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New battery advice 2008 Roadster

Discussion in 'Roadster 2008-2012' started by erericic, Aug 20, 2019.

  1. spaceballs

    spaceballs Member

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    Pm me i might have temp fix for you.
     
    • Like x 1
  2. shrink

    shrink Supporting Member

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    I heard the same information. I was reluctant to say anything in 3.0 battery thread, but since it's been reported here, I can say I have also heard from reliable sources that Tesla, as of now, is aiming to re-release the Roadster battery upgrade by the end of the 2019.

    However, as we all know, Tesla rarely meets their own deadlines.

    @erericic, I think your options are to wait until the 3.0 re-release, but no one has a good estimate on when that will be available. I suggest contacting Gruber as well. They should have a couple options for you.
     
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  3. erericic

    erericic Member

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    I am delinquent in reporting this, but I was successful in getting my car back on the road. I appreciate all the help from members of this forum.
    Using the log file I was able to find the bad brick number 60 in sheet 7. All other bricks were reading very close to the same voltage. The bad brick was reading 3.6 volts.
    So I removed the battery, opened it up, removed sheet 7. Then I was able to see the one bad cell. It was brown and all the good cells were silver. The bad cell was reading about 1.5 volts so it was causing a drain on the other cells in the brick. I clipped the fuse wire to the cell. Put it all back together and it drives like a demon.

    Of course there is a lot more to the story... Very dangerous operation, working near 375 volts.

    But for me it was the best option. It probably saved me over $5k and now I have a nice lift in my garage.

    Thanks,
    Eric
     
    • Like x 8
    • Informative x 2
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  4. im4uttx

    im4uttx Supporting Member

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    Well done!!!
     
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  5. ML Auto

    ML Auto Member

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    Unfortunately that is not an isolated problem. I even had a sheet from a 2K mile pack sudddenly try to brick itself from one bad cell. Sitting on the bench for over two years in a climate controlled garage, completely disconnected and unmoved. Not a promising outlook for these cars.
     
    • Like x 1
  6. erericic

    erericic Member

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    How long were these battery cells originally designed to last? 12 years and only one bad cell out of 6831 in my pack seems like not that bad... Specially for the first model year
     
    • Like x 1
  7. im4uttx

    im4uttx Supporting Member

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    If I remember some of the threads here, it wasn't so much a time, but a mileage, expecting >200K miles, or something like that. Tesla is still targeting "million mile" packs in the new cars, if I recall recent info.

    Having a cell fail is bad, but if it can be "fixed", then the rest of the pack is still good. Probably not something you want to do many times, but I agree, 1 of 6800+ in 12 years isn't bad, unless you're not capable of finding it yourself and either have to wait for Tesla to fix it or send it to Gruber or Medlock to repair.

    You seriously should have recorded the process...really sounded "simple" the way you described it... ;)

    Glad you have it running again...
     
  8. erericic

    erericic Member

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    I did not mean to imply simple. Simple is not the word I would use. If you work on cars and if you work on desktop PCs, then you have the skill set to do it. But it is dangerous due to the weight of car and battery pack and the voltages/amps involved.
     
  9. im4uttx

    im4uttx Supporting Member

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    I was kidding about the simple sounding.... :)
     
  10. erericic

    erericic Member

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    Thanks, I get it. I decided to look back at the time line of this project.

    August 27, 2019 I decided to do the job myself. I ordered a 2 post car lift for my garage. Found out my garage floor was not thick enough to support the anchors for the lift. I had to cut holes in my garage floor and pour new concrete. Concrete had to cure for a month. I mounted my car lift and found out it had manufacturing defect. Waited on part for lift, had the lift repaired.

    All the while I was charging the weak brick and it was requiring more current to maintain a reducing voltage.

    Finally I was able to remove battery, remove sheet, find bad cell, clip the fuse wire. I put it all back together. And voila, it ran. I left out a bunch of steps, lots of waiting for parts, survived a hurricane, had to remove and reinstall battery 3 times (at least) to get it right.

    I finished January 19, 2020. Almost 5 months after I started.

    I had a lot of support from people on this forum. I could not have done it on my own.
     
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