'03 CC Pathway - Li converted - Help with next steps (charger and lights)

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by lithiumsupplement

Thanks for your help! A few follow-ups:

- I wouldn't be surprised if you know the guy I purchased from. He's an 83 y/o from Livermore CA (1 hour away) who sells new (or so he claims) Volt batteries. Mine came out of a 2015 Volt, how/why a 2015 volt could be unused is beyond me but he claims to have some special connection. Not sure if I'm a sucker but so far the batteries work well. I didn't know anything about BMS so he installed them for $200 per battery (too much?). Maybe next time I'll try to do it on my own but I was focused on getting a working cart sooner.

Question... how would I know what my BMS is set to, or even if it is operating? I could call him, but I should know the right questions to ask.

- What benefits, if any, do I lose in bypassing the OBC? I'm sure there are a lot of threads about it, but let me know if there's a specific thread you think would be particularly helpful.

- I also asked in a seperate reply, but if you have a charger you recommend that would save me some time as well.

Thanks again. Working through this is unexpectedly fun.

That is him and he is smart as you know, battery operated VW, Tesla Engineer, Trainer, etc. But he is still a little old school when it comes to today's technology such as BMS's and Wifi/Bluetooth benefits. That BMS is mainly analog and has no wifi/bluetooth capability. When he and I discussed it, he said you should never have to read it or review it as it works on its own. I can not subscribe to that and he is the one who sets it up so you have no way to adjust anything.

Bypassing the OBC changed nothing else on your operating system of the cart as it is only there for the Powerdrive Charger. It controls it. That is why we are all recommending you by a smart charger and use it instead of the Powerdrive.

MCJEFE had an Amazon link in one of his threads, but those chargers will operate from 58.2 to 58.4 volts. Your Volt pack cannot take that much charge so you need one that turns off at ~50vdc or a CAN enabled charger and a BMS that will shut it off based on pack or cell voltage. The battery module from your pack supplier will also trip off one of those Amazon chargers. He also cells Lithium charges for the Volts but I think they were expensive.

PingEye3 does a lot of conversions, but they are mainly Leafs. He may or may not know of another way of doing it or can help . Sergio is an electronics expert and may also be able to advise you another way.

Good Luck with your goals.

[MCJEFE]

Originally Posted by NoleFan4Ever

That is him and he is smart as you know, battery operated VW, Tesla Engineer, Trainer, etc. But he is still a little old school when it comes to today's technology such as BMS's and Wifi/Bluetooth benefits. That BMS is mainly analog and has no wifi/bluetooth capability. When he and I discussed it, he said you should never have to read it or review it as it works on its own. I can not subscribe to that and he is the one who sets it up so you have no way to adjust anything.



Bypassing the OBC changed nothing else on your operating system of the cart as it is only there for the Powerdrive Charger. It controls it. That is why we are all recommending you by a smart charger and use it instead of the Powerdrive.



MCJEFE had an Amazon link in one of his threads, but those chargers will operate from 58.2 to 58.4 volts. Your Volt pack cannot take that much charge so you need one that turns off at ~50vdc or a CAN enabled charger and a BMS that will shut it off based on pack or cell voltage. The battery module from your pack supplier will also trip off one of those Amazon chargers. He also cells Lithium charges for the Volts but I think they were expensive.



PingEye3 does a lot of conversions, but they are mainly Leafs. He may or may not know of another way of doing it or can help . Sergio is an electronics expert and may also be able to advise you another way.



Good Luck with your goals.

Nole,

Would one of these work for him? Its for a 12S / 50.4v and the same manufacturer as those others...

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[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by MCJEFE

Nole,

Would one of these work for him? Its for a 12S / 50.4v and the same manufacturer as those others...

Yes, that one would work perfectly for him.... 50.04 (4.17v/c) is his threshold and 50.4 (4.2v/c) max just as Leafs are 58.38 and 58.8 respectively.

[lithiumsupplement]

Would one of you gentlemen be kind enough to help me figure out how to bypass my OBC on this cart. I feel like I'm in over my head when I read the forums on it. Thanks!

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by lithiumsupplement

Would one of you gentlemen be kind enough to help me figure out how to bypass my OBC on this cart. I feel like I'm in over my head when I read the forums on it. Thanks!

Really easy. Need to run the black 10g wire (the grey "sense" wire will not be needed with the new charger) from the back of the charger receptacle directly to the B- or its connector at the controller. You also need to connect the Blue and White wires together on the Cart's harness side of the OBC 6-pin connector with a paperclip or stiff piece of wire. If not going to be used again, I like to remove them from the connector and just butt connect them together. If you will be removing the OBC from the cart, you can just cut the incoming 10g (from receptacle) and the outgoing (to B-) 10g wires at the OBC and butt connect them together and you are done.

[lithiumsupplement]

Thank you Nole,

Could you confirm that I've followed your instructions correctly, as I'm still not able to get a charge to initiate?

I've provided a couple photos of the black wire coming from the charge receptacle, which is now connected directly to the B-. I've also connected the blue and white cables of the OBC.

I'm currently using the powerdrive charger to test the connection. I plan to not use that in the long term, just to test if it is working. I understand that this charger will overcharge these batteries if used without installing a voltage controller.

I also have a 50.4V lithium charger (only 4amp for now as it was cheaper and could ship right away) with an XLR male plug, but I haven't yet purchased a female connector, or figured out how to properly wire that up.

How would you recommend I proceed? Thanks!

Thanks again.

[Sergio]

With the OBC by-passed the Powerdrive charger will not work.

How are You planing to connect the new lithium charger to the pack(s), using the 3-pin receptacle or some other way?

Edit: You can force the powerdrive to come ON by running the gray sense wire to negative as well, but it will not turn OFF by itself if you do that.

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by lithiumsupplement

Thank you Nole,

Could you confirm that I've followed your instructions correctly, as I'm still not able to get a charge to initiate -snip-

Yeah, I thought you were installing your new 50.4v charger. If you are trying to use the Powerdrive, then as Sergio mentioned you only need to land the gray sense wire to the pack negative (so the relay in the charger will close in)

If I were you, I would not mess with the Powerdrive now. I would mount that charger inside my battery well and directly connect it to the pack or shunt (if being used) and then where my 3-pin receptacle is on the cart, remove it and install a 110v weather plug assembly (https://www.amazon.com/MICTUNING-13A...gateway&sr=8-7) like you see on marine applications. This allows you to run a drop cord through your steering wheel and into the plug....

[lithiumsupplement]

After much fiddling around, and attempting increasingly outlandish ideas I decided to give up on the powerdrive (which might just be broken) and the obc, and just plug the charger cables from the new 50.4V 4A charger directly into the batteries and it worked, I'm back up to 49V as of this morning.

Now that I know a bit more about what I'm doing I'll upgrade to the 10A version of the charger and install that connector port that Nole recommended.

[NoleFan4Ever]

Your new pack thanks you very much....