Leaderboard

As some back ground I run a small business in the UK (since 2012) building EVs, supplying conversion parts, and developing new parts and Li ion conversions. I am not a specifically Hisun oriented business, but have created a li ion Conversion for the e1 , built on the setup I use on Polaris Ranger EVs. Hisun use the DeltaQ IC1200 charger. Each charger has an Algorithm loaded into it that tells the charger to what voltage to charge to at what current, and for how long and at what voltage to go to any maintenance/ trickle charge. It can also be reprogrammed (assuming DElta Q have one suitable) to work with Li ion cells. The algorithm can be changed using a download from a suitably formatted and set up USB storage stick. If you put a completely blank USB stick into the USB socket on the charger, then it will download a dump of charging statistics. Using the software from DeltaQ you can use that to look at the data, it tells you how many charges, when the last one was, if they are full or incomplete charge cycles, any faults, what Algorithm you are usng etrc. It only looks at the Charger. There is no connection to any form of BMS (No Lead systems do that) to give data on individual batteries. Inside each battery there are separate 2v cells . 3 to give 6v 6 to give 12v. and these cells do get unbalanced. That is why a Lead battery always gets over charged in a full charge cycle. It brings up any low voltage cells and high voltage cells just turn the unwanted power into heat. On wet lead thats when you get gassing. So always ensure you fully charge. Its worth occasionally doing a voltage check on each separate battery in the string , starting at the negative end. Note the at rest voltages when you have used the vehicle, then when its been fully charged and left to stand unplugged for say 20 mins. Do the checks again. Not them down. Now look at the data and are you seeing any that are really different voltages from the rest? If so it could mean you have a problem with a cell in that battery. As an example if at rest after use, most are reading at just under 12v, but one is reading a bit under 10v that battery almost certainly has a faulty cell. If these had wet cells then this is the point you re check the electrolyte level. But on sealed gel there is nothing that you can do. It possible that that battery has just got so unbalanced that the onboard over charge cant deal with it. Unlikely but possible, so fully charge the vehicle as normal. Then carefully disconnect that battery (Ensure any cable ends dont touch anything. Wrap the end in insulation tape and cable tie the cable (use releasable ties) or tie them up with string to something solid on the vehicle. No you can remove the battery or leave it in place and put an external charger of the correct type and voltage , leave it for a day. Then remove the external charger, re connect the battery to the rest of the pack, and see if its made a difference. If not then dont delay replacing it. A duff cell not only causes a voltage drop but to compensate the rest of the pack will have to discharge at a higher rate, so it puts all of the batteries under strain. A few terms Series connection. in battery terms, join the negative on one battery to another batteries positive and the overall voltage will be the sum of the two, ie two 6v will give 12v two 12v will give 24v. If you have 2 150Ah (Amps Hours) 12v batteries in series you will end up with a 150Ah 24v battery pack (This is called 2 S , two serial) Parallel connection. If you have two 150Ah 12v batteries and you join both negatives together and both positives together you will end up with a 300Ah 12v battery pack (this is called 2p) If you have two sets of the 300Ah as above and join them in series you have one pack of 2P 2S. Cell . The basic building block of batteries. In lead they are about 2v, in Nicad about 1.2v, in Alkaline/ zinc carbon about 1.5v and Li ion around 3.7v (lifepo4 3.3v) So your 12v lead battery will be made up of 6 separate 2v cells. Any one of which can fail. DC to DC converter. Takes High voltage DC and converts it to low voltage and not simply by using a big resistor. The output is a stable voltage suitable for the vehicles normal usage. It should never be used to charge another 12v battery by jumping of the onboard one Motor controller / Inverter. In the HiSun, this is the SEVCON unit beneath the seat. This takes DC power and converts it to three phase AC to feed to the AC motor. In broad terms the frequency of the AC is what dictates the motor RPM, the controller interprets the load , the motor speed (it has a thing called an encoder on the motor that gives data you can work out RPM from), throttle input and hey presto you get the power and speed your right foot is wanting. It has inbuilt data specifically for the motor telling it how to deliver power through the rev range, how the phases interact to give the acceleration you are asking for etc etc. Do ask a question on EV related things and I will answer if I can.