Hey Everybody,
I am running a Crystalyte motor at 48 volts. Currenlty I'm using SLA and I have 4 9AH 12 volt batteries.
I want to get a little more torque without sacrificing much range. Also, budget is a concern. Any suggestions?
My initial plan is to swap out the 4 SLAs with 4 SLAs that have a higher Amp Hour rating. Is that wise? Will I need a new controller?
How much can I expect to spend for NIMH?
Thanks for the help.
Torque is directly related to amperage. More amps through the motor gives more torque. If your speed controller is limiting the current, then changing batteries will do no good. If the speed controller is not limiting the current, and you are getting significant "droop," (droop is a drop in battery voltage when the motor is under heavy load) then installing higher Ah batteries might help.
My Controller is a 20 amp controller. Is that limiting things?
How is the rating of the controller related to the Amperage of the batteries?
I simply don't know if the controller is limiting the current to 20 amps, or if that is the maximum it can handle without burning up. If it is the latter, than it can probably take short-term overloads; this would give a small boost in torque over the current limited speed control.
The rating of the controller is not related to the amperage of the batteries. Even some small 5Ah lead acid batteries could supply well over 100 amps for a short period.
Your options are: One, find out if your speed control is current limited. If it is, then going to a control with a higher rating should increase torque.
Two, it may be that you simply cannot force more current through the motor at the voltage you are running. A higher voltage setup would fix that.
To answer a few of your original questions: Using higher Ah batteries is completely fine. As long as the voltage of the pack does not change, you will not need a new controller. The biggest increase you will see is in range. I don't know if this will increase your torque; it depends on the controller and the state of the old batteries.
I might be able to help better if I knew exactly which motor and controller you were using.