Battery Vehicle Society

My charger is only charging my new batts up to 41v! That's 13.6 (recurring) per cell, and it ought to be 14.6-14.9 per cell (up to 45v for the whole pack), what's going on? Is this OK or should I replace the charger?

mmmmmmmmm without knowing how the charger functions fully it might be the batts need to be cycles a couple of times.

Of course it could be the charger just aint set up right from day one

Did you ever measure the volts when you first got the bike ?


ChrisB

I did indeed, sadly the spreadsheet in question managed to vanish into the electronic ether about a month ago. As I recall I think it was around 41 point something.

If it's not set up correctly - How would I set it up right? It doesn't seem to have any way of adjusting it.

I'll try and get to the meet tomorrow with the device.

Could be that the charger specs have drifted I suppose ??

When I say set up I mean set from the factory , I doubt theres any user adjustment.

Best to take it to a meet and see if theres anyone there whos got a voltmeter and some screwdrivers etc

ChrisB

Yeah, about the meets, it's really difficult to attend because they're always in remote suburban locations that are impossible to access unless you own a car. (or don't mind being stung for loads of cash by public transport)

Is there any chance of there being any meetings somewhere more accessible? Don't want to be comedic but I don't like suburbia that much at the best of times. It seems to be a really good place to go to get beaten up because of how you look. And it always reminds me of the old joke about roads taking you from A to B at the expense of C, which is anywhere in between

Ah well in that case how about holding your own meet

I dont think all of suburbia is that bad or.......

It seems to be a really good place to go to get beaten up because of how you look.

I suppose you could say I live in Suburbia well theres other houses round me but I have water frontage and views of Chichester harbour and the Southdowns the only thing thats likely to beat me up if the Mrs for me leaving a stack of batteries in the kitchen "for test purposes"

ChrisB

Ah, sorry about that, was in a bit of a bad mood. Went to the Bristol pub meet yesterday, it was great. Turns out that 41v is normal after all; one could possibly tune it up to get an extra volt out of it, I suppose, but much more than that could damage the battery.

Got 41.1 this charge; then again I did leave it on overnight.

badnewswade wrote:Got 41.1 this charge; then again I did leave it on overnight.

mmmmmm I'd like to see AT LEAST 41.4v on a set of sealed Pb's and to be honest on a set that are used for cyclic use then something around the 42.6v or your going to start to run into balance issues and early failure

ChrisB

What about new ones- don't they need a few cycles before they charge up to full capacity?

lives in hope

I am in agreement with Chris on this one

Under ideal conditions I would like to see each battery attaining 14.1 volts. making a total of 42.3V.
You might have a sulphated battery, its not un-common even with new batteries, especially if thay have travelled 1/2 way round the world, been in a warehouse for weeks before receiving a charge.
Might be worth charging each battery independantly and seeing what voltage it attaines.
Better still why not take them back to the retailer who charged you a fortune 100 odd quid and get them to charge them up and check their capacity