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Single 12v vs. pack charging

1067 Views 3 Replies 1 Participant Last post by  gottdi
Aloha, all. I see the benefits in theory for charging each battery individually, as my batteries all came up to different voltages 12.6v to 12.75v etc. Although my blue top Optimas are at the end of their life and each battery has different resistance due to age, but in real life charging new agm's or Flooded, is individual charging better than pack charging?


BTW just got my first ev grin, running at 50mph and using about 180 to 240 watts/mile rate at this speed and did about 2.5 miles down to 75% charge on this old battery pack with one shorted battery. The Yaris 2007 only has 8487 miles and is basically still new and sure runs smooth.
Francis
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G
I prefer to see a single charger due to there being less to go wrong. Just because some have good luck charging with multiple chargers how many chargers do you want to plug in each time you charge? I prefer to just to plug in one plug and go about my business as it charges up. Ready to go in the morning. If it craps out it craps out. If one of a string of chargers craps out one battery may not be charged and you may not know it and go drive and kill your battery post haste. One charger and one equal charge on the pack. How many plugs do you have anyway? I have one handy one. Not 12 or more. :)

Pete :)

Just my opinion. I think most will agree with one charger. You could bring up some batteries to match the others but since your pack is near the end of life I guess your voltages are pretty good. My pack is near its end of life too. My charge of the 12 volt floodies only produced 80% at full charge.
Thanks for the input. I think I found a way to do it on the cheap, cause I WILL be going Lithium soon, as this Yaris rocks....anyway I am set up on solar here (off the grid and 115 x 200w panels). I can spare one bank of solar panels and have one Outback controller that can be set at 60v and up to 30 amps or more. It is fully programable for bulk, Float (and whatever the other one is) and so can fine tune it to the AGM's. I just need a HD 3 position switch to switch between the 3 banks (180v total).

Francis
G
You have 115 panels at 200 W each! Damn you planning on powering the neighborhood? That is huge. 23 KW. We only have a 7.2 KW system and I thought that was big. You should have no problem charging up your car.

Pete :)

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