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We can do one better than that. The next video will be on the home power system we built with these modules.

Unfortunately they use different battery chemistry and form factors so they aren’t cross compatible

What makes you say that? Almost all high c rate batteries are liquid cooled and actually the cooling on this pack is quite well designed.

Yes that would be interesting on 2 fronts both physically and also whether the BMS would talk ok with the different battery cell design. We haven’t tried to do this yet however in a future video coming up we have got a 74kW long range pack that we pulled apart so watch out for that.

Hi Peter, thanks for the comments and yes absolutely it would have been useful to test the modules under load as this can often show up flaws in individual modules or cells but it was at too high an SOC when we came to swap it out and we knew we had the new pack in any case. Again you are absolutely correct the more financially stable route would be to replace simply the downed module not the entire pack but 3 other factors are also true here. Many users potential people attempting this are going to struggle to identify the correct module prior to opening up the pack leaving their vehicle off the road in bits for a longer period. 2, can they source a new module or will be used also. 3, do they or their garage have the capability to swap out a module safely/effectively? And lastly 4, we wanted to show that simply swapping the pack was actually quite easy and given that there will be a good number of used batteries in scrapped/crashed cars appearing at breakers yards it’s a great way of creating a 2nd life industry for these packs rather than them adding to our waste problems. We will soon be releasing a new video showing what we are doing with the old modules from the removed pack to create a power bank for home use. Thanks for the support 👍🏻

What conversion are you doing?

@@Triplebengineering Hi, wow, that was quick. I bought my 1970 VW Camper 2 years ago and have been ready to covert it and get back round the world with it every day since. Sadly most companies i've approached have been prohibitively expensive or just all talk, so i've been studying your trade every day since. I will still need a workshop and help which i'm still working on but would also still be up for just sticking it on a tow truck and sending it to a specialist if you know of either? I'm in Bucks. John P.s. if you have the dimensions of the ZS motor that would help greatly too. Cheers

I believe the cells are supplied by CATL and the packs are then built up by the OEM SAIC (Shanghai Auto) who own MG

Appreciate the comments, just didn’t want it to be too dry so added the background 😊

@@Triplebengineering I had difficulty hearIng the conversation too.

@@briangriffiths1285 safe to say I know cars and electronics far better than I do video editing :) but we will keep learning as we go 👍🏻

Appreciate the comments. The next videos will show what we do with the old modules. Cheers

Because, as has already been covered, the car had 115k miles so was out of warranty. We approached MG and they weren’t interested.

Of course!! Forgot about the milage restriction. Obviously a high use car that had been regularly rapid charged so high degredation. Interesting to see the battery change. Thanks guys.

Thanks for the great comment and absolutely this pack was built to be serviceable unlike so many others. It does make you think about the true motives of some OEM’s for sure who would rather the battery (or even the car) be disposable.

Each of the cells (all 108 of them) have an individual sensor monitoring that cell so the BMS knows all 108 cell voltages and keeps them in check when charging and discharging, the cables connecting each module daisy chain the BMS slave boards inside each module together so they can all communicate with the master BMS, at least that would be my guess :)

Hi. If I was going to scrap the Alley I would. But at the moment I am keeping the pack as a possible rebuild project. With some other cells. Keeping the exsisting bms. Etc. what I will say is I was impressed with the construction of the pack . The cast aluminium box is well ribbed to provide strength the battery modules are all bolted to the welded in base plate this I believe is more ductile than the cast case. So in the event of the pack some how being bent the outer case will crack and shatter and absorb Energey while the base plate will tend to hold things in place and Bend each of the module are conected with a flexible busbar so can move with respect to each other some small amount while bolted hard down to that base plate . But when you look at positioning of the battery between the steel rails mid part of the car it is going to be some serious collision before this start to be a problem unless the car is rolled over on to a bollard direct impact the the base of the battery . And in this I think this would still take some abuse .

355 x 150 x 115. Mm. Length width hight

@@bill2960 thank you so much!

That was the surprising thing, we expected to see a bad module but as you can see from the video they were all within 0.02V of each other.

@@Triplebengineering would the battery internal resistance be measurable? That could identify a bad cell/pack.

That logic is sound but in reality some of those BMS “comms” cables actually have full pack voltage on them anyway as they do the cell monitoring so it wouldn’t make too much difference from a safety perspective. The reason we did it the way we did was to get nice clear access to the HV busbars by removing all the other cables first.

Similar, most likely but possibly not identical as depending on what version you have it could either be an LFP battery or an NMC battery so the designs will differ slightly. It’s fair to assume that the overall design concepts will be similar however.

