Programming EV Battery Center meter

Gregorio

Got the Alltrax on Lithium conversion just about finished. Only things left are to remove the rest of the OBC wiring and mount the Run/Tow switch and the fuses someplace. That and look for some stock or progressive rate springs. Now that it is 350lbs lighter, it rides like a truck!

Anyway, knucklehead here shoved a bunch of wires and connectors behind the meter that came with the battery. Somehow it kept pressing the program button and now the meter reads some crazy numbers. Nick offered to reprogram it if I send it back but maybe someone here knows how this particular one works.

The choices are as follows
VoL = voltage calibration
tYpe = L3.7 for Lithium 3.7v cells
nod = ? Can choose between fRe and nob?
AH = Amp hours
AL = Alarm Voltage

Voltage was still reading correct and I set the type back to L3.7. AH is 59 which is correct and AL is 53 which I also believe to be correct. However display is reading 2 or 3 red bars and the number 17. It used to read the voltage.

Any help would be appreciated.
Greg

BGW

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Gregorio

Well, the guys at EV Battery Center are really the greatest! They walked me through programming the meter and now I can check that one off my list.

I highly recommend them to anyone considering a Lithium conversion.

yawood

Glad to hear that it's all sorted. It sounds like a great meter.

flyons78

I'm just getting started down this Lithium conversion rabbit hole. So much to read, but I need some real number from someone who has recently done it... How much did it cost you for the lithium setup? I'm talking the pack, charger, BMS, etc.

Gregorio

My particular pack came to $1841 for the fully assembled 58v pack with double interconnection bars, WiFi BMS, 17A Charger, meter and shipping.

Ask them to use 2AWG cables to the SB175 or leave them off and do it yourself. Be sure to buy your own with 2AWG inserts. The SB175 is rated much higher than 175A (600 under some conditions) but since that is the lowest spec, that is what they claim it can take.

Best investment yet. The weight savings is like adding 2HP to a stock cart. Voltage sag is only about 2-3V under full load. It takes 4-6 hours to charge it once or twice a week depending on use. My favorite benefit is that I NEVER have to check or top up water levels!

flyons78

That is some **** good news. I may hit you up with questions, if you don't mind. I'm going to give these guys at EV Battery Center a call to see what they recommend. Based on what I see online, it looks like everything is sold out

NoleFan4Ever

Dang that is a lot, but I may go that direction when the 7 year old US's give up the ghost....

How long is the lithium power pack supposed to last?

BMS (Battery Management System??)

Gregorio

No problem. Ask away. Be careful of the terms you use when communicating with them. The operating conditions these batteries will see under golf cart use are not the same as in a car. My pack is "rated" for 150A continuous and 300A peak because of the tie bars and 4AWG cable and SB175 connector. Those "numbers" are far less than what my Alltrax XCT400 controller can handle. When I gave them the specs of the controller, they were reluctant to agree to this pack even though I've talked to several others here with it on 500A controllers. Turns out in the real world, the Alltrax in the golf cart will never hit 400A for more then an immeasurable time under proper operating conditions. The battery instantaneous rating is for 30 seconds! Only a motor stall or some other abusive operation would put the battery over 300A and if you did it for 30 seconds, you'd likely kill other components as well.

As a safely margin, doubling the tie bars for $20 and using 2 AWG cable right to the battery posts raises the limits to 500A peak and 300A continuous. They default to the lowest rating on the SB175 but it can actually handle about 4x that much depending on the test. You can look it up yourself. I have not performed either upgrade and have yet to record anything over 190A instantaneous or 140A sustained in the hills. Granted the meters I am using are only able to make a reading once per second so it could be much higher but for less than a second. Whatever it is, the temperatures of the battery, cables and controller are barely above ambient. Only the stock motor gets hot with the case reading about 120F after 4-6 miles of heavy acceleration and regen in the hills.

Gregorio

It does seem like a lot. Next time, I will save about $250-300 and buy it in a kit form to assemble myself.

How long is a great question and depends on how you use it. Like FLA, the deeper you discharge, the fewer the cycles. However, unlike FLA you can discharge them 20% lower before this is a problem. So, you are getting more drive time out of every Ah (70% vs 50%). Another difference is that you do not need to recharge them after each use. A FLA pack would lose some of its capacity if it was discharged 10-20% and then not recharged for weeks. I used to recharge after each use, 2-3x per day. Now I am going 7-10 days before charging. They are claiming 4000 cycles taking them all the way down to 80%. Since power begins to drop off rather steeply at that point, I am not going below 70%. They recommend that level as well. I would imagine if it is 4000 at 80%, only going 70% would yield a measurable increase in the number of cycles.

In their tests, they got 25+ miles on the road on this pack. Call that 2 rounds of golf. Assuming you play once a day, every day, it would take 10-12 years if you recharged daily at roughly 35%. Possibly double that if you recharge when needed at 70%.

What you are really overlooking is the decreased maintenance effort. One missed battery watering and your pack is done. I am so much happier to have that reminder removed from my calendar.

NoleFan4Ever

Sounds good - Thanks!