Running the mixed bag sla.

[deacon]

Somewhere on this forum a few months ago I read about mixing battery sizes. I should have mentioned it at the time but I wasn't thinking. I run two packs at a time. I have a 12ah 48v. a 10ah 48v, and an 8ah 48v. On any given day I might load two of the pack onto the trike or the scooter and take off.

I run the larger of the two packs till it starts to cut out then switch over to the second set. That is as easy as turning on the switch of an overhead light. Because that is what I use, and inline two way wall switch. Hook one battery pack to one output leg and the other to the second outlet, them the input goes to the controller. It's wiring the switch backwards, but it will give you the ability to switch between sla packs easily.

Just a thought I use a switch like that on both the trike and the scooter.

 

[kevyleven007]

Could you show us a picture of that just so we don't get all confused? Don't want it turning into a welding machine

 

[deacon]

I think this explains it.

 

[deacon]

charging the mixed bag FYI.

I found this out by accident. I run 8ah a 10ah and a 12 ah packs in combinations not as a mixed battery, but switch between them on the go as stated above. But I put them on one charger, even though I have two chargers. I did it because I wasn't going to need them for a day or so.

I figured as long as one still needed charging the charger would run. No at all so grasshopper. When the 8ah got charged it shut the charger off. There was no way to know the other two packs were undercharged. Since I only planned to us the two smaller packs I hooked the middle pack up to stay on the charger.

I was surprised when the charger came on and began charging. I decided to check all the battery packs. The eight was full and hot. The 10 and 12 were undercharged. I hooked them up one at a time and it took half and hour each to bring them up to full charge.

So if you run different amp hour packs you need to charge them separately. Something I wish I had read. All my range estimates are off, because some of the batteries sometimes were too low.

 

[kevyleven007]

did it overcharge the 8 ah?

 

[deacon]

Nope just shut down probably why it shut down