can i add another sla battery?

V

videomandw

New Member
hello,

i have what is probably a dumb question. i currently ride an electric beach cruiser i built with a 750 crystallite kit on the front wheel which came with 3, 12 volt sla batteries. the motor is a 36 volt brushed motor.

i am thinking of adding a 4th sla 12 ah battery. is that possible and would it increase my riding range? how would i wire it up so i still had 36 volts to the motor? do you think 4 sla batteries would be too heavy on my beach cruiser as far as handling and woujld the 4th battery add so much weight that it would not really add to the bike's range?

thanks for any and all advice,
david
valparaiso, in
 
Forget about the 4th batt.and enjoy the ride on 36v.I know of only one person that would know and thats DEACON.PM him and maybe he will tell you how.
 
You can add fourth battery in series (48 V) if your controller can handle it and the motor wouldn't mind (you can overvolt Crystalyte few times - I know people that use 96 V on that motor) - you'll get a better range. You can wire that extra battery in parallel for some more juice (that is still 36 V setup) , but you need to keep close eye on each battery voltage in order to prolong their life (the batteries tend to equalize between themselves and that puts more strain on them and , therefore , shorten their life and reduce efficiency). Best thing you can do is (if you stay with SLA batts) to buy 3 new batts with more AH. In either case you'll add some weight on the bike and that affects handling , as well as position of the battery pack on the bike (low and in the middle of the bike is the best position).
We all talk here about Lithium packs and there is a good reason for that. If you can afford it - go that way, because Li are incomparably better . I hope this helps.
P.S. I've assumed that you know how to wire battery in series and/or parallel
 
The issue is mostly to do with the controller...
If the controller you're using doesn't allow for 48v I would personally suggest the controllers from Goldenmoter dot com
Their "magic" controller will accept from 48v up to 60v, I would buy the one that's already setup for 48v LVC (low voltage cutoff) and you'll be fine...
Add another battery of same AH OR go with LiFePo4 (expensive.)
If you just need more range, buy larger SLAs in AH.
The 48V in that scenario will give you a little more range AND a bit more power.
 
videomandw said:
i am thinking of adding a 4th sla 12 ah battery. is that possible and would it increase my riding range?
Click to expand...

Apart from the issue of whether your controller can accept the higher voltage--

In my observation, adding 12V to an existing system (by adding one more of the same kind of battery) will increase performance, but not range. (Hypothetically, it should work, but in practice you have to use less throttle, and nobody does this.) To increase range, you want to use the same voltage, but batteries of larger amp-hour capacity.

Alternately, you could use a different kind of battery that can be discharged more deeply without damage. I almost never drew more than 50% of the rated amp-hours from my SLA batteries so that they would have a decent lifespan, but many lithium or nickel batteries will discharge their full rated energy without being hurt by it.

If you increase your system voltage or switch battery chemistry, you have to get a new charger. If you just use bigger batteries, you can use your old charger (but it will take a little longer to recharge).

Chalo
 
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