Electric Polaris Ranger

John_Mc · Sep 2, 2017

I'm curious what the manufacturer recommended on battery usage. For regular lead-acid you never want to go below 50% charge (not to be confused with 50% of full voltage), and you do not want to leave the battery in a partially discharged state for an extended period. For Nicads, you had to make sure to cycle them all the way down occasionally, to prevent memory effect.

My understanding is that Lithium Ion has none of those problems. There is no need to occasionally discharge it all the way, thought you can do that without damage, if you wish. (About the only downside to discharging all the way is the time it takes to bring it up to full charge again). They do say its good to actually use them from time to time: draw electricity out, and recharge them.

About the only odd-ball thing I've heard about Lithium Ion batteries is that if you will be storing them for an extended period, it's best to store them partially charged (about 50%). This is something I don't hear mentioned very often, but I've started doing it with my cordless tools. Did the documentation with your new batteries say anything about long-term storage?

Xfaxman · Sep 2, 2017

They recommend 30%. If you go too low the Battery Management System will turn off the power to the contactor that connects the battery pack to the motor controller. I don't know what that too low setting is and hope I don't find out a mile from home.

It took just over 10 hours to recharge from 15%.

The only documentation received was the conversion manual, it didn't cover long-term storage, but I think 50% would be a good idea.

vvanders · Sep 2, 2017

Xfaxman said:
They recommend 30%. If you go too low the Battery Management System will turn off the power to the contactor that connects the battery pack to the motor controller. I don't know what that too low setting is and hope I don't find out a mile from home.

It took just over 10 hours to recharge from 15%.

The only documentation received was the conversion manual, it didn't cover long-term storage, but I think 50% would be a good idea.

Anything under 90% should be good. Our EV has stayed at 90% when we aren't driving it for the last 2.5 years and it's only lost about 3% total range.

You don't want to leave it at a 100% SoC(unless the BMS has a "buffer" that they hide as 100%) for more than a few hours. There's two things that Li hate, heat and sitting at 0% or 100% SoC. Anything > 10% and < 90% is totally fine.

John_Mc · Sep 3, 2017

vvanders said:
You don't want to leave it at a 100% SoC(unless the BMS has a "buffer" that they hide as 100%) for more than a few hours. There's two things that Li hate, heat and sitting at 0% or 100% SoC. Anything > 10% and < 90% is totally fine.

Agreed. While one manufacturer recommendation said 50%, others have said "mid-range charge" or words to that effect. I don't like to store any battery at 0% (can be more of a freeze concern at low state-of-charge). I just shoot for "somewhere in the middle" and don;t worry about hitting 50% exactly (or even close). My cordless tool batteries only has 4 lights indicating charge, so I shoot for 2 or 3 lit up.

Xfaxman · Sep 13, 2017

Xfaxman said:
You could pull a trailer (or two). I think the EV will out pull any other UTV, due to it's power and weight.

Xfaxman said:
The red tilt trailer scaled 1660 on the tires, not much tongue weight. so I don't know the total weight.

Never weighed the other one, but the EV pulls them easily.

Still running on the second charge, showing 70%.

Reference these earlier posts, I checked the tongue weight:

Zeroed the scale with the chains on it and picked up the trailer to get total weight:

Now I will have to weigh the yellow trailer.

Xfaxman · Sep 14, 2017

Now I will have to weigh the 5x9 yellow trailer.

Weighed it, but it will be heavier after I replace the deck and fenders:

Checked the tongue weight:

So the EV was pulling 2,549 pounds, slightly over the Tow Rating.

Xfaxman · Sep 29, 2017

Time for the third full charge of the Li-ion batteries. Showing 187.2 hours, means 2.5 hours since the last charge 27 days ago. The State Of Charge meter is showing 20%:

Started yesterday at 1:15pm. Stopped it at 6:45pm.

Started today at 10am, at 10:20, SOC was 79%:

95% at 11:48am:

After lunch, instead of turning the key on to see the Charge Status Indicator, I hooked 12 volts to the constant current terminal. It worked, the Charge Status Indicator was still flashing fast:

Ammeter at lowest level, Bulk charge phase complete:

2:45pm Charge complete, both green lights on solid:

Third time charging was successful. :thumbsup:

Xfaxman · Oct 9, 2017

Xfaxman said:
Time for the third full charge of the Li-ion batteries. Showing 187.2 hours, means 2.5 hours since the last charge 27 days ago. ---------------------------------------------

After lunch, instead of turning the key on to see the Charge Status Indicator, I hooked 12 volts to the constant power terminal. It worked, the Charge Status Indicator was still flashing fast:

View attachment 523185

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Third time charging was successful. :thumbsup:

After I used the battery to power the Charge Status Indicator, I remembered that Voltronics added a 12vdc power supply to power the BMS while charging the batteries:

So I looked through my used wire box and found wires with spade lug connectors to try using the 12vdc power supply to also power the Charge Status Indicator, since it only draws 53ma and the BMS is on a 5a fuse and draws about 118ma.

I added a piggyback spade lug connector wire to the fuse block where the 12vdc power supply plugs in, ran it through a 2a fuse, to the constant power terminal:

Plugged in the charge cord and got 12.6 vdc on the constant power terminal:

It worked, the BMS is on, the DeltaQ was charging and the Charge Status Indicator, was flashing. :thumbsup:

For those who haven't seen a piggyback spade lug connector to put two wires on one spade lug:

Xfaxman · Oct 9, 2017

Where I piggybacked is the output of the Voltronics 12vdc power supply, it is feeding back in from the constant power terminal, through the 2a LSV fuse to where the Charge Status Indicator is hooked to the old constant power wiring.

I later found out that since the power supply was off but still connected, the LSV fuse blew when I turned the key on. I think the output filter capacitor in the power supply drew more than 2 amps from the converter, blowing the LSV fuse.

I temporarily used a bigger fuse and tried it several times, everything worked OK.

The easiest thing would be to run a wire from the power supply to one of the fused +12v Batt wires under the seat, because they have a diode that would prevent the back feed from the converter.

But I would like to find the diodes, because it might be a shorter, easier wire run:

Xfaxman · Oct 11, 2017

Re: Electric Polaris Ranger---Conversion To Lithium-Ion Batteries

Here is where I removed the OEM State Of Charge meter or as Polaris calls it, Level Of Charge meter: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...c-polaris-ranger-post4831562.html#post4831562

I decided that I want the LOC back in the dash so the hour meter is visible. That means I will have to move the Voltronics SOC meter. Picked this location above the key switch:

Drilled the plastic dash, made it a slot and poked the connector through it:

Still had some double stick tape on the back of the SOC meter:

Put the LOC meter back in the original location, will probably disconnect the red LED battery level display, since it is not accurate with the new Li-ion batteries: