Double your battery life

[MurderNote]

Depending on your mark-up, I would definitely be interested in this. I just got a RR1 a few weeks ago. I bought an extra battery when I ordered the bike after reading about the life of the battery. Something like this would be great. Especially since it would stop charging itself and not have to be monitored.


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[DickB]

This is my latest version. The box has two power connectors for the charger; one for full and one for partial charge. The project box that I used is a but small and required modifying the meter case a bit to fit. The meter measures power in, so you can estimate how much power was consumed by the battery.

[DickB]

Depending on your mark-up, I would definitely be interested in this. I just got a RR1 a few weeks ago. I bought an extra battery when I ordered the bike after reading about the life of the battery. Something like this would be great. Especially since it would stop charging itself and not have to be monitored.


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The Rad charger doesn't need to be monitored. There is no harm in leaving it plugged in indefinitely. Rad recommends disconnecting after 12 hours to avoid wear in the charger. As there are no moving parts in the charger, this advice is unnecessary in my view. You have lots of electronics, like your television and appliances with touch buttons, that are powered all the time.

[peanutbutterpope]

This is my latest version. The box has two power connectors for the charger; one for full and one for partial charge. The project box that I used is a but small and required modifying the meter case a bit to fit. The meter measures power in, so you can estimate how much power was consumed by the battery.

Thanks so much! I really appreciate you sharing your project. Adding those Digi-Key p/n's was great! I will design a 3d printable enclosure for my unit and share the deign here when completed.

Stay RAD!

[MurderNote]

Oh, yeah. I understand that. I mean if there was a charger that said what % the charge is on the battery if I only wanted to go to 80%. That your design automatically turns off at 80% full, I could just plug it in and go about my business rather than hanging around until it hit 80 so I could unplug it and extend my battery life.


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[peanutbutterpope]

This is my latest version. The box has two power connectors for the charger; one for full and one for partial charge. The project box that I used is a but small and required modifying the meter case a bit to fit. The meter measures power in, so you can estimate how much power was consumed by the battery.

So I was thinking that a switch could be added to the schematic in place of the 2nd female jack...that way you would use the switch to change it from 80% charge to 100% charge thus saving on hardware and the need to swap the cable.

I modified your schematic to what I think it would look like with the switch added..I am no electrical engineer but I think I got it right. Lemme know what you think..

[DickB]

As long as you operate the switch with power off, and the switch is rated for 2A or more, fine. If not, you would need a switch rated at 2A AND 60V DC - not common.

[peanutbutterpope]

As long as you operate the switch with power off, and the switch is rated for 2A or more, fine. If not, you would need a switch rated at 2A AND 60V DC - not common.

Gotcha! Lemme see what I can figure out. Thanks for that info, learning stuff every day! 

[DickB]

Actually, you can use a single-throw switch to just short the diodes for 100% charge.

[peanutbutterpope]

Actually, you can use a single-throw switch to just short the diodes for 100% charge.

That switch would still need to meet the proper spec though as you mentioned prior?

I have not been able to find any affordable 60VDC 2A switches but I had another idea I just need to research that a bit more

[DickB]

I have not been able to find any affordable 60VDC 2A switches but I had another idea I just need to research that a bit more

Right, which is why I used a second jack instead of a switch.

If you don't throw the switch with power applied, a 2A or greater switch of lesser DC voltage rating will work.

[peanutbutterpope]

If you don't throw the switch with power applied, a 2A or greater switch of lesser DC voltage rating will work.

Gotcha! Thanks for taking the time to school me here. I should be able to figure this out...I was looking at some other possible alternative to accomplish my single jack charger goal. I will post back in another day or so, just need to catch up on some other projects

[ipsailor]

How would one know when a battery charge is about 80% by watching the charging current?   
I charge my rad city battery through a WATTs up meter.  I notice towards the end of a charge the current drops.  Can you suggest a current value that might indicate an 80% charge?   Thanks

[DickB]

How would one know when a battery charge is about 80% by watching the charging current?   
I charge my rad city battery through a WATTs up meter.  I notice towards the end of a charge the current drops.  Can you suggest a current value that might indicate an 80% charge?   Thanks

You can't by monitoring charge current, but you can by monitoring charge voltage.

The Rad charger operates in Constant Current mode when charging starts. It will maintain 2A charge rate until the battery is nearly fully charged. Then it will enter Constant Voltage mode, but by then the battery is more than 80% charged. If you monitor voltage, the battery will be about 80% charged when it reaches 52V.

[natchezz]

Can you monitor voltage if all you've got is a multimeter? If yes, how would I do that?