Thanks sorry silly me should have specified, it’s an SE model (basic) so LFP.

@@Triplebengineering I think the MG 4 packs are 96 large cells in series and skip the module stage. Not sure if that makes it easier to tear apart in the future though. 🙂

Thanks for the comment and good shout on the control box, we should definitely show you all what’s in that 👍🏻

I think you may find that it is similar. I almost brought two additional modules from eBay that look the same as these as I need two more to make up the final battery. These I believe came from a Vauxhall. It was only when I did some checking I found that they are the lower voltage. 3.5 volt cells. And not the 4.2 that these ones are. I think that the mg5. Use the 3.5 volt cell. But same type of modual construction. But need to research. A bit more. Bill

There was some talk that the mg4 had a catyl blade battery. I was thinking of buying a mg4 but didn't want the same battery as the byd. As when it came recycling the blade is useless. If involved in a accident or end of life, the battery modules could be used or easily used else where. And if people where looking for this type of battery the used car has more value. @@bill2960

You have pretty much answered your own question. What you need to remember is the used parts market for ice’s has been built over decades of wrecked/written off/old cars etc. in time the EV market will build up its stock of second hand parts so it will be just the same as looking for a used engine (eventually). The secondhand pack we bought was £2,400 and only had 10k miles on it and that was in today’s market so it will only get easier and cheaper going forward.

Cheers. For sure this MGZS pack has been designed with maintenance in mind, whether that’s down to them not having much confidence in the cells they have used or because it was cheaper to do this way I’m not sure. There’s no doubt Tesla are still the benchmark when it comes to EV’s but it definitely wouldn’t be this easy to strip down. Lovely machines too 👍🏻

@@administrator8 I must visit the rose coloured universe you inhabit. 😂😂😂😂

In truth we are not completely sure what the root cause is yet but it’s very likely a BMS software issue rather than a pack issue. We opened the pack up and have monitored every cell and all check out good and most importantly they are all balanced to within 0.02Vdc which is excellent so no it wasn’t pack failure. If we find anything more we will discuss it in the next vids. Thanks for watching

@@Triplebengineering thanks. I would appreciate that as this sort of thing is exactly what makes me not trust electric cars.

What components are you referring to? In reality, apart from the battery this vehicle is made up of things exactly the same as a combustion engine vehicle so what’s the difference? And just like a combustion engine vehicle when parts fail they get replaced and the vehicle carries on.

When the plastic connectors start to fail and break, it’s unlikely replacement will be an option. When an ice fails it’s not likely to end in a thermal run away, unlike an EV. At some point software updates will be unavailable. Especially if/when the company goes bust. Currently there are too many downsides and not enough upsides to make EV’s the saviour of the planet. This is why the general public are not buying into the propaganda and the manufacturers are in trouble.

Your logic isn’t flawed, it’s just plain wrong and misinformed. The connectors will fair just as well as any used on ICE cars, it’s literally no different. The same companies make them out of the same types of plastics to the same design criteria and yes they are easily replaced. As it happens I own a company that manufactures some of them. They are easier to replace than an engine harness. Your points about software etc again is irrelevant as there is zero difference to an ice car which is full of the same softwares and in many cases even more so than an EV. Suggesting about companies going bust, these are mainstream automotive OEM’s, if they go bust then the same applies to their ICE cars too so again an irrelevant argument. Yes thermal runaway is a thing but thankfully it is a very and I mean very small occurrence rate probability and let’s not forget petrol cars also go bang and catch fire. Now don’t get me wrong, by no means do I think BEV’s are the saviour of the planet (I work in the industry and I don’t drive one, so that should tell you something) but please do some actual learning before regurgitating false propaganda that you’ve seen on the internet which is just not true as it doesn’t help anyone. Thanks for watching 👍🏻

If you can explain exactly why they are needed then sure.

Yes if you consider 120K mileage for an EV being its end of life and the high cost of a battery replacement, as compared to ICE mid sized car would be expected to be still running given regular servicing? Personally I'd be disappointed but maybe its enough for most people who will not likely get near this mileage if bought from new, "buyer beware" for the second hand market though.

Breakaway torque isn’t the same as tightening torque as one is a dynamic torque the other is a static torque, although it can put you in the right ballpark sometimes. It’s far safer to go by the material spec rating of the bolt combined with the thread size to know the max torque the bolt is capable of and adjust from there.

Nice. Just out of interest how many miles did you do before you needed a new battery. I normaly get about 4 years. 120 k mile

92,000 miles.@@bill2960