Leaderboard

sounds like you figured it out, but for others who come across this thread: it's the black finned thing under the hood just to the drivers side of center.

Wanted to give my info here so its documented and others know. I have had issues since day one with my Discover batteries on my Sector E1. The issue was the dealer i purchased it from was 3 hours away and both them and Hisun said i would need to bring it back to figure it out. after 3 years almost I was so tired of the low voltage errors "45C3" that i decided to replace the batteries. It was so much money and so many different stories/opinions I wasn't sure what direction to go. Last min i found Litime.com they had 51.2v 30Ah Lithium batteries. I reached out and they said they would be a direct replacement for the Discover batteries. So I ordered them. They emailed me back and as I found on the interwebs - contradicting information they said "These will not work, please deny the shipment or use for another project. The HP of your UTV is too much". Well I didn't listen and i accepted the shipment. Yesterday i took out my 8 Discover and replaced them with 4 51.2v 30Ah LiTime batteries. I installed them in parallel, I did a algorithm update on the Delta iQ 1200 using profile 233 (Closest settings to the LiTime Battery). and BOOM! it worked, and it worked like NEVER before! its so fast, two grown adults up the hill and hardly any drop, but best part at 50% charge it was showing ZERO errors. I would estimate the cart is about 2" taller now too b/c of the battery weight removed. I will update in a few weeks how they are doing. but as of now i would totally recommend and they were like $499 a battery b/c they have a sale currently taking 100 off each battery.

The 48v sevcon controller can work out to about 68 volts, the DC to DC can go way above 90v. The inverter is the critical device, and I reprogram that to suit the battery profile and also cut back on voltage above 67v so that allows for some regen on a full battery, but doesnt cause it to cut out fully. The voltage given out to the main contactor is controlled by the sevcon. But we cant get the original "Fuel gauge" to read correctly so we simply add a new gauge for this. Its an advantage also having a DeltaQ IC1200 algorithm that works with the cell blocks (it does not actually take them to their absolute max voltage , so even better ) and the Sevcon voltages. With any EV, voltage is King, the heat given out by the power systems is important and that is a function of the square of the current so if 50amps load the square is 2500 if 60amps the value is 3600 so you can see the seemingly small change of 10v (or 20%) gives an increase of nearly 50% in that value. So with a constant load that means heat output is dramatically reduced by going to a higher voltage. Where this really helps is when the pack is going down in charge and the voltage does start to sink, and current goes up. Its not such an issue for us. But against all of that is the issue of higher voltage and getting into the realms of being considered as a HV install, and making sure that stuff is suitably insulated , fused, labled etc I couldnt comment on a persons specification of install, as they have obviously made an investment decision based on a lot of factors. I have just given some guidance to help people understand the issues involved, and for many with little experience of the issues its easy to go down the wrong route for what may seem like the right reasons (or a Youtube video) .

Great info, thanks. Stupid questions time: If the setup is for 48v, 60v is really not an issue? It’s the amperage that is more important? Are you saying it’s actually beneficial to go to 60v? Does the setup described above by digeredoo seem adequate as a replacement in your opinion? cheers.

Just a few points to guide people on lithium cells. The original pack is not actually 2080ah, or rather it is but not in the correct way you express a pack ah . They have quoted that figure based on 8 x 260ah so its quoting 2080ah on a 6 volt battery. Thats not how the pack ah is worked out. The original is actually a 260ah pack at 48v . But with any lead you dont actually have access to all of that for storage purposes, as the voltage drops below a usable figure. If you took each battery down to 0v you may get the 260ah , but kill it in the process. Whats important with lead is having adequate ah to supply the discharge rate the motor/ control requires. Thats where Lithium have the edge. So with Lithium (any version) you can have a lower ah of the pack but you do need to ensure you have enough to easily deliver the high discharges needed. If you have a low ah, based on your run time needs, you may well then be seriously over stressing the packs to deliver the amps required under high load. Thats not good. On my UK Li Ion conversions we use a 60v set up (Uses OEM cell blocks from a UK vehicle maker) with a total of 180ah (6 x 30ah). 60v also reduces the current draw and heat under load, and these stupidly high quality cells can discharge at 175a (thats a pack max discharge of over 1000a) each cell block, so they are really very un stressed. That means they dont get hot, that means the cells dont swell, that means long life. If you use lower capacity or lower discharge rate cells then the life can be seriously shortened. Lifepo4 are good but tend to have lower discharge rates than the Li ion, but lifepo4 just melt rather than catch fire, but also do need to be clamped as they swell more under high discharge rates. Batteries have what is called a "C" rating which is a value relating to the rate of discharge and charge they can cope with, so a 100ah cell with a C rate of 1 can easily discharge at 100a, if its charge rate is a max of 0.2c then it can charge at 20amps. Cheaper cells can often discharge at perhaps 3c for short times, high quality (and different chemistry some lipo etc) can stretch to 10c. The li ion ones I use can discharge at over 5c. Aim for a constant pack discharge rate of 400a to cope with a decent load for more than a few seconds, and you will be OK. That means if you have a 90ah pack with a 3c constant discharge rate you will be damaging the pack from the start. If you are using old ex car battery cells (or second life packs) then you should not expect them to constantly deliver the same way as they could when new. They should be de rated. Based on discharge and longer life I would not install a pack under 150ah of any Lithium. If I did I would not expect a long and happy life. If thats OK then all is good. If you are likely to get hacked off when they fail after a couple of years usage, then it may be worth re thinking what your pack ah is to start with. Back to lead, a 12v lead starter battery can do perhaps 8C for a few seconds, then they start to get hot, then the plates buckle then they fail. No good for a traction battery but ok to start a gas engine. Lead traction are also not able to deliver really high long time discharge, which is why they go for a seemingly big pack in the first place, just to get a reasonable chance of being able to deliver performance under load, and have a reasonable life. Traction batteries can however be heavily discharged which a starter cant. Leisure can also do this but cant deliver the high currents so never use these as a traction replacement. I do reprogram the DeltaQ ic1200 (Delta Q did have a suitable algorithm for my needs) and this uses a feature of re programming the temp sensor input so it becomes a short to start option that is linked to my Pack Monitoring Unit (PMU) that talks to the OEM electronics on the cell blocks, so giving pack level safety on charge over voltage or temperature. That is really important. You also need to reprogram the Sevcon to reflect the new discharge curve of the Lithium cells you use. If you dont it will still be able to discharge the pack to a low voltage that is below what the Li cells can take. I hope some of the above is of help.

