4 Year Update on the Lithium Ion Battery Conversion.
Guys, I have to call this DIY project a total success.
It has been over 4 years, and almost 1,000 miles as a used-hard farm cart, and it is still going strong, but if I die, this cart probably will, too. My wife and kids and grand kids all love it, and it has been used for everything from bringing packages up the 1/8 mile hill, to pulling logs out of the woods to pulling a carts full of dirt. Yes, it does need some TLC every now and then.
As a reminder, I converted this to 48v Li-Ion batteries, a high torque A&D motor, and an SPM 125 amp controller, GRIN technologies info display.
Here is the TLC it has needed in 4 years.
1, Had to upgrade the controller from an SPM 175 amp to a used (for cheap off ebay) 300 amp. This failure was kind of anticipated.
2. Another cheap 5 amp 48 volt charger
3. A "real" 5k foot pedal to replace the home made pot I adapted.
And that's about it.
BTW, I never did install a BMS, but check the cell voltages every few months. The cells are never more that 20 milliVolts apart. I think the reason for that is the low amperage 5 amp charger. It charges overnight and is made for Li-Ion batts. It starts out at 4.5 amps across all 7 modules, and for the last 3 hours tapers down to only 1.3 amps, and then shuts off at 55 volts full charge (actually about 90% capacity). The low final amperage allows all the individual cells to more-or-less equalize themselves. Or al least, that is my take on it. If they are still within 20 mV of each other at a nominal 7.2 volts, something is happening that is right.
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Here is a picture of the display after 4+ years, 104 charging cycles, 964 miles, and 3,246 AHr of battery use at an average of approx 51 volts. None of that was on flat land. I don't have any of that, LOL.
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Next is a picture of a big oven socket I installed that has the nominal 48 volts going to it to plug in a 5,000 watt inverter. Works like a champ for tools out in the woods.
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Lastly is a pair 12volt (nominal, more like 14-15v) jump posts that I use for jump starting the various small 12v pieces of equipment that I have. The display is just for monitoring the amps draw. I limit the connection to the jumper cables to about 15 seconds to avoid throwing the modues too far out of balance. That seems to be working.
Guys, I have to call this DIY project a total success.
It has been over 4 years, and almost 1,000 miles as a used-hard farm cart, and it is still going strong, but if I die, this cart probably will, too. My wife and kids and grand kids all love it, and it has been used for everything from bringing packages up the 1/8 mile hill, to pulling logs out of the woods to pulling a carts full of dirt. Yes, it does need some TLC every now and then.
As a reminder, I converted this to 48v Li-Ion batteries, a high torque A&D motor, and an SPM 125 amp controller, GRIN technologies info display.
Here is the TLC it has needed in 4 years.
1, Had to upgrade the controller from an SPM 175 amp to a used (for cheap off ebay) 300 amp. This failure was kind of anticipated.
2. Another cheap 5 amp 48 volt charger
3. A "real" 5k foot pedal to replace the home made pot I adapted.
And that's about it.
BTW, I never did install a BMS, but check the cell voltages every few months. The cells are never more that 20 milliVolts apart. I think the reason for that is the low amperage 5 amp charger. It charges overnight and is made for Li-Ion batts. It starts out at 4.5 amps across all 7 modules, and for the last 3 hours tapers down to only 1.3 amps, and then shuts off at 55 volts full charge (actually about 90% capacity). The low final amperage allows all the individual cells to more-or-less equalize themselves. Or al least, that is my take on it. If they are still within 20 mV of each other at a nominal 7.2 volts, something is happening that is right.
==========================================
Here is a picture of the display after 4+ years, 104 charging cycles, 964 miles, and 3,246 AHr of battery use at an average of approx 51 volts. None of that was on flat land. I don't have any of that, LOL.
=================================
Next is a picture of a big oven socket I installed that has the nominal 48 volts going to it to plug in a 5,000 watt inverter. Works like a champ for tools out in the woods.
===============================================
Lastly is a pair 12volt (nominal, more like 14-15v) jump posts that I use for jump starting the various small 12v pieces of equipment that I have. The display is just for monitoring the amps draw. I limit the connection to the jumper cables to about 15 seconds to avoid throwing the modues too far out of balance. That seems to be working.
