Battery Question

[greg-g]

Three caps on each battery

[Sergio]

I see 6 caps in each battery (2 sets of 3 at an angle to each other).

[passthru]

Me too.

[scooterman]

Originally Posted by passthru

Question. Are they wired in pairs then into the series to give a higher plate load per bi-battery 12 volt pack at four packs to achieve 48 volts with maximum amp hours?

They are most likely wired in two banks, consisting of 4 batteries each bank connected in series to get the 48V per bank & then the banks are wired in parallel to basically double the amp-hours. Not sure if it is actually double (would have to figure it out) but probably close to it. Charging this could be problematic with the stock charging system, even though it would work, not sure if it would get evenly charged.

[passthru]

Would take a long time to charge if nothing else. I guess it could work on a 4wd cart when you have separate motors front and back with a separate bank for each motor too.

[kantuckian]

The Pic Serigo posted is what I have the owner worked on the cart before bringing iit to me he had took out thhe first 2 batteries n passenger side one of the battery post was broken off i repaired, The cart would run without those 2 bateries, i understand one bank was still working,ok i hooked up charger and keep on charger battery pack took 6.5 hrs to charge on das light showed all ok comp charge had 50.3 volts next morn.Told Ran aload test pulling 55amp draw sme as a 48 volt cart told my mech to keep an eye on it and if it ran for 60 mins thebat was good< ihad a doc appt when i got back he said it ran 60 mins and was still reunning u guesed it he stoped machine and hook charger up.checked it this morn charger kicked off 50.9 volts dash light Green which is good. what i need to know do u guys think batteries r good or do i need to rerun a load test and run until ma mach stops the batteries r 2.5 yrs old no bulging and volts no more then 3.0 volts diff.

Thanks for all the replys

[ncorry]

Dang. Never heard of the Polaris Ranger EV. 30hp 48 volt AC motor and automatic 4WD. Nice. Curb weight of 1,726 lbs.

[UncleJerm76]

Originally Posted by ncorry

...30hp 48 volt AC motor...

Day dreaming of all the possibilities in a 800lb golf cart...

[Sergio]

When I google it, I found the polaris EV forum had a lot of folks complaining about all those batteries not lasting more than 2.5 to 3 years, ouch!!!

I saw the wiring diagram and they are in fact wired as 2 banks of 48v in parallel, that is why it would work fine with one or all batteries were removed from one side.

The biggest issue with running batteries in parallel is the risk of a bad battery in one bank bringing all batteries in both banks down. That will happen because there is a complete circuit between both banks and current can flow between the banks even when everything else is off.

I cannot believe why such a nice vehicle is using lead acid batteries, that kind of arrangement and 12v on top of that.

[UncleJerm76]

Originally Posted by Sergio

When I google it, I found the polaris EV forum had a lot of folks complaining about all those batteries not lasting more than 2.5 to 3 years, ouch!!!

I saw the wiring diagram and they are in fact wired as 2 banks of 48v in parallel, that is why it would work fine with one or all batteries were removed from one side.

The biggest issue with running batteries in parallel is the risk of a bad battery in one bank bringing all batteries in both banks down. That will happen because there is a complete circuit between both banks and current can flow between the banks even when everything else is off.

I cannot believe why such a nice vehicle is using lead acid batteries, that kind of arrangement and 12v on top of that.

Ouch indeed. Those would be expensive to replace ever 2.5 years — Nice job finding that info Sergio.

Lead-Acid is inexpensive (when compared to other tech), easy to charge, replace locally, etc. I can see that part making sense to keep costs down. But I'm totally with you on not understanding why they went with a 12V series/parallel configuration. 12v batteries seem to have a proven track-record for not lasting long for some reason. The only way I see that configuration working long term is an on-board charger that has eight 12v outputs. Each output wired to its own battery to keep load balancing in check during charging.

I think that was their first jump into the EV market. Im sure [hope] they will get better.