New xb-502 Which smart charger

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mstng
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New xb-502 Which smart charger

Wife is new owner of xb 502 and I am concerned about damaging batteries. I have been through this with the boat and motorhome. What inexpensive 3 stage charger would you recommend? It is a combined 48 volts 12AH. Would one of those 20 dollar maintainers suffice? I would like to be able to charge it overnight or even for 24 hours without damaging it. Thanks in advance.

Bill

mf70
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Re: New xb-502 Which smart charger

I've been ringing the parallel charge/ serial drive chimes for about four years.

It is easy for four 12V batteries to get out of synch if charged while they are in series; if one is slightly smaller in capacity, it will not be allowed to shut off the flow of electrons until the other batteries have had their drink.

In a parallel charge setup, all four batteries float at the same voltage. The ones with a smaller capacity merely sit alongside as the "thirsty ones" continuing charging. When the consensus voltage goes to the cutoff point, each battery has gotten everything it needs. (Note the feed bus in the "Parallel Charging" part of the diagram; supplying the current from two directions equalizes any possible difference in resistance between the batteries.)

Switching to serial for use as a drive pack merely means swapping the charge plug for a serial jumper plug. Instant 48V. Anderson PowerPole connectors are easily ganged for such applications.

Mark

colin9876
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Re: New xb-502 Which smart charger

To the Opening-Poster, this "3 stage charging" is just a gimick, wont give u any more battery life on a Lead Acid batt, individual charging is the only improvement worth trying

@mf70 Totally agree with you ...I too am for Parallel charging, serial drive!

Coincidentally Ive been working on a new way to implement this, I'll try and describe it ...
Say Ive got 10 cyclindrical cells (say A123)
I put them in 2 strips of 5 cells all facing same way, then load into the parallell charger which has spingy copper contacts.
paral_1.jpg
I charge both strips then load them into the bike on top of each other -the top strip facing the opposite direction.
That way round the Contacting copper springs are linked up and down to get alternating +ve / -ve to make a series circuit!

mf70
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Re: New xb-502 Which smart charger

AFIK, parallel charging has completely different "issues" in lithium chemistry. This is why BMS circuitry is needed PER CELL in lithium packs. I like the series/parallel change idea. This might be possible with Cylindrical Gates Cells in lead.

As far as "3 stage" terminology, it's not "just hype": While it DOES NOT address the biggest problem in a serial pack, it means that the charger behaves in three different ways during the charge cycle.

  1. Constant current, variable voltage for the bulk of the charge
  2. Constant voltage, decreasing current for the taper charge at the top
  3. Decreasing voltage, decreasing current for the final fill

.

For the last stage, some chargers are showing a green "charged" LED, while others are still showing a red "charging" LED. You really need to be tracking both battery voltage and charge current to know where you are in the sequence.

Mark

ebiker_JK
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Re: New xb-502 Which smart charger

mf70 / Mark,
Okay, I hear a bell ringing off in the distance, that must be you. Hah! I admit, I am concerned about the SLA battery life on my XB-600. I'm also considering the Shunt Mod (but not an additional battery).
I'll research the forum here, but how much is this costing out of pocket? And doesn't this also require cutting open the side of the bike to allow access to the parallel plug?

mf70
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Re: New xb-502 Which smart charger

There's a few views of the project included in the thread under

http://visforvoltage.org/forum/9687-xb600-electrical-question

PowerPoles come from PowerWorx (sp?) cost for 10GA cable (between pack and controller) and ~50 connectors was about $30.00.

Yes, you do have to cut. The pix in the thread above will show pretty well how I arranged the battery box. In addition I had to cut an access hole in the left side fairing.

Mark

ebiker_JK
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Re: New xb-502 Which smart charger

Oops... wrong thread. (nothing to see here, sorry)

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