Confused about new battery break in

[2003ezgoelectric468]

Great chart Crazydad and thanks to everyone for the help and quick response. I do have a digital voltage meter installed and as the batteries were going bad the meter said 37.2 after charging. I could not remember what the new batteries said but last week I almost had to be towed back from our boat lift. Only about 1/8 miles. Then I read on this forum how to charge them with a 12 volt charger. They came up to 6.6 overnight and 1/2 hour after the charge was complete, they dropped to 6.1. Time for new batteries.
The chart is really a good tool instead of using math that wasn't correct. Thanks again for the help.

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by Dixie Chopper

I was thinking it would be nice to monitor a few other variables besides voltage.I was just looking at some on amazon but they are only rated for 100 amps. Not sufficient for the amperage these carts pull. I like the concept though

A 100a shunt on a golf cart is going to be a restriction, and generate heat.

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by rsw007

Thinking about swapping my digital voltage meter and adding a shunt and gauge that shows both voltage and current.

Originally Posted by Dixie Chopper

I was thinking it would be nice to monitor a few other variables besides voltage.I was just looking at some on amazon but they are only rated for 100 amps. Not sufficient for the amperage these carts pull. I like the concept though

Don't know how deep you wanna go (dollar wise), but I installed one of these last week https://www.victronenergy.com/upload...-series-EN.pdf and so far it is more detailed then any monitor I have ever used. Ran me about $130 but I wanted to see how good it was as we are using them a lot at work on our emergency back up (DC powered) equipment. And the shunt is 500 amps


BMV 700 Battery Monitor
Battery voltage, current, power, ampere-hours consumed and state of charge
Time to go at the current rate of discharge
Programmable visual and audible alarm
Programmable relay, to turn off non critical loads or to run a generator when needed.
500 Amp quick connect shunt and connection kit
Shunt selection capability up to 10.000 Amps
VE Direct communication port
Stores a wide range of historical events, which can be used to evaluate usage patterns and battery health
Wide input voltage range: 9,5 – 95 V
High current measurement resolution: 10 mA (0,01A)
Low current consumption: 2,9 Ah per month (4 mA) @12V and 2,2 Ah per month (3mA) @ 24V

[yurtle]

For those who have never traveled abroad, some countries use commas and periods opposite than we use them, like the specs above.

[Dixie Chopper]

Originally Posted by NoleFan4Ever

Don't know how deep you wanna go (dollar wise), but I installed one of these last week https://www.victronenergy.com/upload...-series-EN.pdf and so far it is more detailed then any monitor I have ever used. Ran me about $130 but I wanted to see how good it was as we are using them a lot at work on our emergency back up (DC powered) equipment. And the shunt is 500 amps


BMV 700 Battery Monitor
Battery voltage, current, power, ampere-hours consumed and state of charge
Time to go at the current rate of discharge
Programmable visual and audible alarm
Programmable relay, to turn off non critical loads or to run a generator when needed.
500 Amp quick connect shunt and connection kit
Shunt selection capability up to 10.000 Amps
VE Direct communication port
Stores a wide range of historical events, which can be used to evaluate usage patterns and battery health
Wide input voltage range: 9,5 – 95 V
High current measurement resolution: 10 mA (0,01A)
Low current consumption: 2,9 Ah per month (4 mA) @12V and 2,2 Ah per month (3mA) @ 24V

I like that one. From what I read, looks like it's about 2" in diameter?

[NoleFan4Ever]

Originally Posted by Dixie Chopper

I like that one. From what I read, looks like it's about 2" in diameter?

It is. We placed it right where his analog gauge was. It is very intuitive in regards to learning as it goes. With each charge/usage, it gets more precise with its predictive calculations. We are still playing with it but so far find it to be worth every penny. I will be putting a lithium pack on my IQ cart in the near future and I will have one of these on it when I do.

[radioman]

Originally Posted by cgtech

A 100a shunt on a golf cart is going to be a restriction, and generate heat.

A system that uses the small voltage drop across a length of the main power cable as a shunt would be ideal. I wonder if any golf carts use this method. Most amp meters are actually voltmeters calibrated in amps.

[JohnnieB]

When I was running a DCX500, I was about to add ammeter shunts to the armature winding and to the field winding circuits (Sepex motor) to monitor the respective amp flows, but Alltrax introduced the XCT family of controllers that monitored and recorded those values(along with other parameters), so I just upgraded to an XCT controller.

The resistance of the 100A/50mv shunt I was going to use in the field circuit was 0.0005Ω and the Ohmic value of the 500A/50mv shunt in the armature circuit was 0.0001Ω, so neither would have added a significant amount of resistance to their respective circuits.

Ironically, the resistance of one foot of 4Ga copper cable is 0.0002485Ω, which is over twice as much as the 500A shunt. 2Ga copper cable is 0.0001563Ω/ft, which is a bit over 56% more.

[jaco523]

I'm going to add a digital voltage meter from cartsunlimited.

they're available in red, green, or blue LEDs.

is one color easier to read in bright sunlight vs. the others?

[ThreeCW]

I have read that Green is easier to read in bright sunlight ... so I went with Green. I still found that in direct sun, I would have to shade the display to get a good reading ... that was with sunglasses on though

Green also matched the color of my cart