Charge and balance?

[Twinpanther]

I obtained 4 of the batteries below for next to nothing. They are close enough to my 12v 20ah batteries in my scooter that still fit in the battery compartment.

Not having anything but the scooter charger (one day will upgrade to lithium but that day is not here) I wanted to check on the proper way to prep them.

Obtain a 12v charger and charge individually? Basically, pre-wheelchairdriver I would have just thrown them in and called it a day. Now even though these are cheap batteries I'd like to get the most out of them. Even if that is just getting me through the winter and into summer. So, other than owning a few voltmeters, what do I need to accomplish this without breaking the bank?

Yes, I hear BM already to toss the crap and do it right the first time as it'll be cheaper in the long run. Sorry, BM.

[Burgerman]

Do you have a PL8?
If so set to 6S Lead.
Set 6A CC
Set 14.7V CV
Set termination to 20mA with time limit of 8 hours.

Do each one one at a time. If you dont have one, and all you have is your scooter charger, then connnect all 4 together by connecting all the positives together, and all the negatives to each other too, and leave for 24 hours. Then fit and charge for 16 hours.

[Twinpanther]

Nope, no PL8 yet. Over the summer most likely.

OK, so connect the 4 batteries in parallel and let them self level for 24 hours, correct? Would longer be better or just wasted time? Then load 'em up, rewire in series and charge for most of a day. Would it be beneficial to pull them every 2-3 months and re-level?

[Burgerman]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... k3vIO048Em

For what its worth you paid about the right price! Those will last about 300 cycles at very best at even 50% discharge with 80% capacity left at the end. At which point they are fit for the bin. And quite high impedance. Which means that a full charge require a 20 hour plus CV charge! Look at the charge chart. At 20 hours the current is still dropping.

[Twinpanther]

On a side note. I went to look at a PL8 and came across this:

http://www.usastore.revolectrix.com/Pro ... rLab-8T_11

Is this "the new" PL8? Or the same with USB, Bluetooth and touch screen additions.

[Burgerman]

OK, so connect the 4 batteries in parallel and let them self level for 24 hours, correct? Would longer be better or just wasted time?

24 should be enough.

Then load 'em up, rewire in series and charge for most of a day. Would it be beneficial to pull them every 2-3 months and re-level?

No point. When you charge a lead battery you charge at a higher level than a fully charged battery. Its self balancing. low cells are pulled up, while high ones go too high every charge but they cant get more than 100% full... The more charges, the better the balance. Its the initial few that cause problems as they may be a lot different. Anyway, I predict that after 3 months they will be pretty much toast.

[Burgerman]

The new one is the old one with a different firmware and a stupid bump controller we dont need. They will eventually both be useful to us, but right now theres no PC software we can use.

[Twinpanther]

For what its worth you paid about the right price! Those will last about 300 cycles at very best at even 50% discharge with 80% capacity left at the end. At which point they are fit for the bin. And quite high impedance. Which means that a full charge require a 20 hour plus CV charge! Look at the charge chart. At 20 hours the current is still dropping.

I figured it wasn't very good. But $50 and it will be used maybe once a week for maybe 5-6 miles it seemed worth it.

Eventually it will be my guinea pig for lithium. The thought is build two 24v packs that I can combine into one 48v pack to allow it to run either my scooter or chair. But those are questions for another day. Thanks again, BM!

[Burgerman]

I meant to post the lnk to the tech sheet... Lost it now.

[Twinpanther]

I meant to post the link to the tech sheet... Lost it now.

You didn't. I just removed it from the quote as it was wasted internet space. You know, like WCJ site.

[Burgerman]

Well its not wasting any now!

[Twinpanther]

Well its not wasting any now!

BM, I truly hope you didn't take that the wrong way. I just meant it was already posted and I didn't want to make the thread longer by adding it again. It was greatly appreciated. The rest was just my attempt at humor implying WCJ was useless info. Sorry if I offended you in any way.

[Burgerman]

No, I was agreeing with you. I mean the junkie site isnt wasting space!