OK, Lithium or No?

[Furyous]

I am at the end of life for my 8x6 configuration. Got five years out of them in a hot climate, so I can't be too upset. However, I now am on the fence about replacing with lead acid or upgrade to lithium. Searching through all the posts her don't offer a lot of success for one particular brand or configuration, so I thought I'd throw it out there:

What did you use? What kind of charger? Where did you get them? What kinds of performance/range upgrades did you get? What did it cost?

Seems there are about 20x the options that there are for lead acid. I'm looking at a few of them:

http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/262456733560
http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/182399970418
http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/262444029084

I have some other questions, too.

Why couldn't I use a standard charger if there is balancing built into the battery? Isn't it just a matter of applying voltage to the pack to bring it to the voltage supplied?
It seems that the amperage per hour is so low. With lead acid t-105's I would be at 1800 ah, but with any of these solutions it is in the 50ah range.
Price/performance what is the best bet?

I don't want to break the bank on this but I understand I could get significantly longer life, better performance, no fumes, no sulfurization, lighter, and faster charging. Seems like prices have become much better and realistic now that there are more cars using them, but it also seems that the market is devoid of any ready made and packaged solution.

[Furyous]

Oh, and the controller. I'm using an Alltrax 500 amp controller with a custom wound series D and D motor. I inderstand some of these packs will get up to 58V max. Could that burn up the controller?

[bronsonj]

I'm no expert, but I am looking at this as well.
From a little reading I found two places I will be looking at in the future. The links go to a specific battery pack but there are other sizes available too.

http://elitepowersolutions.com/produ...roducts_id=255
http://evbatterycenter.com/HAC4/inde...-15&Itemid=605

I'm going to milk my pack for another 6 months (or more) if I can and let prices fall a little more and reserves build. I live in west-central florida, so all flat land and I figure 48v, 60aH to 80aH lithium will do what I need. The number looks low, but you get much lower DOD on lithium than lead acid.

[Furyous]

Thanks! I've seen those solutions before. Curious to see someone take the plunge and report back.

I always wondered about the low aH rating, but it now makes sense that you have a much greater depth of discharge with lithium.

I have been pushed back as well on this, although for worse reasons. Yep, that's my cart on Saturday night. In the middle of the road. With both front wheels gone. Axles completely sheared off after rolling over a speed hump. Just the stock Melex shafts but they are probably undersized for the weight of the cart and the size of the tires and the speed. Have to replace the whole front suspension with one from a 2008 Tomberlin. Will at least give me hydraulic front discs but it put any other upgrades on the back burner.

[FluxCapacitor]

Sounds like nobody got hurt...so that's good.

[tfrye2324]

I used the drop in Lithium on my RXV right before I sold it. The guy I sold it too LOVES it and said the battery life is great. I used the 100aH batteries because he paid for them. Might not answer your question fully, but only time I have seen them was a great experience...