Re: swapping wet cells for gel..advice needed
Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 6:50 pm
Tim
I would say dont do it. The price of Lipo is coming down and they are worth many times a gel cell in terms of useful life. I fitted lipo in place of gel in my wifes disabled buggy 3 years ago. the gel cells would start to lose range and speed after 6 months. The lipos are still as good as new and they were only half the AH number of the gel cells. The reduction in weight is significant in increasing vehicle performance but the life is the real issue.
You could buy 160AH thunderskys from grumpy-b and I am sure you would be pleased that you did down the line. I am certain these would outperform the 225 AH gels and last approx 10 times as long.
The gel batteries have different charging voltage requirements to the wets. ie a gel cell on cylic use is 15v for a nominal 12v battery.
According to grumpys latest offer 15 thundersys might only cost about 1800 pounds just get the number of cells to match the charger you have, bear in mind that is the peak voltage not the average as measured on a multimeter which is relevant. If you monitor the cell voltages carefully you may get away without a bms.
Rory
I would say dont do it. The price of Lipo is coming down and they are worth many times a gel cell in terms of useful life. I fitted lipo in place of gel in my wifes disabled buggy 3 years ago. the gel cells would start to lose range and speed after 6 months. The lipos are still as good as new and they were only half the AH number of the gel cells. The reduction in weight is significant in increasing vehicle performance but the life is the real issue.
You could buy 160AH thunderskys from grumpy-b and I am sure you would be pleased that you did down the line. I am certain these would outperform the 225 AH gels and last approx 10 times as long.
The gel batteries have different charging voltage requirements to the wets. ie a gel cell on cylic use is 15v for a nominal 12v battery.
According to grumpys latest offer 15 thundersys might only cost about 1800 pounds just get the number of cells to match the charger you have, bear in mind that is the peak voltage not the average as measured on a multimeter which is relevant. If you monitor the cell voltages carefully you may get away without a bms.
Rory