GNFO

Out of curiosity, those batteries state a max continuous of 60A each and 100A for 10 seconds, so per just the specs you should be seeing 240A continuous and 400A for 10 sec. Are you actually getting better than that? Also, how are you fitting 4 people in that thing? 🙂

Since it's unique to just the particular situation of starting the day at the top of a hill with a full charge, couldn't you put it in neutral and just use the brakes until you get to level ground? After that regen won't matter. That's essentially what EV cars do if they start with 100% batteries, it's just that the computer interface with the BMS is better so it's automatic. Changing the regen of the UTV would probably take a motor controller software change.

I almost wrote that it depends on the use but I didn't want to make my comment too long. I can certainly see the need for a gas engine if you're traveling a long ways and away from civilization for days. I suppose portable solar panels and battery storage would work if you're traveling to a single campsite and are staying there for a while, but I'm not such a purist that I think that would be practical in most cases. But for local work use around a property/ranch/farm, electric is ideal.

Don't know if you resolved this, but when I did my conversion with ReLion batteries, they actually had a custom profile for the Delta-Q charger they sent me to upload into the charger. I don't know what brand you used, but maybe check with the battery maker technical support?

Yes, just a standard heavy duty 15a plug. It can run a little warm, so stick to heavy duty hardware. I actually completely replaced the end of mine by running it to an RV type receptacle I mounted on the right side. Just cut off the plug and wired it to the receptacle. Now i just plug an extension cord into the side of the UTV.

It's gotten simpler since that first post now that GC2 form factor batteries are available. But to your comment, this is a one-time thing and is frankly because HiSun went with older technology batteries when it came out. Now to "fill up" I just plug in to an outlet at the end of the day. No going to the station to fill up cans of gas, no fumes, no noise, no oil changes, no maintenance issues with all the additional little parts that keep a combustion engine going and tuned up, no worry that my UTV sat too long between uses and might not start or the gas needs stabilizer. I can even run electric loads like the light bars I installed without leaving an engine running and worrying about the little 12v battery. I've even considered adding a 2000W 48v dc to ac inverter to run power tools.

At least from what I can see, the first one doesn't ship to Australia, but maybe that's just what I see from the US with an Australian shipping location selected. What I see ships from Poland for some reason. Regarding a 50A output, that's a problem. You'd need 8 of them and space would be an issue. But maybe you're on the right path. I was wondering if something from the wild world of Alibaba might have something for Australia. It's just hard to pick good from bad and sometimes shipping has a customs or minimum order cost you can't see right away. Customer service might also be nonexistent but it depends. I bought two Tesla frunk actuator kits in 2020 from a company in Hong Kong and the guy actually answered a question I had in the middle of his nighttime. He had to do chat only because talking would wake up his wife and kid! That's more dedicated than I would be.

Might also add that this whole thread was started by @didgeridoo, but they haven't visited the site for over a year now. Despite the name, I suspect they are in the US and not Australia but those batteries came from Bigbattery.com. They don't have an AU website and for international shipping they say you have to contact them on a case by case basis. They do seem to have more options now than when didgeridoo did the conversion and some of them could actually get up to the 400a max, just not with the GC2 form factor.

Yeah, I already discussed this one when @HiSUNFarmboy mentioned it earlier in this thread. That recall was 1-1/2 years ago and they had already fixed the problem just before I bought my batteries. Unfortunately I think ReLion only had a distributor agreement with RJ for Australia. I'm guessing the logistics and cost of getting lithium batteries into Australia is "challenging" for various reasons. Probably why ReLion had to use a distributor in country instead of selling directly, or why the battery lineup on the LiTime website is so much more limited in the Australian version vs the USA version. I don't know if HiSUNFarmboy found an alternative, since he's on your side of the world. Seems like you, him, and @mark walkom are all dealing with the same roadblock. A year and a half ago here in the US it took me a while to find batteries that could be put together for 400a continuous. There are multiple alternatives available here now, but unfortunately the Australian market seems to be lagging. Not much help, I know. You actually have an importation problem instead of a technical problem! Osney's solution might work for you if you can find a surplus/salvage Low Speed Vehicle (that might just be a US term) or EV battery, but from a technical standpoint it's not for the faint of heart.

Well, at least you got a definitive answer - even if it is that they are covering their legal behinds. Doesn't help you, but I don't think they're looking to the future. As "applications" go, powering a UTV isn't much of a stretch beyond their original intent of golf carts. I don't think the other battery you mentioned is much of an improvement on theirs. If you are at the point of having to pick something right now, 200A will work most of the time, but steep slopes with a heavy load might be challenging.

Don't have a lot of examples of 200a batteries, but from what I've seen here none of the 100a (or lower) batteries seem to advertise a limit to just the amps of a single battery. It is probably why some (like the ones I use) will bother to say what maximum number of their batteries can be wired in parallel. Since Giant does advertise that up to four of their 200a batteries can be wired in parallel, that's why I would want to actually ask a technician from their company instead of just a customer representative. Exchange emails with someone who actually knows the internal logic of their BMS.

It is possible that this manufacturer has decided to program its BMS this way to limit their liability. I found this article to be helpful: https://www.master-instruments.com.au/tech-talk-article/3/explaining-the-limits-of-lifepo4-batteries-in-parallel.html On its own, there shouldn't be a limit to parallel batteries increasing the available amps, but manufacturers can be worried about variations in individual batteries leading to an overdraw on the better performing battery. If all the batteries in parallel have the functionality for their BMS to communicate with each other, you wouldn't need to worry about charge balancing and such. My 48V ReLion batteries have a CANbus system for that precise purpose, although they still limit the number of parallel batteries to 8. If what the manufacturer of the batteries you're looking at is saying is true, they don't do that and are minimizing their warranty risk. If you have no other options, 200a will work (and I see they allow a surge of 400a for 5 seconds), but you might have to go slower on the hills. The original Discover batteries only shows a max continuous of 100a (for 88 minutes), although I was able to find info elsewhere that they have a max discharge of 1050a for 5 sec. Can't really tell how long they could theoretically put out 400a, but I doubt it's for long. Of course, the Giant rep may also not really understand what they're talking about and are playing it safe. Maybe ask for further information from an actual engineering contact in the company? Just not sure if the person you talked to was only customer service with a set of info sheets in front of them.

That looks pretty good as long as you can make it fit. Two of them would give you a lot of range. Just make sure you get bigger cables to parallel them so they can handle to current. I doubt the regen is capable of 400A. That's the max the motor can take as an input, so regen is going to be no more than ~60% of that max due to different losses in the system. Probably even less than that, and I would guess the motor controller would limit the regen anyway because the old Discover batteries wouldn't have been able to handle it.

I'm not sure why it is, but the LiTime website for Australia doesn't show any 48V models, but they do have free online shipping (I guess assuming the stock is in the Australian warehouse). In fact, the selection for Australia is just a fraction of the same company offerings in North America. Sorry if that's a normal occurrence there, but it might be worth reaching out to them to see if you can order the 48V GC2 form factor model from them directly. Maybe they can throw it on their next inventory shipment to Australia.

If that's the case, then the LiTime seem good. Do they have free shipping there?Both manufacturers have free shipping in the U.S. I started out looking at cheaper lower voltage batteries, but the problem is when you wire in series you can't go higher than the ah capacity and max continuous rating of each and they don't add to each other. That makes it difficult to make use of the full 400A rating of the motor. That's why I never understood why the old Discover cells were considered OK, since their max continuous output was only 100A. Guess they were depending on the time limited higher current output.