[ausev] New EV Use

[Sarah & Erik]

Hi Scott,

I don't know the Zivan chargers personally, but if there's an equalize
setting to use during normal charging that'll be what to use to
equalize your pack. I would hope the Zivan will do this for you since
it's a normal part of your charging.

As for not killing your batteries - they're going to die sometime,
your goal is not to speed that process up more than you need to.
Things that damage batteries include:
chronic undercharging - flooded batteries must be equalized every so often
chronic overcharging - there's a point where more hard charging doesn't help
leaving them sit quite discharged for a while - basically, charge as
soon as you can. I don't believe this is quite as scary as most make
it out to be
abusive discharges - Lee Hart on the EVDL had a guideline for
discharging the batteries nicely. I believe it was try to keep your
continuous discharge amps lower than your AH rating on your battery.
So a 220 AH battery shouldn't hold more than a 220 amp discharge. Half
again that much is fine for short accelerations.
forgetting to water your batteries - As the batteries use water you
need to periodically add more. Use only distilled. I'm not sure how
quick or damaging it is, but it's "bad news" when the tops of the
batteries are exposed to air. Be sure to keep them more than a little
covered since the acid will slosh around when you drive.

It isn't necessary that new EV owners kill batteries, but they can be
unfortunately easy to ignore. I had let my batteries run a little low
on water, and the tops of some were peeking out of the water. I found
it hard to add a consistent amount, so I added water until I could see
it was a little below the bottom of the battery fill neck. I started
and used about a gallon on the first 4 batteries. After a trip to the
grocery store for more water, I ended up using just shy of 5 gallons.
I was proud that I'd added water and taken care of this chore for a
good long while. After a few charges the acid had mixed in with all
the water I added, and lo and behold, my well diluted batteries sagged
a lot more and felt like my range took a hit. Truth be told this is
only the third time I'd added water in the 16 months I've been
driving. I do use the water saver caps, but unfortunately, I don't
know how much water was in the batteries to start. The batteries may
be using water slowly, or they may have started out with a boatload of
water. I guess the moral I'm heading towards is new EV owners may not
really know what to look for even though they have good advice and
good intentions. I thought I was doing things right, and then found I
didn't know how much water to add. I added a bunch, and now I'm
waiting to use it up. That being said, I wish I'd asked a question
here before filling them right up.

Erik
On Dec 28, 2007 8:24 AM, Wieser Scott <Scott.Wieser at irs.gov> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> OK... I think I will be driving my conversion for the first time next
> week.  I have a couple of questions -
> 1.      I have a Zivan NG3 charger.  Trojan recommends that the
> batteries that I have had in storage for about three months be fully
> charged, then equalized before being put into service.  Will the Zivan
> automatically do that or will I have to use another charger to equalized
> them?
>
> 2.      Some say that first time EV drivers typically "burn up" their
> first set of batteries.  What can I do to try prevent that from
> happening to me?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Scott Wieser
> Office   512-460-8611
> Mobile  512-293-3949
>
> _______________________________________________
> AusEV mailing list
> AusEV at austinev.org
> http://www.austinev.org/mailman/listinfo/ausev
>