I am considering buying a Zapino. They are offering $1000.00 on demo rides, but with no warrenty. I've been looking at everything I can find about them and my big concern is the battery charger. It seems from what I read, that the OEM charger is a series charger. And that is not giving a balanced charge to all the cells. Somewhere I read that the 1st and 4th cells are somehow receiving a lower charge. Does anyone make a parallel system? Or is it possible to switch the battery connections to vary the order of the cells?
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Yes quite a few of us are parallel charging.
Mf70 lead the research with his parallel andersons powerplug config and a few of us have followed suit.
It can help balance the pack if the cells are charged in parallel.
However I have to say that in my experience Series charging SLA batteries is mostly ok. They dont normally get that out of balance, so I wouldnt be overly concerned. Ive never heard of the problem you describe of certain cells getting less charge in series!
I remember speculation like that appearing on the web. AFIK, it is a physical impossibility. The problem with serial charging is that the number of electrons is precisely the same for each battery, and there will always be a slight difference between charge states for different batteries. Thus, while some batteries are still "waiting" for electrons, other batteries in the chain must pass unneeded charge, thus gassing.
Indeed, the standard serial chargers work; I use a serial charger for opportunity charging occasionally, and I don't worry about it. I suspect, however, that if you are looking for maximum life from your SLA pack, a serial / parallel plug system will have longer-term performance. That's what I use every night.
For other chemistries, I expect you need a cell-level BMS, as provided by Tesla or Toyota.
Mark
I've just finished wiring my Zapino and 5 chargers (Schunacher) 2-4-6 amp speed charger. I got a pack of 10 Power Pole from Power Werx. I probably went overboard on the wire (10awg). Before charging the first time after a morning ride of about 15 miles I checked the voltage at each anderson plug. 4 measured 12.5v and 1 12.4. That's with the Zapino string charger. I've been riding and charging after every ride for about 2 weeks. It's nice to know nothing out of the ordinary happened with the string charge. I'm sure it would have been ok, but now I have more control over the battery condition. This is a great forum and I learned alot even before getting the Zapino.