Functional Artist
Well-known member
If ya ever get in your electric powered go kart
...& it just doesn't seem as spunky as usual
...or worse (don't want ta go at all)
A "cell" may have gone bad in your battery pack
Here is an example of this, that I encountered this weekend
I got my Aerial Atom kart out on Saturday afternoon ta dust off the cob webs & take 'er for a spin
...but, she didn't wanna go
The 60V batt pack showed ~59V on the energy meter (fully charged should be ~65V)
...but, when I applied throttle, the voltage in the pack "sagged" all of the way down to ~51V (& it didn't wanna go)
* I had the battery cables unhooked while it was in storage (to eliminate any "parasitic" power draws)
...connected the charger once a month (so, they don't self-discharge too much)
...& everything always seemed OK
So, I did some investigation (starting at the batt pack)
Checking with my MM (multi-meter)
...the first 12V 12AH SLA battery checked out as ~12.8V
...the second "cell" showed ~12.9V
...the third showed ~7.6V (WTF?)
...the fourth showed ~12.8V
...& the fifth showed ~12.9V
When I removed the batteries I noticed a bit of corrosion on the batt tray
...& then, when I flipped 'er over, I noticed a crack in the bottom of battery #3
*Solved that mystery
I connected a 12V charger & individually charged each battery
...& they all came up to ~13V (batteries #1, 2, 4 &5)
...& they were still @ ~13V the next morning (rested voltage)
** So, the moral of this story is, 1 bad egg can "spoil" the whole pack (as far as usability as a whole pack)
*** This example was about SLA (lead acid chemistry)
...but, the same principle applies to Lithium battery packs too
...& it just doesn't seem as spunky as usual
...or worse (don't want ta go at all)
A "cell" may have gone bad in your battery pack
Here is an example of this, that I encountered this weekend
I got my Aerial Atom kart out on Saturday afternoon ta dust off the cob webs & take 'er for a spin
...but, she didn't wanna go
The 60V batt pack showed ~59V on the energy meter (fully charged should be ~65V)
...but, when I applied throttle, the voltage in the pack "sagged" all of the way down to ~51V (& it didn't wanna go)
* I had the battery cables unhooked while it was in storage (to eliminate any "parasitic" power draws)
...connected the charger once a month (so, they don't self-discharge too much)
...& everything always seemed OK
So, I did some investigation (starting at the batt pack)
Checking with my MM (multi-meter)
...the first 12V 12AH SLA battery checked out as ~12.8V
...the second "cell" showed ~12.9V
...the third showed ~7.6V (WTF?)
...the fourth showed ~12.8V
...& the fifth showed ~12.9V
When I removed the batteries I noticed a bit of corrosion on the batt tray
...& then, when I flipped 'er over, I noticed a crack in the bottom of battery #3
*Solved that mystery
I connected a 12V charger & individually charged each battery
...& they all came up to ~13V (batteries #1, 2, 4 &5)
...& they were still @ ~13V the next morning (rested voltage)
** So, the moral of this story is, 1 bad egg can "spoil" the whole pack (as far as usability as a whole pack)
*** This example was about SLA (lead acid chemistry)
...but, the same principle applies to Lithium battery packs too
Attachments
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SAM_4639 (1).JPG
