Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum - View Single Post

E36Racer · 11-27-2017, 05:12 PM

Since there seems to be a few people interested in this build, let me back up to the beginning. I'm pretty sure I'm the first to do a lithium conversion on a Club Car Onward, but it's basically a Precedent so I don't know if that is really relevant.

First and foremost, I need to thank Furyus for convincing me to pull the trigger. And I also need to thank PingEye3 for helping me with some technical questions on the BMS and also making me the end plates to mount the pack (in addition to Anderson connectors and just over pack design). Without the help from both of them I probably would have pushed it off until my batteries were dead in 5 or 6 years and I'm sure lithium conversion kits will be readily available by then. Plus, thank you to everyone that has already posted a lithium thread, I've read them all about 15 times and they have been very educational. At first I was nervous because I have Lipo experience in the RC world and carts are much more complex. But at the end of the day, the concepts are the same, it's just the hardware is slightly different. Frankly, if someone would make a charger with a built in balancer like in RC, the conversion would be a piece of cake. No real need for a BMS at that point.

It all started when Furyus found a local guy that bought an entire pack from a totaled 2016 Nissan Leaf with 5,265 miles for a conversion on his Gem. So I picked up 4 of the 4 cell 82ah modules (total of 16 cells) and was able to buy in person and not deal with shipping. I paid $300/module. Since my Alltrax XCT48500 can only handle a max of 60 volts, I plan to use only 14 cells and have a 58v pack.

Since Nick at EV battery has been having health issues I started searching for hours online to come up with other BMS and charger options. The one thing I wanted out of the BMS was a unit that did not require the use of a cell phone to change settings, monitor pack voltage, state of charge, etc., since my wife will use the cart and there is no way having to use the phone will fly with her. I needed a very simple interface. Since digital volt meters are not as relevant as the state of charge ("SOC") for lithium packs, I needed a dash mount SOC meter so wifey knows how much gas is still in the tank. Basically I need to keep the cart as simple to use and operate as it was they day it was delivered from Club Car.

That ultimately led me to ZEVA.com.au, as they are the only BMS system I could find with a panel/dash mount LCD screen. The LCD is also touch screen to adjust all of the settings on the BMS as well, so I considered that a win/win. The guy from Zeva (Ian) suggested I use a charger from TC chargers (aliexpress.com) because they have a CAN bus port so the BMS will talk directly to the charger and I can adjust charging voltages, stop points, amperage, ect. The charger was built specifically for me by TC and arrived today 11/27. Total cost of the BMS and charger with shipping was in the ballpark of $750. Not the cheapest option out there, but not the most expensive either. I'd say it's in the middle of the road.

One challenge I'm still not 100% on how I'm going to proceed is the fact that the BMS runs on 12v. I have a factory reducer for the stock lighting and also a stand alone 12v battery for my LEDs and stereo amps. Ian from Zeva suggested that I parallel the 12v reducer to the 12v battery. However, I might just rewire the amps to the reducer and use the 12v battery on the BMS alone. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Next step (hopefully tonight) is to get the actual pack assembled now that the temp probes are glued to the cells.

More to come as things progress. I'll do my best to be as detailed as possible. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

11-27-2017, 05:12 PM	#4
E36Racer Gone Wild Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 1,061	Re: Club Car Onward Leaf Lithium conversion Since there seems to be a few people interested in this build, let me back up to the beginning. I'm pretty sure I'm the first to do a lithium conversion on a Club Car Onward, but it's basically a Precedent so I don't know if that is really relevant. First and foremost, I need to thank Furyus for convincing me to pull the trigger. And I also need to thank PingEye3 for helping me with some technical questions on the BMS and also making me the end plates to mount the pack (in addition to Anderson connectors and just over pack design). Without the help from both of them I probably would have pushed it off until my batteries were dead in 5 or 6 years and I'm sure lithium conversion kits will be readily available by then. Plus, thank you to everyone that has already posted a lithium thread, I've read them all about 15 times and they have been very educational. At first I was nervous because I have Lipo experience in the RC world and carts are much more complex. But at the end of the day, the concepts are the same, it's just the hardware is slightly different. Frankly, if someone would make a charger with a built in balancer like in RC, the conversion would be a piece of cake. No real need for a BMS at that point. It all started when Furyus found a local guy that bought an entire pack from a totaled 2016 Nissan Leaf with 5,265 miles for a conversion on his Gem. So I picked up 4 of the 4 cell 82ah modules (total of 16 cells) and was able to buy in person and not deal with shipping. I paid $300/module. Since my Alltrax XCT48500 can only handle a max of 60 volts, I plan to use only 14 cells and have a 58v pack. Since Nick at EV battery has been having health issues I started searching for hours online to come up with other BMS and charger options. The one thing I wanted out of the BMS was a unit that did not require the use of a cell phone to change settings, monitor pack voltage, state of charge, etc., since my wife will use the cart and there is no way having to use the phone will fly with her. I needed a very simple interface. Since digital volt meters are not as relevant as the state of charge ("SOC") for lithium packs, I needed a dash mount SOC meter so wifey knows how much gas is still in the tank. Basically I need to keep the cart as simple to use and operate as it was they day it was delivered from Club Car. That ultimately led me to ZEVA.com.au, as they are the only BMS system I could find with a panel/dash mount LCD screen. The LCD is also touch screen to adjust all of the settings on the BMS as well, so I considered that a win/win. The guy from Zeva (Ian) suggested I use a charger from TC chargers (aliexpress.com) because they have a CAN bus port so the BMS will talk directly to the charger and I can adjust charging voltages, stop points, amperage, ect. The charger was built specifically for me by TC and arrived today 11/27. Total cost of the BMS and charger with shipping was in the ballpark of $750. Not the cheapest option out there, but not the most expensive either. I'd say it's in the middle of the road. One challenge I'm still not 100% on how I'm going to proceed is the fact that the BMS runs on 12v. I have a factory reducer for the stock lighting and also a stand alone 12v battery for my LEDs and stereo amps. Ian from Zeva suggested that I parallel the 12v reducer to the 12v battery. However, I might just rewire the amps to the reducer and use the 12v battery on the BMS alone. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Next step (hopefully tonight) is to get the actual pack assembled now that the temp probes are glued to the cells. More to come as things progress. I'll do my best to be as detailed as possible. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions.