Advantage in going to a (slightly) higher voltage?

Do you own or run a Bedford CF Electric then this is the place for you to discuss it here.
Griffon
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Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:41 am

Advantage in going to a (slightly) higher voltage?

Postby Griffon » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:39 am

I'm thinking that at least one former electric CF owner on this forum tried running 6 or 12 volts higher than the "stock" 216 V. Flying John: was that you?

Here's why I'm asking: I live in a hilly area. I've found the Griffon to be somewhat slow climbing hills out on the highway, where everyone else is doing 50-60 mph but I can only poke along at 35-40 mph. I'm thinking installing a set of 8 volt, 185 Ah batteries (flooded). These 8V batteries are very popular with EVers here in the U.S. This would sacrifice some range but would allow the Griffon to lose 300-400 lbs of weight, which could only help improve the highway acceleration and hill climbing performance.

If I install a total of 27 8V batts, that will provide a nominal 216V. However, there will be plenty of space left over in the tray. Is there enough advantage to adding one more 8V batt (increasing to 224 V) to make it even worth the extra weight and cost?

With the controller being limited to 250A, I'd be inclined to think that an increase in battery pack voltage would NOT really improve performance when the pack is at or near full charge. But it might give more consistant performance over wider SOC range.

Thoughts, anyone?

- John (in the U.S.)

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Flying John
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Postby Flying John » Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:23 pm

Yes I ran with an extra 5 x 2volt cells in series. However - be warned that from a full charge if you set off downhill the battery voltage with regen can cause the whole controller to trip out and suddenly you have no regen at all. The brakes on the CF are not brilliant and you can end up going down hill pretty fast with only the drum brakes to slow you down. However I thought it was well wotrth having the extra pack voltage but perhaps limit it to just 8 volts.

John


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