Passive Voltage Bypass for 8v battery

[Sergio]

Yes, the charger still turns off when the pack voltage is at the chargers preset voltage. We are just trying to get all batteries a little closer to the same voltage instead of a few very high.
I built these for my original pack that was out of balance, and while it helped get the batteries close to each other, I ended replacing the pack to get better performance going up hill.
If you built six of them, you can double up two of them in each of the 3 stronger batteries for now. That will allow more current to by-pass the stronger batteries and charge the weak ones more.

[55BigBlock]

Sergio, I ordered the components for the bypass circuits today. I ended up ordering from Newark. I will keep you posted on my progress.

[Hecky50]

I'm a newbie here. But this caught my eye.
1. To check the balance of the pack you should let it sit for 12 hrs after charging,correct.
2. I have seen my charger go as hi as 60+ volts during charging. Is this where the 10.2 comes from.
3. I also use a battery maintainer and peak is around 53.5v/54.6 all the time it is plugged in. will this setup effect it.
4. MY pack is 4 years old and trying to make it last as long as possible. Seems like 20 bucks or even 30 is a good investment considering the cost of a new pack here in SC. I will follow this thread to the end.

[joesam]

I will follow this to the end too. Sergio asked a good question a few posts ago - do new batteries balance as precisely as his are now - notwithstanding his bypass? Well tonight is when I top off the water in my batteries. I will remove my battery minder for tonite and try to remember to take voltage readings before I go golfing tomorrow. I'll post the results on this thread.

My batteries are only 4 months old with 50+ charge cycles using just the Battery Minder (except maybe 3 times this year) - so it will be interesting to see if the maintainer balanced them as *perfectly*.

[Hecky50]

What is the max AMP output of your maintainer??

[joesam]

2 amps

[Hecky50]

Joesam... If you only use your minder most of the time, how long did your first pack last. Curious, did you read the New Battery tutorial by Carts Unlimited where they talk about Breaking In New Batteries???? I expect batteries aren't cheap in Canada either.

[Hecky50]

Sorry Joesam, missed your post regarding your experiment. How is that working for you??

[joesam]

Batteries are "wicked-expensive" here. My first pack of Trojans (sounds dirty doesn't it?) lasted 11 years (unusual I know) - but I didn't have a Minder until the end of last year - which I bought to keep the old pack from freezing over winter storage and leaking acid on my under-deck where I store the cart. I waited 'til spring to buy the new ones.

My pack is always charged after each round - and I live on the golf course - so its maybe 5 miles/round tops. The old batteries were never discharged heavily, run low on water, or abused since new. Plus storage in winter for the first 10 years was with the OEM charger plugged in and I manually cycled the charger every 4-6 weeks.

Yes, I read the new battery tutorial - why?

EDIT: After the first 4-5 cycles when new - the 2 amp Battery Minder seems to recharge the batteries (eg. enter float mode) in 12-13 hours. When the Battery Minder folks first promoted their product in The Villages - they told their customers to use it exclusively. But they ran into quite a few high-mileage users - and have since modified their recommendation to "frequently". In my case, I'm not high mileage, so I think I'm doing OK doing this - but tomorrow's voltage readings may change my mind.

[branson]

That is a neat little gadget. I'm guessing with a dpi charger I don't need one