6 hour charging of new 48v/80ah battery not enough??

[Rockten]

Originally Posted by Pat911

The charger isn’t controlling the end of charge point as it should. The battery has a Battery Management System (BMS) and it’s job is to protect the cells from being overcharged, and in your case, it is the BMS that has intervened and cut charging. At this point, the charger puts out its maximum voltage but the BMS prevents it from getting to the battery.

This is not an ideal scenario as the cells are not permitted to saturate and the BMS should not be the charge controller, it is the last line of defence in protection.

Lastly, lithium behaves very differently to lead acid and LiFePO4 voltage will settle after being charged. You’ll find once you start using it, it will drop very quickly to 52-53v and then sit there for most of its discharge cycle. It will then drop very quickly again once it’s almost depleted.

Yes thanks. I drove the cart for the first time for 10 minutes and the battery dropped to 53 volts.

I have a Summit Lester II charger that I bought a year ago when I had lead batteries. Can I use it for lithium batteries, for me not to use the cheap charger that came with the lithium battery? I think I read before that I cannot use it with lithium batteries but I am asking anyway.

What charger do you recommend for lithium batteries? You mentioned chargers on which I can adjust the maximum voltage, since lowering it to 56v or below will greatly increase the life of your battery according to you. Which brand and model of chargers do you recommend in this regard?

[DaveTM]

Don't use the Lester on your Lithium. (The Lester will molester your Lithium pack )

I can't comment on what charger would work better....."More better" experienced guys will comment on that!

[Volt_Ampere]

The Summit II can be used for some lithium packs - if you get the proper profile. Contact Lester to see if they have a profile that will work your particular type of Lithium pack. I believe they only support LiFePO4 chemistry and I don't know what cell count they support.

[Rockten]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

The Summit II can be used for some lithium packs - if you get the proper profile. Contact Lester to see if they have a profile that will work your particular type of Lithium pack. I believe they only support LiFePO4 chemistry and I don't know what cell count they support.

Many thanks. I made a new thread titled "Profiling Lester Summit II for LiFePO4 battery" to continue this discussion. If everyone can continue advising me on this through this new thread

[Volt_Ampere]

How many cells is your pack? That may impact whether the Lester Summit II profile will work with your battery. I would contact the battery supplier and Lester before doing this.

[simicrintz]

I had to have a custom Schauer charger made for my pack. Bought the Lester being told (by Lester) that it would work only to be told after the purchase that it would not (and they would not take it back ). Be very specific if you consider the Lester with them before you purchase to make sure it will work for your application.

[Volt_Ampere]

I tried to interact with Lester about getting a profile for my Lithium pack and I hit a brick wall. No help at all. I like their charger and it is flexible enough to work with lithium packs but they don't seem to want to support Lithium charging.

[DaveTM]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

I tried to interact with Lester about getting a profile for my Lithium pack and I hit a brick wall. No help at all. I like their charger and it is flexible enough to work with lithium packs but they don't seem to want to support Lithium charging.

Moral of the story......don't use a Lester on your lithium. Any company that says "it will" and then says "it won't" or makes it very difficult to get a "real answer" makes life difficult. Why bother?

[Volt_Ampere]

Only reason I looked into it is that my second cart came with a Lester and I converted it to Lithium. (Leaf modules) My cart and my Wife's cart share a charger now which is ok since we don't have to charge our carts at the same time.

[Rockten]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

How many cells is your pack?

I finally got an answer from the seller on my question about the number of cells in the battery. They answered "There are 16 batteries". How can I use this information to have a charger that fits my the profile of my lithium battery?