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

Mon May 15 10:45:41 PDT 2023

That makes sense, I'll go ahead and buy the adapter cable so I can plug my
own CAN sniffer onto that port for now.
I was hoping the other mystery cable I found would also be CAN, because
it's in an unobtrusive and protected spot where I could leave something
plugged in.

My generic OBD2 readers couldn't figure out what they were plugged into.

On Mon, May 15, 2023, 9:59 AM Jacob Field <jacobtimothyfield at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Sorry, meant OBD port under the fuse cover :)
>
> On Mon, May 15, 2023 at 9:59 AM Jacob Field <jacobtimothyfield at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 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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