Is weekly Grid Charging Detrimental to the battery?

[jerrydelrey]

I just got a grid charger. I balanced once and wanted to balance again, so I drove with moderate assist this week, and I got +6mpg better milage this week.

I have approximatly 100 mile commute every week. I normally get 60mpg with my terran and mix of city/hwy traffic. This week i got 66mpg.

My normal driving relies very little on assist, with the battery charged 70-100% full most of the time. Bc I know that when the battery gets too low, it eventually forces a charge, and I waste gas.

Now I have a grid charger I can charge at home. I can use my calpod switch to prevent recharging, and use low to moderate assist, by choosing higher gears than normal.

I can manage my discharge to 10-20% by the time the weekend comes.

Will grid charging on weekends and depleting the battery on weekdays be detrimental to the battery?

[Cobb]

Just make sure you got proper cooling/ventilation.


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

[Eli]

Absolutely. More deep cycles and more full charge cycles = more wear on the battery, compared to how the car uses it stock.

[Cobb]

Wonder if this is true of the phevs like the Volt and Prius? Without plugging it in does it just do the 80% charge?

6mpg? What if you put a charger on your 12 volt starter battery?


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

[uhtrinity]

Well, I did approx 5 close to full charges a week for about 3 years and those packs were already 8, and 4 years old each. The summer before last I finally started to see some issues related to higher internal resistance. Lets just say they got "squishy", my term for wildly swinging voltages under assist and regen. At the end I could get about 5.5 AH combined out of the two packs @ 50% assist load.

With my new pack I have been doing 1 - 2 charges a week.

[jeff652]

Originally Posted by Eli

Absolutely. More deep cycles and more full charge cycles = more wear on the battery, compared to how the car uses it stock.

I am not sure I understand this. From a simple grid charger perspective, how is a slow charge of the battery harder on it then driving the car?

Perhaps there are factors I don't grasp, but I would think that draining the battery at ~30-50 amps as you drive over a hill and charging it at ~30-50 amps as you roll down the other side would be harder on the battery than slowly charging it (while cooling it with the fan) at a steady 0.35 amps.

Enlighten us Eli

[jerrydelrey]

Not the answer I wanted.

But it makes sense.

[jerrydelrey]

Originally Posted by jeff652

I am not sure I understand this. From a simple grid charger perspective, how is a slow charge of the battery harder on it then driving the car?

Perhaps there are factors I don't grasp, but I would think that draining the battery at ~30-50 amps as you drive over a hill and charging it at ~30-50 amps as you roll down the other side would be harder on the battery than slowly charging it (while cooling it with the fan) at a steady 0.35 amps.

Enlighten us Eli

Now I'm confused

[jerrydelrey]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Wonder if this is true of the phevs like the Volt and Prius? Without plugging it in does it just do the 80% charge?

6mpg? What if you put a charger on your 12 volt starter battery?


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com App

6mpg better from 60 to 66 mpg.

Do you mean put an inverter on my 12v to power the grid charger? Hmmmm I wonder if there is benefit if I charge the 12v battery with a solar panel, then flip a switch at the end of the day to charge the HV battery fron the 12v through an inverter and grid charger for 15-20 minutes. I think there would be alot of energy lost during conversion.

Anyways, I don't think weekly charging of the 12v will do anything.

[jerrydelrey]

Originally Posted by jeff652

I am not sure I understand this. From a simple grid charger perspective, how is a slow charge of the battery harder on it then driving the car?

Perhaps there are factors I don't grasp, but I would think that draining the battery at ~30-50 amps as you drive over a hill and charging it at ~30-50 amps as you roll down the other side would be harder on the battery than slowly charging it (while cooling it with the fan) at a steady 0.35 amps.

Enlighten us Eli

I was thinking about this and I realized, that I provided my driving style.

Given that info, I'm guessing, Eli means that compared to my regular driving style (in which the battery never gets discharged) discharging and recharging weekly is more detrimental.

Am I in the ballpark?