Charging 48 volts.

[tculpepper]

Say someone wanted to swap to 48 volts but, only had a 36 volt charger. What effect would it have on batteries if, you used two chargers? If you hooked your 36 volt charger to 36 volts worth of batteries and 12 volt charger to the other 12v? If you plugged in the 12v everytine you did the 36v, could it work?

[cgtech]

It would work, but, i would consider it a temporary solution. Having every battery get charged the same is important for long battery life (just as important to draw from all equally). I would feel pretty lousy about spending big bucks on a new 48v pack, and other upgraded equipment, and not being able to treat all the batteries the same. Maybe this hypothetical person is not quite ready "cash-wise" to make the jump to 48v.

[tculpepper]

The last part hit it right on. I'm in the process of a build and 48 volts is the last thing that will happen. Every other part of my system is upgraded except the motor. I had someone give me an optima deep cycle and walked by it yesterday. My current pack is getting weak and I figured why not.

[gornoman]

Yes, it can be done:

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/extre...uates-48v.html

It is not the best solution in the world, but it gets you in the game until a 48v charger comes along. I was able to purchase a used 48v Lestermatic charger eventually, and sold my 36v unit to someone else. Total money spent was almost even for me.