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Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:05 am
by OutlandishPanda
Hi, just jumping in this thread with a low tech question if I may: where are you getting flexible 19mm id hose? I've tried eBay and got some "flexible radiator hose" 19mm id, but its 28mm od. It is almost solid. Unusable really. I've some old real automotive hose from a BMW rad circuit which is ~19 id and 25mm od and its nice and flexible and the clips squidge it nicely on to the fittings (that is a 20mm T fitting by the way...). It just feels right and what I'm used to finding in a car.
Pic shoes the OEM 19mm pipe on the left/bottom and the stuff I can only seem to find in the UK on the right/top, which is crazily stiff and feels totally wrong.
I just can't find a vendor of this real OEM type thin wall flexible hose. Any recommendations please?
Thanks!
(By the way, I'm using a slightly different cooling loop to you guys with an active rad bypass valve. I'll post something when I know it works...)
Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:34 am
by arber333
I get them from a shop nearby which deals with hydraulic equipment. They can also remake power steering hoses and flexible AC lines.
When i ask them where they get those coolant hoses they say from Italy...
The stuff you are getting is hydraulic hose. Not ideal for cooling.
Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:49 am
by OutlandishPanda
Thanks arber, that helped me search better. Looking at Italian stockists, it seems "radiator hose" is thinner wall than "heater hose". I've asked these UK guys as this seems to have the right specification.
https://therubbercompany.com/hose-ducti ... iator-hose
Otherwise, I'll be buying this sort of thing, which gets me a few bends also...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252148551964 ... BMmPzkqvBf
Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:35 am
by arber333
OutlandishPanda wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:49 am
Thanks arber, that helped me search better. Looking at Italian stockists, it seems "radiator hose" is thinner wall than "heater hose". I've asked these UK guys as this seems to have the right specification.
https://therubbercompany.com/hose-ducti ... iator-hose
Otherwise, I'll be buying this sort of thing, which gets me a few bends also...
Hah! Not too highly priced...
Heater hoses are made for up to 80deg to work with Webasto heaters and similar heater bodies. Coolant hoses in a car need to withstand abrasion as well... I cant see a clear distinction between them. Although when i bought new coolant hose it had much tougher surface than OEM what you normally get out from a car.
When there are more straight lines involved i used 18mm copper tubing since with copper you can solder various additions, bends and valves to it.
Even if you need less than 90deg bend you can use copper tube and bend it on your knee. of course you need to fill it with sand so it wont get squished in the bend.
Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:20 pm
by jon volk
celeron55 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:26 am
I'd consider battery cooling important only if a vehicle will have a charging rate higher than, say, 0.15C, as it's really only fast charge/discharge cycling that will accumulate enough heat to be a problem, unless you regularly have like >30°C daily average temperatures.
Climate has less to do with cooling, but more to do with heating. The most important thing is whether you'll have below freezing average daily temperatures - most wouldn't risk charging lithium ion batteries below 0°C.
That pretty much sums my my experience. My original cooling setup was a small radiator in front of the car with no fan. Original charger was a 3.3kw Volt unit. I had 4 way Tesla coolant valve that would allow me to bypass the batteries from the loop. Turns out there was never a situation where I would need to bypass the batteries. In fact they would never get too warm in the summer and it was a struggle to get heat into them during the winter. Once I upgraded to the 10kw Tesla charger, the batteries would get pretty warm on a hot day and I realized that I would need some fans this year.
Now that I have the car apart to redo the cooling system, its getting a full size radiator mounted in the rear of the car with a pair of fans. I still have the 4 way coolant valve, but its purpose now is to bypass the radiator. Now I will be able to use the fans and larger radiator to take heat out while charging (hopefully soon CCS charging as well) and in the winter I can bypass the radiator and utilize heat from the drive unit to warm up the battery. Also changing from a single high flow pump to two Tesla Model S water pumps with one mounted in the front of the car and the other in the rear.
I never had any thermal issues with the batteries or the motor with the tiny radiator and driving quite hard.
Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2022 1:52 am
by alexbeatle
jon volk wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:20 pm
celeron55 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2020 5:26 am
I'd consider battery cooling important only if a vehicle will have a charging rate higher than, say, 0.15C, as it's really only fast charge/discharge cycling that will accumulate enough heat to be a problem, unless you regularly have like >30°C daily average temperatures.
Climate has less to do with cooling, but more to do with heating. The most important thing is whether you'll have below freezing average daily temperatures - most wouldn't risk charging lithium ion batteries below 0°C.
That pretty much sums my my experience. My original cooling setup was a small radiator in front of the car with no fan. Original charger was a 3.3kw Volt unit. I had 4 way Tesla coolant valve that would allow me to bypass the batteries from the loop. Turns out there was never a situation where I would need to bypass the batteries. In fact they would never get too warm in the summer and it was a struggle to get heat into them during the winter. Once I upgraded to the 10kw Tesla charger, the batteries would get pretty warm on a hot day and I realized that I would need some fans this year.
Now that I have the car apart to redo the cooling system, its getting a full size radiator mounted in the rear of the car with a pair of fans. I still have the 4 way coolant valve, but its purpose now is to bypass the radiator. Now I will be able to use the fans and larger radiator to take heat out while charging (hopefully soon CCS charging as well) and in the winter I can bypass the radiator and utilize heat from the drive unit to warm up the battery. Also changing from a single high flow pump to two Tesla Model S water pumps with one mounted in the front of the car and the other in the rear.
I never had any thermal issues with the batteries or the motor with the tiny radiator and driving quite hard.
10A6B680-5D94-45CC-A1F0-860AE8715DAC.jpeg
That is a nice radiator with fans. Is that a custom one or you pulled it out of another vehicle?
Re: Series/Parallel cooling loops
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:24 pm
by jon volk
It’s a 97-04 Mustang thing I picked up on eBay and did some light modification to