# Ford Think - Flooded vs Gel



## wisori (Sep 14, 2012)

Hi,

I always fantasized building an EV... well recently I got an opportunity. I have experience putting together high end solar systems on RV. Mostly helping friends. 

A friend knowing this asked me to resurrect a few Ford Think Neighbor cars he owns. The owner bought them used and supplied them with flooded deep cycle batteries from Costco. 

1. I charged the batteries individually on my high end 3 stage charger
2. Replaced all burned out fuses
3. The display/computer (the one in dash) fuse were getting blown out so I swapped the display/computer from another car. 

At this point the car turned on was running for several days. 

4. I reprogrammed the computer for flooded batteries. 
5. I charged the batteries overnight with the build in charger, it was full according to led on charger then took it for a few mile ride then parked it.

Next day the display/computer was dead again and kept blowing the fuses when I turned on the main switch.

A local golf cars shop told the owner that flooded batteries burnout the display computer. Given the close voltage between flooded vs gel, i have hard time to believe in this.... however it looks like i have the display/computer burned out. 

Is the golf car shop correct with their statement and if yes why that is?

Does anyone had this problem ?

Can the display/computer be fixed?

Any information regarding this issue and/or this cars is very much appreciated.


Thanks you!


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## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

Floodies get pretty high while gassing (1.3x nominal). What are the fuses rated for?


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## wisori (Sep 14, 2012)

The fuse for the display is 250V/10A.


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## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

IIRC those things had a bunch of recalls. Were those addressed in these units? Any idea what the specs on that onboard charger are?


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## wisori (Sep 14, 2012)

The vehicles belonged to a big company who could not maintain them, they should only have a few hundred miles on them. My friend bought them a few years ago tru a family connection in their service department. So I assume the recalls were not addressed.

I'm not home now but I will post the charger spec tomorrow, i probably have to remove it. 

What I know that the chargers are differ in the vehicles. The one I'm working on is yellow with led indicators of the charging state. The other is silver with no led indicators at all.


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

We drove a Ford Think wagon, the little truck, for years. They are very solid and well designed but need upgraded Rev2 drivetrain to be useful. With such the controller is reprogrammed to allow speeds to 32mph and replace the small turf wheels with mini cooper standard allows and continental rubber pumped up to 50psi. At this point the vehicles will obtain 35 mph which IMHO is a much safer speed since you can drive on 30mph roads without slowing traffic. I tried Trojans, AGMs and then went back to the stock Deka Dominator battery which again IMHO is the ONLY battery worth putting in the Think. Being designed for traction and charging with the upgraded Delta-Q charger will give you 7 years of happy solid 20-25 range driving.

Steve


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