Charging batteries at LOWER voltage?

[oscaryu1]

Let's say I had a type of "thing".

This thing had a 48V battery pack, with a onboard generator (regenerative braking).

What would happen if... say the generator put out only about 36V?

What exactly would this do to the 48V pack? Obviously won't charge it fully (or at all), BUT, it has loads of amperage.

I can't figure it out hah.

Would it do anything at all?

 

[oscaryu1]

It has a blocking diode, the generator flows the power to the battery pack no matter what. Nothing gets returned. So what does that power do? It goes somewhere, but with less voltage than the entire pack, WTF does it do?

 

[oscaryu1]

It's my own project. Nobody has invented (To my knowldge) a regenerative braking scooter yet

 

[modelengineer]

Pretty sure 36V will only charge the battery to 36V, but I could be wrong.

 

[oscaryu1]

It's not limited, I'm just saying say when coasting and slowing down and the motor is producing only 20-40 volts, below it's nominal voltage for charging, does it go to waste? I think not, but what DOES happen?

Yeah, regen braking has been around. Economical? Nope. If it's integrated into controllers, it's expensive as hell. $250 last time I checked.