24V charger for 48V scooter?
I recently got a new Evader scooter and it works great, but I noticed that the charger is a 24V charger even though it's a 48V system. Does anyone know how that might work? Could the charger be charging two sets of two batteries in parallel?
Actually, if this is the way it works it's a good idea. Charging two sets of two batteries in parallel results in more equal charging of the individual batteries - a kind of battery management system on the cheap.
So it takes twice as long I guess to charge both sets of 24 volt batteries. My only concern would be one set of batteries topping off before the other and fooling the charge into thinking it should trickle charge when one set is full and the other set isn't quite done. Won't hurt anything of course, but result in some uneven charging. Of course, since the whole set is always being used, using the same batteries as well I'm sure they have an even charge/discharge cycle. I think it would only be a problem if one 24 volt battery set went bad.
Actually, the charger is a 24V, 8 Amp charger so it should charge the batteries as fast as a 48 V, 4 Amp charger would. It's really the total watts available from the charger that determines charging time at moderate charging current levels.
You are correct, that's the only way it could. I may have two separate 24 volt charging circuits because otherwise, I don't see a single 24 volt charger doing both that would give it a good charge unless both batteries are always in identical charge/discharge states.