new battery break in questions

[alchemy]

Originally Posted by baydoe

Ok, Just got new batteries...I read the sticky on the battery break in. its says after they are fully charged to take them down to 50% the 1st 10 times or so then let it charge full again.... I have attached a pic of the battery meter i have in my car. I have tried to find info on it, but have had no luck. does anyone know if when the little gauge reaches empty, am i at 50% charge then (because ideally your not suppose to go below 50%) ? or would it be just half way down the gauge?


-Also i have an E.R.I.C charger, where do i go to see if i need to update my charger? do i need to have a usb to usb to connect my charger to my computer or can i put updates on a flash drive and plug them into the charger that way? i can't find any real good info on that either... thanks for all your help!

On the gauge, it looks like the same kind I have on the 2013 club car I just got
and I'm trying to find answers in my thread about it as well. Mine stays on with one red bar at "full" then drops one bar at a time over usage. With the sub par batteries that originally came with the cart it dropped relatively fast. Once it reached about the middle where the battery icon is it was pretty much done and you better be home :) . The next time it dropped , with those sub par batteries, it would not go. I could be wrong but I think it flashed too at that point and I also think at that point the pack dropped below 48V. That was going up hill when it just totally quit like that but after sitting a few it went again, enough to get to the power cord to charge it. With good batteries I later put in it, it seems different but maybe just way slower but I haven't let it get down more than 1 bar so far with the good batteries to find out. My manual makes it seem like that gauge is supposed to come on with the key and all bars lit green when it's all okay and charged but then turns to one red bar and stays on, key or not, when you better think about getting back to the charger. Not sure on that because mine is messed up I think and I just get one red bar no matter what.
I read the two connections on that gauge with a multimeter when it was well charged with good batteries and it read exactly the same as the pack. It does however, from what I noticed, and seemingly according to the manual, display an average V at the time rather than real time voltage. I'd like to replace mine with a real time digital volt gauge.

[alchemy]

Originally Posted by Sergio

baydoe, once the charge finishes, insert a clean USB drive in the charger so You can download the charging log information to be viewed using the iDat software provided by deltaQ.

Can I do this with mine since it's also a deltaQ?

[Sergio]

If You have an "IC" model charger then yes, the ERIC is a cheaper version of the IC650 charger.

The iDat software is available on the delta-q site:

https://delta-q.com/software-accessories/

[alchemy]

Originally Posted by baydoe

The part the i wasn't sure about or gave me slight concern is I could hear them all bubbling and when i checked the voltage it was charging each battery right around 10 volts and i had 60.4 going across the pack. does that seem ok for batteries that are within 10% of a completed charge? will that strong of voltage hurt my batteries? the default setting was in my charger when i used it for when i first installed my new batteries and did the initial charge and it was like 9.1, 9.2 volts per battery. Thanks for any help!

Not sure what good this is but my OEM(?) delta q is charging my batteries at 55.3 max in the bulk phase but I feel like that's too low because the batteries are ending up stable with a little less voltage than when they were in my other golf cart or with another stand alone charger I used with this cart (disconnected from the OBC). I feel like maybe 57-60 is about what I need for these batteries. My Lester II charger with these batteries at 36V were typically 45.3V max and these batteries are going on 7 years now. 45.3 would be 60.4 on a 48V.

[baydoe]

i will download the software and do it now.... i'll let you know.

[baydoe]

Originally Posted by Sergio

baydoe, once the charge finishes, insert a clean USB drive in the charger so You can download the charging log information to be viewed using the iDat software provided by deltaQ.

That will also allow You to verify you indeed loaded algorithm #71 successfully as it shows which algorithm was used to charge.

Who recommended #71 instead of #3?

They have some differences on how they "sense" the termination charge and the more strict dV/dT termination of #71 could take longer when batteries are charged in series.

Both algorithms show max voltage at 2.70vpc which would be 64.8v max voltage for the pack and an overall charge timeout of 24hrs.

https://support.delta-q.com/hc/en-us...hm-suggestions

From this list. Got a killer deal on a new set of deka Duracell and decided i wanted to give them a try.

[baydoe]

Originally Posted by alchemy

Take it to 50% 10 times? Is there a reason, history, or story behind this? I don't see any. I'm going on 7 years with my most recent batteries (NAPA) and I expect to get a lot more, regardless of the "4-6 year life" most proclaim. .

Its in the all about battery sticky, there is a battery break in procedure they recommended....