Since I created this post, I have installed the new Lithium batteries into my Hisun Sector E1. It was really not too complex. Here's what I did: Remove the seat. Remove the panel in front of the batteries (screws on top, and bottom, then loosened the outside panels to make it easier to remove). Then remove the plastic panel over the top of the batteries (you may not have to, but this gave me more room to work). I then removed the battery leads from the 6V batteries. For belt and suspender points, I wrapped the end of the battery leads as not to short anything out as I worked. The battery tie-downs were next and removed easily with a 17mm socket. The J hooks simply fell to the floor as the tie-down was removed (they are easy to put back in place). Finally, remove the batteries; it is easiest to remove the inboard batteries first, straight to the driver/passenger floorboard. The rearmost outboard battery was next, and it has to make a 90 degree turn to come out through the space vacated by the inboard batteries. Then the forward most outboard battery can come out easily. Remember, these batteries are heavy, so watch where your fingers, hands and feet are, as there may be sharp edges inside the battery compartment. Since the pack I got comes with a charger, I removed the onboard charger. Three bolts to remove from the charger from the frame, then pull the charge indicator light from the dashboard well. under the UTV, remove the plastic guard under the floorboard (4 screws), and the wires from the charger go through to the motor controller/battery harness. Once the battery compartment was cleaned, it is time to install the new batteries. I wished I could have mounted them in the inboard battery tray, but the leads I had were not long enough to place the busbar where I wanted. I mounted the 4 batteries outboard, and made sure the connectors faced inward, with the battery indicator cable on the forward passenger side tray. Since the EAGL batteries are shorter than the Discover batteries, I used a piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe and a fender washer to take up some room from the battery tie-down to the J-hook. I then ran the battery indicator wire to the dash, using the tunnel under the floorboard. Ziptie or otherwise secure the cable, as the driveshaft is in the tunnel, too, and you wouldn't want the cable to rub on the spinning shaft. With a rotary cutting tool (Dremel), I made a hole for the battery indicator on the dash and connected the wire. Then, to connect the battery to the busbar, I made all the positive and negative connections for the 4 battery leads, the motor controller lead, and the charge lead (all positives together, and all negatives together). I secured all the leads with zipties, and finally make the battery connections. The EAGL batteries have disconnect switches that need to be turned on. They also have blue LED voltage indicators, which, unfortunately, I cannot read since they are too close to the edge. I checked that each pack was on, then finally, started to reassemble the seat/battery compartment. Turned on the "ignition", put it in gear, and it worked! The gauge in the dash showing amp draw works, but the battery voltage indicator is probably not calibrated for LiFe batteries. With the big battery dot com kit, the lighted battery indicator should show the pack status. I am still testing the battery packs, but I am happy so far. They allow me to keep speed up the hills (20MPH vs 10 or 12MPH). I haven't done a range test yet, but since the whole cart is nearly 350 pounds lighter, Im guessing that range will be improved over the old batteries. If I do need more range, I can install up to 3 more EAGL batteries before I have to relocate the busbar to add the 4th. The stock DeltaQ IC1200 charger on the Hisun is really good; waterproof and high-wattage capable, and I wish I could have reused it. There is a way to update the charger to change the charge profile from Lead-acid to Lithium batteries, but there is not (yet) a profile for the EAGL LiFe battery, so I am using the charger purchased from big battery dot com. Perhaps DeltaQ will make a profile in the future... Remember to wear safety equipment, (gloves, goggles, etc) as you are dealing with batteries. While the Discover batteries are sealed, they are also vented, and precautions should be made in case some acid may have made its way out. Watch for sharp edges in the compartments. Make sure you don't cause any electrical shorts by bridging any positive and negatives as you are wrenching and ratcheting. Secure all wires to prevent chafing, rubbing, or other wear against vibration or moving parts. Have fun, and good luck if you attempt a similar upgrade to Lithium packs on your Hisun EV!