in the car park due to the cold.

This evening I went out and measured the car's voltage - 12.2v after waking up which recovered again to at least 12.5v as ECU's went back to sleep. That's no noticeable improvement over previous recovered readings though a slight improvement immediately after unlocking. As noted it's a lot colder now out there so not an scientifically accurate comparison to be fair.

Once I have the right connectors, I'll be looking to rig up an automated (this charger is so programmable) charging regime using more LiPo's until I have the right balance.

[MikeT]

Just recovering from some weird gastro illness that's shorted my body-clock and left me wired at silly-o'clock times and not able to sleep until sunrise.
As such I've been utilising the opportunity to route through my mega-tons of hoarded stuffs earmarked as "potentially useful someday".
The plan was to use, repair or bin it and as my repair scorecard is below average thought I'd be onto a de-cluttering winner....
But oh no, for some reason I've become Mr FixIt Olympic Champion having a 4 out of 4 success rate so far.

Best result was my Roomba. It's ten years old and has been sat unloved after picking up a load of grit on first use and grinding it through one of the wheel motors. I spent last night/this morning meticulously stripping and cleaning everything (they are exceptionally well made, I found), de-corroding the electrics etc and to my sheer delight is now running perfectly. hoovering the flat as I type this! Even the NiMh pack, which was dead as a do-do, is accepting an ever-increasing charge. What's more, I've found the company is continually releasing improvements and upgrades at very reasonable prices and there are some truly innovative hacks that other's have invented too.

If only it was socially acceptable to do some spannering in the car park at 3am....

[CitroJim]

shorted my body-clock and left me wired at silly-o'clock times

I feel for you Mike, I have one like that permanently except the opposite way around...

It gets me up at 03:30 and puts me to bed at around 19:30

Best result was my Roomba. I

Excellent result but what's Roomba? Sounds a fascinating device...

If only it was socially acceptable to do some spannering in the car park at 3am....

Yes, spannering at such hours might well be considered just a tad anti-social... Earliest I've every dared start a big spannering job on my driveway is 7AM and that was pushing it a bit...

[MikeT]

shorted my body-clock and left me wired at silly-o'clock times

I feel for you Mike, I have one like that permanently except the opposite way around...

It gets me up at 03:30 and puts me to bed at around 19:30

Best result was my Roomba. I

Excellent result but what's Roomba? Sounds a fascinating device...

If only it was socially acceptable to do some spannering in the car park at 3am....

Yes, spannering at such hours might well be considered just a tad anti-social... Earliest I've every dared start a big spannering job on my driveway is 7AM and that was pushing it a bit...

Here we are, fell asleep at 6pm, now up at half eleven. What to repair/destroy next.

Have you not seen them Jim? A Roomba is a feline transport device.

[CitroJim]

Have you not seen them Jim? A Roomba is a feline transport device.

Love it!!! And the video that goes with it

[Gibbo2286]

I bought a Roomba for my daughter in the States many years ago, she loved it but it got fried in the end by a lightning strike on a tree in her front yard. (The tree, a sixty foot tall monster was reduced to matchsticks)

I recently treated myself to a robot cleaner but went for the Miele version and frankly it's very disappointing, chucks up fault codes and stops if it encounters anything more than a bit of dust.

[CitroJim]

I recently treated myself to a robot cleaner

Very important to keep your robots clean I find

[MikeT]

I recently treated myself to a robot cleaner

Very important to keep your robots clean I find

Too right. Jim! I must have liberated dozens of dust-bunnies back into the wild when I cleaned mine

[MikeT]

Still not recovered from last week though sleep pattern is improving somewhat. Had a particularly bad night Monday but I was forced to take a strong pain killer Sunday and that always has consequences the following day.

However, I've managed to keep my repair success rate intact, 6 out 6 last night. A cree torch began randomly dimming and flckering. I thought the battery was degrading but found it was the micro-switch in the tail needed cleaning. Intense brightness has been restored.

I also repaired a micro quadcopter that had been flown into the ceilings and walls once too often. It needed one replacement motor and the others needed micro-cleaning (again, dust-bunnies liberated). Utilising a microscrope, I also made good a few iffy-looking soldered junctions. Testing this morning was positive but the tiny lithium rechargeables didn't survive the long-term storage as I can only fly it for a minute or so before power fades. Still, was good to realise I'd not lost my piloting skills completely and it's encouraged me to pick up on an aerial-photography platform project I began a few years ago.

Meanwhile, the car had been unused since Saturday and again after unlocking, battery voltage was a low-ish 11.9v and recovering.
I'll be ordering the required connectors next week so I can continue designing and testing an automated portable charging station.
That's assuming my routine surgery operation goes well on Thursday.

Next junk to tackle shall be the box of old hard drives I've collected over the years. Bad ones will relinquish their rare-earth magnets and/or voice coils and stepper motors, before being disposed of. Good ones will no doubt spring a few surprises as I peruse the archived files I may have forgotten about. Then there's the CD's and DVD's (shudder) that need ruthlessly going through. I hate them with a passion now.

[CitroJim]

Hope you're soon 100% fit again Mike and much kudos on your repair success ratio

Hope you find some good things on those old hard disks but please dispose of the platters in the duff ones with care...

I'd hate to see you the victim of the next round of wikileaks

[MikeT]

Hope you're soon 100% fit again Mike and much kudos on your repair success ratio

Hope you find some good things on those old hard disks but please dispose of the platters in the duff ones with care...

I'd hate to see you the victim of the next round of wikileaks

Cheers Jim. The platters make good wind chimes, which themselves make for good target practice They also make good office cubicle mirrors to thwart the boss creeping up on you.

[CitroJim]

They also make good office cubicle mirrors to thwart the boss creeping up on you.

That's a good idea Shame my boss sits opposite me... I guess I need a careful eye keeping on me

[Zelandeth]

Just don't provoke a glass platter into showing its displeasure...

I found the ones in an old IBM Deskstar drive made a particularly satisfying "ding" when tapped with a screwdriver - right up to the point it shattered. Sorry...no...right up to the point it exploded.

I was finding bits of the blasted thing for months.