Another battery question.....

[Fairtax4me]

If you're going with lithium batteries you have to have a good BMS, and you need to know and fully understand how it works, and how the battery chemistry works, and you need to know what is acceptable voltage for battery function and acceptable voltage variation between the cells.
Lithium batteries DO NOT tolerate misuse or abuse, overcharging, or over-discharging.

Questions on lithium specifics should be posted in the Lithium CC sub-forum to get the most accurate answers from the people who know what works for lithium setups for carts. If you play around with lithium it has the very real potential to burn your house down, so you batter know exactly what you're getting into and know exactly how you need to treat those batteries to prevent a major accident.
https://www.buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=150460

[simicrintz]

I had read that post earlier, FT; thank you. While I am no electrical pro, I do see what appears to have happened in that post (and feel sorry-and thankful-for the young man). I'll continue to do my homework before I hook this all up, and learning about the BMS is part of it-thank you again!!

[ACCLR8N]

The Lester charger I do not believe is appropriate for the batteries you have ordered. When I was looking at it, it didn't have a profile for these kind of batteries. Also it won't perform the balancing of the individual cells that the BMS is responsible for. The good news is that Lithium chargers don't need to be as many amps and are much cheaper.

All this based on my many days of experience.

[ACCLR8N]

Skimming through that battery university site, they do recommend storing at 50% "state of charge" at some nominal temperature. Also stated worst is high charge, high temperature. Charging at high amp rate is bad (Lester).

[simicrintz]

Interesting. I looked at the specs on the Lester (30600) and it does say it is for lithium. I'm gonna try and check in with them and see what they say; it's still in the box and hasn't moved off of my workbench since I got it......

[BBBHC]

I'm certainly no guru. As for being apprehensive about doing the lithium conversion, I understand. When I did mine, I knew little about electrical. Basically I knew about negative, positive, ground and that DC is different than AC. With the help of folks on here, I was able to do my conversion. Hopefully this will give you some comfort... You can see in my sig what all I did.

I have a thread on my build. It's a bit hard to follow as I did a complete tear down and rebuild of the cart along with the lithium. If you start a thread in the lithium section, that would be best for the gurus to help you along.

As the others have told you, a BMS will be needed for both charging and discharging(using the cart). I wont be able to give you specifics on your lithium pack, as I went with Nissan Leaf modules, instead of the Chevy Volt modules. The BMS I went with, is about as "plug and play" as they come. However, it is not really plug and play. It seemed easier to me than other systems that you will find others on here using. However, it was also more expensive.

It is a fun rabbit hole to go down and learn about. If nothing else, I'm glad I did it just for the learning experience! Hope you have fun with the project. I'll offer my .02 whenever I can.

[simicrintz]

Your cart and thread was pretty much the one that sent me down this rabbit hole, BBBHC (and I say that in a good way)! While my electrical knowledge may just be slightly more than yours (Basically I knew about negative, positive, ground and that DC is different than AC), slightly is the key word.

I looked at the RoyPow and made a few calls, but for some reason I liked the idea of going with a "home brew" setup (and I am a Chevy man anyway!).

I am telling myself to embrace this (batteries are due in on Wednesday), take my time, ask questions and enjoy the ride. I expect frustration as well, but if I keep telling myself this is a journey and that I will learn something along the way, I should be able to manage that!

I am gonna go reread your thread again; thank you for your post!

[simicrintz]

I'm going to post here and in the Lithium page also (I figure the more eyes the merrier).

I'm starting my mockup and trying to find places for everything, as well as make everything accessible when I need to get back in. I've got quite a way to go still, but if any of you see any glaring mistakes at this point would you please let me know? My cart had nothing in it so I figure I can use space as I see available (especially after losing 4 batteries), but that doesn't mean I am doing it right!

Disregard the mounting screws on the battery charger-I ran out of nuts and did not want to run back down to the hardware store again today; I'll fix it tomorrow!

Thank you for any input!

[Mooncarter]

Originally Posted by simicrintz

I'm going to post here and in the Lithium page also (I figure the more eyes the merrier).

I'm starting my mockup and trying to find places for everything, as well as make everything accessible when I need to get back in. I've got quite a way to go still, but if any of you see any glaring mistakes at this point would you please let me know? My cart had nothing in it so I figure I can use space as I see available (especially after losing 4 batteries), but that doesn't mean I am doing it right!

Disregard the mounting screws on the battery charger-I ran out of nuts and did not want to run back down to the hardware store again today; I'll fix it tomorrow!

Thank you for any input!

I know nothing about lithium other than I can't afford them, but that looks like some nice work there to me.

[simicrintz]

Not sure I can afford them either! But on the other hand, 3,000 charge cycles means I may never buy batteries again; maybe I can afford them (after I pay these off!).