XB-600 power slow down

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jkellym
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XB-600 power slow down

Hello all. I have an XB-600 that I added a fifth battery to and wired in after the stock battery box. Everything was runing fine for about 6-8 weeks at about 28mph. Then one day the bike dropped to 20 MPH with all 5 batteries connected. I changed it back to the original 48v 4 battery configuration and got 15 mph so I assumed a battery went bad. I bought a new battery and have replaced each, one at a time, and tested after fully charged and am still running at a much reduced speed. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated, the guys at xtreme want me to send them all my batteries so they can check them for me.

Thank you
Kelly

e-doggies
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

How have you been charging the 5-battery pack? With a 60V charger?

Testing the batteries after a charge, when they are "at rest" won't tell you much about their capacity.

I'd start by charging each battery separately with a 12V charger at a low amperage rate. Then re-connect the pack to 60V and take it for a ride. Does that get it back close to your original 28MPH?

You may have one or more bad batteries or a faulty charger. Colder temperatures can also affect performance of lead acid batteries.

If you don't already have one, I'd suggest you invest in a digital multimeter so you can test voltages rather than just moving batteries around.

jkellym
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

When I charge I reconnect the battery pack to stock 48v and charge with the OEM charger and use a 12v charger for the 5th battery. I tested while running full out on the throttle with the bike up on the center stand

e-doggies
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

That method of charging will not keep your pack balanced. I'd suggest you charge each one with your 12V charger and do a "load test". Having the wheel spin off the ground doesn not simulate the amp draw you will have when riding it. A better method is to connect something to each battery that draws maybe 10-20Amps and measure the voltage drop while doing that.

jkellym
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Thank you very much. After I have my problem fixed would moving to a 60v charger keep them balanced?

e-doggies
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Thank you very much. After I have my problem fixed would moving to a 60v charger keep them balanced?

In my opinion, No. Battery balancers are available, but they would be expensive. You would need 4 (1 less than the total number of batteries). Other options are "bank charging", by using a separate 12V charger for each battery, or moving one 12V charger from battery to battery (tedious and slow), or "parallel charging" all 5 batteries with one good 12V charger (requires some one-time rewiring of the scooter).

Do some searches for "battery balancing", "bank charging", and "parallel charging"and you will see quite a few posts on the subjects.

It's not a good idea to mix different ages (capacities) of batteries together in one pack. For best results, it's recommended to replace all at the same time.

mf70
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

IMHO, X-Treme is being awfully helpful to someone that is redesigning the electrical system of their scooter.

"Bank charging" depends on the electrical equivalence of the five chargers, something I've never seen.

If you're going to the trouble of adding a battery, I would second the recommendation to rewire for parallel charging. You can set up a jack to parallel charge all five batteries at 12V. This will allow each battery to accept its full share of the available electrical energy. You then use a second "jumper plug" to "rewire" the pack into series to provide maximum voltage to the scoot. (While you're at it, I would recommend upgrading from the 14GA wiring to at least 12GA.)

Series charging is the worst thing you can do for a lead-acid pack, but it is convenient.

e-doggies
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

IMHO, X-Treme is being awfully helpful to someone that is redesigning the electrical system of their scooter.

"Bank charging" depends on the electrical equivalence of the five chargers, something I've never seen.

If you're going to the trouble of adding a battery, I would second the recommendation to rewire for parallel charging. You can set up a jack to parallel charge all five batteries at 12V. This will allow each battery to accept its full share of the available electrical energy. You then use a second "jumper plug" to "rewire" the pack into series to provide maximum voltage to the scoot. (While you're at it, I would recommend upgrading from the 14GA wiring to at least 12GA.)

Series charging is the worst thing you can do for a lead-acid pack, but it is convenient.

I agree with you completely mf70. Parallel is the best as far as I'm concerned. I just wanted to offer the options. From the posts I've read here in the past, bank charging is better than series, but, as you said, probability of finding 5 chargers that all work identically is close to 0.

Kelly, Here's a link to an old thread that should help you understand what's involved:

http://visforvoltage.org/forum/3166-seriesparallel-switching-charge-parallel-part-2-simplified

jkellym
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Thank you for your help. I didn't tell x-treme that I added an extra battery since when re wired back to it's original state i am running 5-7 mph slower then it should.

sixpax2k9
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Has anyone mentioned opening up the dash and looking for the little gray wires and the potentiometer for adjusting speed?!?!?!?!

Dave ; Tennessee
XB-600.

mf70
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Ain't it lucky they don't read this board? (Hee hee)

Seriously, you can do a pretty good capacity test if you have a cheap inverter. Simply discharge each battery through the inverter and time the length of discharge. Almost all inverters have a low-voltage cutoff, so this is safe, if you immediately recharge the battery. (You should confirm that with your hardware of course!) Capacity is time @ rate.

You don't care about absolute numbers, but a battery that is dramatically different will mess up any series application.

hguido1
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Ok, hello all. Haven't been on in a while. I would ask the following questions on this topic. How old are the batteries to start with? Have they sat a for a while allowing them to completely discharge? It could be the controller that is the problem or even the motor it self. Have you checked the tire pressure? Low tires will reduce speed? Are you using the same speedometer as before? The stock speedometer is not accurate. I would try to test with a gps when moving to see your real speed. Have you checked the charger to see what amount of voltage it is putting out? What is the total voltage of the 5 batteries after a charge? Remember speed on these bikes is all about the voltage. The current capacity is range and low end torque. Just my thoughts. Merry xmas

hguido1
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Re: XB-600 power slow down

Merry XMAS

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