When will my DPI Gen IV Maintenance Kick in?

[dundeebarnbuggy]

Did you check your dash meter against a reliable DVM? Just curious.

[Gazoo]

no, I thought about that too. It went down as low as 49.6 (according to dash meter) before I triggered it manually. Seeing as everything is disconnected now I'll have to use my trusty DVM to check. When I first put the pack in both the meter and the DVM were within a point of each other. Maybe I'll give it another go and see what happens...

[ThreeCW]

I am not sure of the rationale for waiting for your battery pack to drop to 80% before recharging. I would suggest that if you drop 0.5 volts below your stabilized after charge voltage (for me that is 52.2 volts), that represents a 10% drop in state of charge, and I would be recharging at that time.

The higher you keep your battery pack state of charge, the less chance of battery sulfation.

[Gazoo]

Originally Posted by ThreeCW

I am not sure of the rationale for waiting for your battery pack to drop to 80% before recharging. I would suggest that if you drop 0.5 volts below your stabilized after charge voltage (for me that is 52.2 volts), that represents a 10% drop in state of charge, and I would be recharging at that time.

The higher you keep your battery pack state of charge, the less chance of battery sulfation.

The cart is stored away in the garage for winter and stays plugged into a DPI Gen IV. It is always plugged in when not in use and during the summer gets used enough that it rarely gets to 50 volts before its back on the charger getting topped up. The issue we are discussing is the maintenance mode on the DPI Gen IV. I was relying on the charger to maintain the charge but noticed it fell below the 50 volt threshold and didn't kick in to charge the batteries. I'm not always around during winter so the idea was to have the smart charger be smart about keeping my battery pack healthy. Since it appears to be unreliable in that sense, I will now keep a closer eye on it and charge them more regularly.

[ThreeCW]

Originally Posted by Gazoo

I have since disconnected everything except charge wires and will manually trigger a charge when it gets around 50 volts.

I was commenting on your forward plan of waiting for it to drop to 50 volts before manually charging it. I believe that it would be healthier for your pack to charge it before getting to 50 volts ... suggesting charging after your pack after drops only 0.5 volts which is a 10% discharge or at 90% state of charge ... if you are around.

[Gazoo]

Originally Posted by ThreeCW

I was commenting on your forward plan of waiting for it to drop to 50 volts before manually charging it. I believe that it would be healthier for your pack to charge it before getting to 50 volts ... suggesting charging after your pack after drops only 0.5 volts which is a 10% discharge or at 90% state of charge ... if you are around.

The waiting is to again test the maintenance function in case my dash meter wasn't accurate when I noticed the sub 50 volt reading. When I am around I will most certainly trigger a more regular charge rather than wait for to "50 volt maintenance trigger" - but I also want to know if the maintenance is working in case I decide to head south for a spell...

[8-point]

Originally Posted by ThreeCW

your stabilized after charge voltage (for me that is 52.2 volts)

Mine’s 52.3, so I must be doing ok with this Gen lV on that part, huh.