Battery Break-in Procedures
Brand new batteries are approximately 70 to 75% charged so once they are installed (correctly) the 1st 10 to 12
complete charge/discharge cycles are as follows:
1. Plug charger in and leave it alone until charger shuts off by itself then drive cart to about 50% battery life
and plug back in and repeat charge cycle.
2. Very important you leave it charge until it’s completely done! This is what you want to do 10 to 12 times
......by the 12th time you’ll notice a difference in power/speed and runtime.
3. That’s the break in period pretty simple wouldn’t you say..........while doing this keep an eye on water level
as I have seen it take 16 hours or better the 1st few times as they break in you’ll notice charge time gets less
also.
4. After that the 2nd most important thing is maintaining the batteries........very critical you get into a routine
of spending a whole 20 minutes a few times a month to keep things in good/clean and tight condition to get
a lot more time out of your batteries.

[alchemy]

Originally Posted by baydoe

Its in the all about battery sticky, there is a battery break in procedure they recommended....


Battery Break-in Procedures
Brand new batteries are approximately 70 to 75% charged so once they are installed (correctly) the 1st 10 to 12
complete charge/discharge cycles are as follows:
1. Plug charger in and leave it alone until charger shuts off by itself then drive cart to about 50% battery life
and plug back in and repeat charge cycle.
2. Very important you leave it charge until it’s completely done! This is what you want to do 10 to 12 times
......by the 12th time you’ll notice a difference in power/speed and runtime.
3. That’s the break in period pretty simple wouldn’t you say..........while doing this keep an eye on water level
as I have seen it take 16 hours or better the 1st few times as they break in you’ll notice charge time gets less
also.
4. After that the 2nd most important thing is maintaining the batteries........very critical you get into a routine
of spending a whole 20 minutes a few times a month to keep things in good/clean and tight condition to get
a lot more time out of your batteries.

Thank you. I'll go there to see. You realize the expert standard about everywhere is that 80% SOC is the optimum charge point? I guess some are saying today to charge even after brief use. That would go along with the comparison to car batteries which have always been recommended to "keep at the top" compared to the name "deep cycle" which can handle often deeper discharges better because the plates are thicker. I'll stick with the recommended 80% for now. However, as I stated elsewhere when I fill my batteries, by the "old" recommended procedure from like 1/4" above the plates to the base of the inlet cylinder I found that I do need to take it down to 50% SOC the first time or the charger won't adjust to charge it except for a short time, too short. I think that is just getting it mixed well again but regardless it works. Maybe that is something of the same effect with new batteries. With new batteries and a life graph there is an upward curve to more volts and amps over time then a plateau and then downward over time.
Volts, but not amp hours, will also go up as water evaporates and the electrolyte concentrates. That is of course in relatively short time periods and based on electrolyte level.

edit, what I meant by the car battery comparison is that I think the general contention is that deep cycle batteries would even do better by "keeping them at the top" but that might only be the case if they were used like car batteries with a less "imposing" set up with a constant alternator charge. Manual, non continuous, charges as with golf carts would seem to make it worse by constantly and frequently charging at say 95% SOC. I'm not sure but I'm guessing that 80% standard was done by smart experienced people for a reason.

[alchemy]

Originally Posted by baydoe

https://support.delta-q.com/hc/en-us...hm-suggestions

From this list. Got a killer deal on a new set of deka Duracell and decided i wanted to give them a try.

I just acquired 4- 6V duracells in this cute little 24V taylor dunn sports arena vehicle. They had a marble board screwed on over the battery panel and the batteries were down past the plates with near 0 volts. I've got em up to 6.2-6.3 stable, so far and about 1/3 the capacity just by charging the hell out of them. I think I can get them back all the way when I get time. I didn't even think duracel made a lead acid. They seem at least better quality than Napa's but not sure.

[teecro]

Originally Posted by alchemy

I just acquired 4- 6V duracells in this cute little 24V taylor dunn sports arena vehicle. They had a marble board screwed on over the battery panel and the batteries were down past the plates with near 0 volts. I've got em up to 6.2-6.3 stable, so far and about 1/3 the capacity just by charging the hell out of them. I think I can get them back all the way when I get time. I didn't even think duracel made a lead acid. They seem at least better quality than Napa's but not sure.

They don't make a lead acid battery. Duracell batteries are made by East Penn / Deka as are NAPA batteries... Which in my opinion EP/DEKA/NAPA are very good batteries