New Battery Break In Advice

[gornoman]

The Lestronic chargers are excellent. Lester makes good stuff.

Your stock motor will LOVE 48v! Mine sure did!

I'm running a PQ Custom in my 48v conversion now and see 24 mph on stock diameter lo-pro tires.

[LBZ_Duramax]

I just went out and checked the charger. I plugged it in about 3hrs ago and the amps went up and started charging. When I just looked at it the amps have dropped down to almost nothing. Is this normal?

I got the charger, new batteries and solenoid for $600. I traded my old charger and 1 good battery and 5 cores. Did I get a decent deal? I thought i did.

[gornoman]

Charger is operating correctly. As for the deal, if you're happy that's all that matters. I think you did OK.

[LBZ_Duramax]

I will leave it on tonight and will let you know the updates tomorrow. Will be on it most of the day working in a warehouse. I shouldn't have any trouble outrunning the forklifts

[JohnnieB]

Unlike NiCad and some other battery chemistry, Flooded Lead-Acid batteries have no memory and do not need to be discharged deeply before recharging.
In fact, for longevity, the opposite is true. Keeping them as fully charged as possible, or practical, extends their useful life.
If you drive it more than about 10 minutes, over a few hundred yards or if it has been sitting for more than a couple days, charge it.

Scottyb's break in procedure (Quoted below) tells you to Charge the battery fully before use, discharge to 75% and then repeat several times.

"New batteries should be charged before use and thereafter as follows:

Plug the charger in and leave it alone until the charger shuts off by itself. Then drive to discharge the batteries to 75% of battery pack capacity (see chart for voltage readings or use 9 holes of golf as a reference point) Plug the cart back in and repeat the charge cycle......"

The 75% is an approximate rather than a hard number and was probably used because people tend to discharge their batteries to much while breaking them in. If I was writing it, I probably would have said "discharge down to at least 85% Soc, but not lower than 75% Soc" or something like that.

In a nutshell, the break-in procedure is: Full charge -> light discharge -> full charge -> light discharge -> full charge ... ... ... ... And for long battery lifetime, keep them well maintained and well charged.

[LBZ_Duramax]

Rode some today. I love this conversion!! The torque is amazing. Anyways, put my DMM on the pack and had 50.2V. I have it on the charger for the night now. I can tell it is getting stronger the more we ride it. Will see how it does tomorrow.

[LBZ_Duramax]

I still am only getting 15 mph out of this cart. From everything I have read I should have 20 mph at least. What am I doing wrong?

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by LBZ_Duramax

I still am only getting 15 mph out of this cart. From everything I have read I should have 20 mph at least. What am I doing wrong?

Could be any one of many things, or a combination thereof.

What was the cart originally? (Year - Body style - Series or Sepex motor?)
Which Alltrax 400A controller?
What is the Amp-Hour rating of the 8V batteries?
Does the throttle give max output when floored?
Do the throttle type and controller throttle input match?
Is the controller programmed to limit top speed?

[LBZ_Duramax]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

Could be any one of many things, or a combination thereof.

What was the cart originally? (Year - Body style - Series or Sepex motor?)
I believe early 2000's, Has new workhorse front cowl, series motor
Which Alltrax 400A controller? How do I tell?
What is the Amp-Hour rating of the 8V batteries? Will Check
Does the throttle give max output when floored? Seems to, But not sure
Do the throttle type and controller throttle input match? Not sure
Is the controller programmed to limit top speed?

This is our first electric cart and I use it regularly for work. We do fire protection and use it in big warehouses and college campus. The batteries are green top 8V interstates. I don't have the Alltrax software but I told the guys that work on it to take the limits off. (I have a buddy that works on carts alot) The motor looks to be a stock motor painted orange, has really strong torque off the line. Will spin in rocks alot and bark the tires on pavement. I am starting to think this might be a torque motor?

[JohnnieB]

If you can find a serial number on the cart, plug it in here and it should tell you what it is (was?)
http://www.shopezgo.com/customer-ser...ialNumber.html

This might help you ID the controller
http://www.alltraxinc.com/

If I've read your posts correctly, with a 48V battery pack, the cart will squawk tires that are 22" tall and 11" wide on dry pavement, but will only do 15MPH.
That sounds like you've got a High Torque gear ratio in the differential.