I am not even sure of my question! My daily average ride is 7 to 11 miles, home to work and a stop at the store, never more than 15 miles. Battery life (distance speed) seems the same with 16 months and 2500+ miles. But lately if I am over 12 miles my charger seems to want to run on forever.(6+ hrs) The batteries warm enough to feel from the floor pan and I check it enough to never let it continue to run. Why would a deeper discharge cause my charger to want to over charge? If my next ride is ~12 miles or less than the recharge is about 2 hours and the charger goes to green LED. I cant see 3 to 4 more miles causing almost 6 or more hours charge time. Under normal charge the batteries never get warm, and have always recharged in about 2 hrs. Is this a sign my batteries are wearing out? I still get full speed for the distance I ride. Is this a charger problem. when it does stop charging I read 57.3 volts, a bit high I would think
I think The charger is the problem not the batteries, any input?
More info: Running 60v. stock charger only charging the original 48v pack, other 12v battery isolated during charge cycle. 5th battery is larger, 35Ah and stock is 20Ah. 5th battery charges in less then 1 hour with 2 amp charger when run <12 miles. No effect on speed or distance, just heat on the batteries and time of charge. I dont want to damage the batteries. Any clue?
JamesS,
Sealed lead acid batteries typically only take around 300 full charge cycles before starting to show signs of deterioration (from what I understand) Usually the charger will either work, or not work, but the batteries can slowly wear out.
I am not an expert, however, this is what I have learned through a lot of experience as a middle man for X-Treme scooters tech support.
Variety of electric powered vehicles at http://urbanscooters.com
Well I am well over 300 cycles, however only a handfull of them have been full discharge. My range / speed, seems the same. It's just when I use more than my normal, 12+ miles per day, then the charger wants to run on forever. I will run it to about 15 miles and then check each battry voltage. I guess I want it to be a charger problem, not a battery problem.
Happy scooting,
JamesS
You won't be able to tell very much from symptoms of charger usage. The only way to keep an accurate measure of the health of your batteries is to monitor the voltage of each one. Measure the voltage of each battery after it has been charged, and then disconnected from the charger for an hour. Each battery should read 12.5 to 13.2 volts if reasonably healthy.
This is where I purchased my 5th battery.
http://www.electricvehiclesusa.com/product_p/ba-ty-12-20.htm
Replacing all of the batteries in the 48volt pack will cost around $155 + shipping.