Nerd Post - just some electrical crap. This is mostly venting - please ignore if busy.
I am (going to be trying to...) ignoring Politics this weekend. Actually sleeping better!!!
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Well, it was finally nice enough outside, and I was pain-free enough to take my Bigfoot out onto the back patio, dismount the Roof Frame, then the Seat and then the battery cover so that I could now run the 8 wires I need to connect the two batteries to the battery meters now mounted on/in my Front Trunk (Frunk).
I mounted the meters close to the Control Pedestal so that I cannot easily see the readings unless I lean a bit forward - not a hard endeavour, but this will remove the constant need to glance at the meters when I should be watching out for potential pedestrian targets!
So, the battery connections are made to the battery posts and the Shunts off of the Negative Post of both batteries, and I have enclosed the wires in that funny plastic tubing with a slit all along the length, zip-tied to appropriate locations between the batteries and up the middle of the bottom frame to the Control Pedestal.
Then it goes just up to the rubber collar of the pedestal that allows the pedestal to bend.. I have only run the wires up the back of the Frunk and into a hole (caused by, uhhhh, misadventure?) in the back of the Frunk under the mounting bolts to the pedestal, but will have to properly cover the exposed wires with that black tubing again, then carefully clip the ends for the connections to the meter (4 each!), and I have colour-labeled them so that they go into the correct slot on the meter.
#1 Red - Positive
#2 Black - Negative
#3 Green - Pre-Shunt
#4 White - Post-Shunt.
Or so I keep telling myself. We'll see what happens we go to connect them to the meters. Hopefully no "psssffffffftt!". That happened once when I hooked up the cigarette lighter outlet in reverse of a USB adapter, and, yes, you guessed it - "psssffffftt!". And the wires burned out under the scooter! Lots of power in those batteries!
The amount of information these meters will give me will be amazing - as I will be better able to gauge the health of the batteries simply by looking at the [Full vs [Empty], [amount of charge utilized], [amount recharged], [max Amp draw], [average Amp draw] and a bunch of other small metrics that the book says I can use to better understand what the battery is doing.
I like that it can see how much the batteries are taking in on a charge, (I'm not sure if it can tell me how long it takes, that would be nice), but the meters do not turn on until there is a power draw from the Black/Red terminals, otherwise, it does not use any power.
Pretty Smart. Eh?
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And now - back to designing, ordering and building my new 280Ah, 12V LiIonPo batteries to fit a class 24 battery box (x 2). Good thing about Lithium batteries is that orientation is not an issue, so I can utilize the space better as there is still room lengthwise (about 2.2cm) and height - probably add 1.5 to 2" extra. and it may not.
One of my dealers is having a sale on Class A 320Ah prismatic Batteries, so I asked for a quote for 8 and then 16. Each of 230Ah and 320Ah ones.
The more of the 3.2V batteries I can jam into that space allotted for each Class 24 battery, the longer range I will have - in all seasons! I'm hoping I can shoehorn in an 2P4S battery (8 cells, 3.2v each, 230Ah each.). Basically, it'll be like 2 x 12v batteries in the same case, with a common connector between one of the + and - terminals to the second set of 4 to rev up the Amp power to 460Ah!!! Still will be 12v, but the Amperage will double because...well, it does.
Why? Because it will extend the life of the batteries as each trip locally will barely draw a lot of wattage during my scoots around here, therefore will fill up quickly.
When they state the battery is good for 10,000 charges, they are referring to 10,000 FULL charges, so the less you use, the longer the batteries last.
That's my logic until some electrical engineer dissuades me of this thought process.
BUT, I have to build TWO of these mega batteries - one for each side. The Controller on the scooter is a Rhino 4, so it can take quite a bit of Amperage, but I believe it's software limited (and fuses too!) to about 100Ah, max 150Ah? I know the 12v batteries each have a 70Ah inline fuse, so that gives a total of 140Amps of fusing(?) I'll have to keep the 70Amp fuses even with the new batteries because there is no way I'll ever need more power than I already draw - enough to power the 1,800 Watt scooter (That's like 2.3 HP!) And drawing 100Amps for any length of time can cause overheating of the motor/transaxle.
I'm actually waiting for my Alibaba guy/gal to get back to me on a price for 3.2v, 230/280Ah batteries. 4 of them make one scooter battery - 8 if I want to double my Amperage.
Therefore, I will need 16 batteries, a two Battery Management System (on a chip - aka BMS's) for charge/discharge and power flow management. Overheat/cold cut-off are common on these as well. For $$$, one can also get a Bluetooth BMS so you can use your cell phone to catch battery status' like my meters at the top of this post.
Here is one of my AliBaba possibilities, but I'm doing some diligence on the company as I do not know all the players. These are 300Ah batteries, and I think the price is too good to be true, so I checking it out. The price range is about $30 each, and is actually a helluva deal than buying locally - HINT - most of the locally procured batteries are also from China - no one else really makes these, I guess.
This is an example of the offerings on AliBaba (NOT Express!) that I'm looking at for my battery project. This one is showing $28 each for the 50Ah ones, I think. The 100Ah ones were around $40 each. The 230*400Ah ones were for between $50 and $90 each, depending on the manufacturer/seller.
Just gotta find the "sweet spot".
I'm not sure I will build a box - or just aggressively use duct Tape/gun Tape and perhaps some pieces of plastic duo-tangs as sides and in between the batteries, etc. I've also sewn an insulated bag the batteries can sit in, then mount inside the frame for winter use. I don't think I will buy a BMS heater as I have 2 perfectly good 60watt Canadian Tire Battery Blankets that I can also stick inside the insulated battery bag.
Okay - I got a line on 8 x 100Ah Prismatic Grade A batteries for a price of around $250Cdn. They may supply the studs, connectors and so on for setting the batteries up, but I will need to by 2 x BMS's so they can charge properly. Waiting for prices on offer as well.
At -20, the heated bag should be somewhere around 0°C if not warmer, and the batteries most likely warmer. I do have battery temp gauges already mounted to the battery cover just behind and aside of one's heels as they sit on the seat - so I can monitor battery temps (at the top) during the winter.
Geeze, I should look at building 2 more batteries and just haul them around in my trailer - 8x or even 16x the range LOL. I literally could drive to Sherwood Park and back without fear (round trip on Trans-Canada trail is about 30km), so I could actually go to Costco without driving a vehicle LOL.
We'll see.
Anyhoo, y'all have a good week now, y'hear!
Peace.
