[Caevlist] Cute little EV on Craigslist (2011 Think City)

[Jacob Field]

The OBD2 port under the hood is the same CAN line that the battery is on,
so you should see things there. The CAN line runs at 500kbps, so make sure
you've got that set correctly.

The usual tool is the PCAN adapter from PEAK, but I've also used an Arduino
and some CAN modules to communicate, which works as long as you know what
CAN messages you need to receive and how to interpret them.

I've used the innertube method before on two Thinks and while it works (and
is relatively safe, the innertube experiences less pressure than it would
during normal operation in a tire), having a lift would make the job far
easier (and yes, safer).

- Jacob

On Sun, May 14, 2023, 10:25 PM Christopher Koch <jazzjunkie.chris at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks Kirk, I'll be sure not to miss the next meeting!
> It's got about 20 mi of range at best, so I need to arrange a trailer to
> bring it over to the shop! I live just down the street from Otmar though,
> so if he's hosting it's no trouble to bring it
>
> I went for it and now I'm the proud owner. I thought I found a CANbus port
> underneath the Matt in the back of the vehicle (a five pin mini fit jr with
> one black one white wire) but my oscilloscope couldn't read anything on it
> so maybe that's not what it's for.
>
> The most I'll do by myself in the short term is maybe take some covers off
> to see what kind of new connectors I can uncover. OBD2 port on the
> dashboard doesn't seem to work with my cheap little readers so I don't even
> know what's going on there.
>
> On Sun, May 14, 2023, 9:15 PM Kirk Swaney - SHIFT Electric Vehicles LLC <
> kirk at shiftev.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Chris,
>>
>> This should get you view access to images of a pack I opened up and a
>> sketch diagram. All can feel free to copy.
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rlggfb7t2m55gio/AABzUXhJR8BG6Pjbws9x8W80a?dl=0
>>
>> The inner tube plan seems sketchy. If you need to remove a pack, a 2 post
>> lift is best. Maybe on an EV meeting evening my shop is an option. It takes
>> about 30 minutes to safely remove or reinstall that way.
>>
>> A bigger question is diagnosing what's wrong with the suspect pack. One
>> cell issue or all degraded cells...  i have software to see individual cell
>> voltages (without dissassembly). Again, maybe fun at an EV meeting with
>> other smart folks in our group.
>>
>> Good luck with your purchase decision.
>>
>> Kirk
>>
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: Christopher Koch <jazzjunkie.chris at gmail.com>
>> Date: 5/14/23 1:14 PM (GMT-08:00)
>> To: Kirk Swaney - SHIFT Electric Vehicles LLC <kirk at shiftev.com>
>> Cc: Jacob Field <jacobtimothyfield at gmail.com>, Corvallis EVs <
>> caevlist at caevclub.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Caevlist] Cute little EV on Craigslist (2011 Think City)
>>
>> Thanks Kirk,
>>
>> Some photos inside the battery would be great! I'm struggling to find
>> even basic information like pack configuration beyond "400V"
>>
>> That might help with the temptation to drop the battery out without the
>> proper equipment. I found a video where someone put a big inner tube
>> underneath to drop the battery gently but I'm not quite crazy enough to try
>> that yet.
>>
>> On Sun, May 14, 2023, 12:05 PM Kirk Swaney - SHIFT Electric Vehicles LLC <
>> kirk at shiftev.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Chris,
>>>
>>> I have serviced a few thinks, owned one, and have pictures of the pack
>>> opened up if you want to see what that looks like. It is a compact and well
>>> designed pouch cell pack.
>>>
>>> -------- Original message --------
>>> From: Christopher Koch <jazzjunkie.chris at gmail.com>
>>> Date: 5/10/23 10:08 PM (GMT-08:00)
>>> To: Jacob Field <jacobtimothyfield at gmail.com>
>>> Cc: Corvallis EVs <caevlist at caevclub.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Caevlist] Cute little EV on Craigslist (2011 Think City)
>>>
>>> Jacob,
>>>
>>> One of my big fears was that this was too obscure to have an enthusiast
>>> community, so I'm really glad to hear otherwise!
>>>
>>> I hear what you're saying about how tedious an 18650 build would be
>>> without some sort of automation; the only reason I would consider it is
>>> because I already have so dang many of them! If they aren't a good fit I'll
>>> just go with plan A which is use them to make my family a battery backup
>>> for their farm house.
>>> The 18650s I have are already assembled into little 3S3P submodules so
>>> if the stars align and the form factor is a Cinderella fit into the stock
>>> envelope that would take a lot of the work out of it.
>>>
>>> -Chris
>>>
>>> On Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:52 PM Jacob Field <jacobtimothyfield at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The Think itself is a pretty neat little car. I've got one and love it,
>>>> and there's a solid little enthusiast community with a lot of knowledge
>>>> about the inner workings.
>>>>
>>>> I have all the specifications for the battery pack, as well as
>>>> information on the CAN protocol it uses to communicate with the car —
>>>> building a replacement battery pack is certainly within the realm of
>>>> possibility.
>>>>
>>>> That being said, as someone who's tried building an EV battery out of
>>>> 18650s, it takes AGES. If I ever upgrade the battery in my Think, it'll be
>>>> using modules from another wrecked EV.
>>>>
>>>> If you have plenty of time, money, and electrical savvy, I'd say go for
>>>> it!
>>>>
>>>> - Jacob Field
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:28 PM Christopher Koch <
>>>> jazzjunkie.chris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't want to start a feeding frenzy, but there is a sweet little EV
>>>>> for sale right now with a worn-out battery I'm thinking about buying (as
>>>>> are a lot of other people, according to the seller!)
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to gauge the depth of what I'm getting myself into if I try
>>>>> to rebuild the battery.
>>>>> When I was at Arcimoto I was involved with designing their
>>>>> next-generation battery (sadly that project got scrapped) so maybe I'm too
>>>>> cocksure about my abilities.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have a couple thousand 18650s lying around yearning for a purpose,
>>>>> so there's a lot of hope that I might have what it takes to breathe new
>>>>> life into this thing but I wanted to put it out there for community comment
>>>>> and discussion.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is this a dream project waiting to happen, or is this 2011 EV from a
>>>>> defunct manufacturer a trap to avoid at all costs?
>>>>>
>>>>> -Chris Koch
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Caevlist mailing list
>>>>> Caevlist at caevclub.org
>>>>> http://maillist.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/caevlist
>>>>
>>>>
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