Power Drive Charger and Lithium Batterys ?

[Hunter450]

A buddy on mine has ordered 4 - 12 volt lithium ion batteries to replace the 6 -8 volt lead acid batteries in his basically stock 2012 Precedent. Vendor (Lithium Battery Power) told him he could use his factory Power Drive charger and each battery has its own BMS. I'm sort of ignorant when it comes to lithium but I would like to inform my buddy if he's setting himself up for a expensive failure.

[NoleFan4Ever]

He will have to bypass his OBC, but that is correct as the BMS will have a circuit for the charger that limits the voltage. I personally do not like it that way but it does work. A friend bought a lithium pack from a Volt and with that setup described was able to use his Powerdrive charger.

If it were mine and I spent all that money, I would by me an aftermarket smart charger. Most any of them you see now will cover LiPo, LiFo, etc.

Originally Posted by Hunter450

A buddy on mine has ordered 4 - 12 volt lithium ion batteries to replace the 6 -8 volt lead acid batteries in his basically stock 2012 Precedent. Vendor (Lithium Battery Power) told him he could use his factory Power Drive charger and each battery has its own BMS. I'm sort of ignorant when it comes to lithium but I would like to inform my buddy if he's setting himself up for a expensive failure.

I'd like to now how he plans on limiting the max discharge current to the specification cited on their website.

[Hunter450]

Nole, I definitely understand purchasing a charger designed specifically for the battery technology would be the way you and I would go and that's what I'll recommend to him. What's the short answer for the need to bypass the OBC if he continues using the PowerDrive charger? If he does the bypass would he need to monitor and manually stop charging when he reached maximum voltage? Thanks!

[NoleFan4Ever]

If it works like the ones I saw the added circuitry supplied controlled the charger on/off and capped the voltage to prevent damaging the lithium pack. Lithium is a totally different technology then the FLA type batteries and I am not even sure an OBC "could" charge those batteries without damaging them since its algorithm is specifically for bulk, saturation/finish charging flooded lead acid cells compared to the anode, cathode, ion technology of lithium.....

If he goes this way, just have him double check with the supplier because I know with the Volt setup we got it would work with any automatic charger but not Powerdrives without bypassing the OBC.

[Sergio]

You will need to leave the OBC in place as it is part of the "charging system".

Without the OBC, the external powerdrive box is just a fixed voltage power supply and its voltage is pretty high.

The batteries also have no way to turn the powerdrive on/off at the end of the charging cycle, the OBC does that.

Those 12v lithium batteries are already in the "premium" price range, so it would make sense to invest in a cc/cv lithium charger (which is what their site actually recommends if you are stringing more than 1 battery together).

There have been some posts about those 12v lithium batteries with internal BMS not being compatible with Regen brake or large current demands and shutting down briefly.

[Hunter450]

I spoke to my buddy and I think I convinced him to purchase a lithium battery charger and sell his Power Drive charger. With the available open space in his Precedent battery tub, I recommended he mount the new charger in the tub with the batteries and hard wire the charging leads to his lithium pack so he will not use the factory charge receptacle. I want to send him the attached diagram showing him how to by-pass his OBC. What modifications does he need to do to the factory charge wiring so the OBC doesn't put his controller to sleep? Thanks!

[Sergio]

If he is using the stock Curtis Controller then YES, he needs to do the OBC bypass indicated.

Unless the OBC is bad, I would suggest cutting the Blue and White wires on the harness side and just crimp them together using a butt or closed end connector.

That way he can sell the OBC with the external powerdrive power supply.

I would also recommend replacing the carts DC charger receptacle with something like the item below in order to have an easy way to plug the onboard charger:

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GCP1-125...qid=1539607767

[Hunter450]

Good point Sergio on saving the working OBC. As far as I know his cart has the factory controller. If the bypass of the white and blue wires is done on the harness side of the 6 pin connector then just tape up the harness side connector.

[Sergio]

Originally Posted by Hunter450

Good point Sergio on saving the working OBC. As far as I know his cart has the factory controller. If the bypass of the white and blue wires is done on the harness side of the 6 pin connector then just tape up the harness side connector.

The harness connector is a female connector with deeply recessed sockets so there is no real need to tape it, just leave it disconnected.