RELiON battery Install/Review

[COrocket]

Hi all, new member here. I wanted to give my experience with installing a pair of RELiON 48V Insight batteries in my 2007 Club Car Precedent since reviews seems scarce so far. I was interested in a drop in replacement for my failing lead acids. I looked around at the Allieds as well, but decided on the Insights because they are 48V/30Ah that you wire in parallel, so I thought that the ability to scale up the battery capacity in the future if needed was a definite plus depending on how they performed. Each battery was around $1300 shipped and included a Lester Summit II with custom firmware when two or more were purchased. The batteries are advertised as able to use your existing ERIC or other smart charger, but I didn’t test it out.

The install was simple enough. My cart already had an OBC bypass which would be necessary if not already done. Both batteries were secured in the passenger side battery compartment since they have a short CANbus cable connecting the batteries (apparently the BMS in each battery talk to each other to share the load). However longer CAN cables are available if they were installed on opposing sides of the cart. I ordered a pair of 9” battery cables on Amazon to tidy up the new parallel wiring and I was in business.

On optional thing I added was the RELiON branded charge indicator and installed it on my dash. Running the wiring to the dash and mounting the current shunt in the electronics bay was really the only time consuming part of the project. It is very accurate compared to the voltage based indicator I had before, and the batteries do put out an honest 60ah of capacity as advertised. I say optional because there are two LEDs on the top of each battery that can indicate an approximate SOC, but I just preferred the accuracy and avoid lifting the seat to check on them.

So then all that’s left is a range test! I’m running a 2007 Precedent, stock motor/speed controller, 3” lift on stock diameter all-terrain tires. Testing was done on a well graded dirt road. I used a GPS running app and logged the cumulative miles driven below:

100% - 0.0
90% - 1.93
80% - 3.98
70% - 5.93
60% - 7.92
50% - 9.82
40% - 11.78
30% - 13.82
20% - 15.79
10% - 17.86
0% - 19.84 (projected)

So overall the 20 mile range was around what I expected for a my setup, and my results seem comparable to what others were reporting with the new Onward Lithium carts since both have around 3 kWh of battery capacity. Overall I’m super happy. The cart feels a bit more agile going from 320 to 60 lbs of batteries, and the acceleration is fast and smooth with the voltage holding up under load. I’m probably looking forward to the zero maintenance aspect the most. Feel free to fire off any questions!

[Jaybro130]

How long did it take to fully recharge from 10%? (assuming you got down to that by your post).

[COrocket]

Originally Posted by Jaybro130

How long did it take to fully recharge from 10%? (assuming you got down to that by your post).

I think it took around 4-5 hours from completely drained. The Lester charger I have is around 600W output so it should take 5 hours to charge a 3000Wh battery bank even if the charger was working at 100% efficiency. The nice thing about lithium’s is it will charge at 12A/50V (600W) all the way up until 100%, so there’s no float/equalize necessary which can extend the total charging time of lead acid.

[Sergio]

Not really, all lithium chargers end in constant voltage where the charging current tapers slowly until is less than 3% of the rated current.

That is why sometimes they rate 80% charging time since it takes a lot longer to get the last 20%.

[ryry]

I’m trying to decide between Allied and RELiON and like you said, very little information about the RELiON. Looks like it’s been 2 months since you posted this so any feedback after some time with them? Completely happy? How do they perform on hills? Thanks for the review!

[COrocket]

Originally Posted by ryry

I’m trying to decide between Allied and RELiON and like you said, very little information about the RELiON. Looks like it’s been 2 months since you posted this so any feedback after some time with them? Completely happy? How do they perform on hills? Thanks for the review!

I love the batteries so far! Flawless so far and nothing to complain about yet. Acceleration is very smooth and plenty of power on hills. Running two batteries in parallel gives 200 amp continuous output and 400 peak amps. This about matches my stock 350 amp speed controller - I haven’t had any battery limit issues putting the pedal to the metal.

[Volt_Ampere]

What is the actual voltage when fully charged? Also - sounds like cost is on the high end if a 30AH battery is $1300.

[COrocket]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

What is the actual voltage when fully charged? Also - sounds like cost is on the high end if a 30AH battery is $1300.

Around 53 Volts fully charged. Agreed that the cost is on the higher end but I preferred the convenience of a drop in replacement. From what I’ve seen RELiON usually runs a 10% off sale on a near monthly basis so a pair of 30Ah batteries that make a 60Ah bank runs $2394 with a charger included. The 4 Allied 12V60Ah set are $2140 + $295 charger is $2435. So almost a wash on price. Either brand doesn’t require a new lithium charger but a good piece of mind when spending that much. Really the tie breaker for me was the scalability of the paralleled wired RELiONs if I want to add capacity later.

[chucks118]

I am just about ready to buy the same setup with the 2 48 volt batteries but I have one question I have 2008 Club Car Precedent it came with the wiring harness for head lights and blinkers which I have installed will this be to much voltage for my lights or is there a voltage reducer already built in or do mi lights already run on the 48 volts

[fmjacket]

I just purchased 4, 48v lithium batteries from RELiON based on this discussion here. Will be installing to my 2012 Club Car. I was within a hairsbreadth of buying the $11,000 Club Car Onward when I stumbled on this thread. Jim