# Elcon charger



## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

So where does one go to find someone who wants to work with EV conversationists. I don't utilize BMS and tried to get my charger reprogramed.
All I received was difference of opinion and a charger that doesn't match it's algorithm curves. When I email the guy, the notes go unanswered.
Why be in business with that attitude?


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2011)

What voltage? What AH? What Cells? What is it that you want to change to and why? You blathering here with very vague information and blasting a good charger. Are you in contact with Elcon out of Sacramento? I have two Elcons and they both work perfect and for the stated voltage range I picked. The did the algorithm and they put it in for me on the large one. If you want to increase you voltage to a higher range than the charger is able then they CAN'T fix it. If your frustrated because you did not know what you were doing and expecting them to respond you may not get much help. So with that lets start from the beginning and find out what is wrong. 

So you have a charger that is the wrong size is what I am gathering. You want them to fix it but without proper information neither they or us can help. 

INFORMATION PLEASE.


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

Charger is good charger , no issues. Am I inexperienced, you betcha. But I want to learn and ask way to many questions. I have 48 Calib 180 ah cells. I want to charge to 3.5 each cell 
I choose an algoithm and I get something else. When I finally get the algorithm I want , the selection ( I have 10 of them) does not get to the stated voltage. Is there something wrong with charger? This is why I am looking for a service that wants to work with me. I gladly pay for service. But where do you find service you can TRUST?


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2011)

You need a 168 Volts. What do you get? What are the algorithm voltages you have for your charger? Do you know how to pick the correct one from the list for what you want? How exacting are you expecting this to be? Elcons are pretty damn good at getting to the specific chosen end voltage and are able to hold that voltage until the amperage gets to the termination amperage of the algorithm? 

You have 10 to choose from:

What are they?


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2011)

Your nominal pack voltage is an odd one of 153.6. What is the nominal voltage of your charger?


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

I picked a algorithm that gets to v4 of 167.9, close enough to 168 for me, especially with no bms
Here is my issue and maybe you have the experience and knowledge to answer. Pack gets to 163
Charger show solid green light. In the minimal instructions that means DONE.
Where is the 167.9?
Am I missing something?
Is the charger supposed to go to 167.9
What did the guy really reconfigure it to? Help


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

How do I find or determine nominal voltage if charger? How did you figure my pack nominal voltage?


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

Ok,ok as per manufacturer each cell is 3.2 so 48 gives me 153.6
Mfg says charge to 3.6, I only want to go to 3.5
But the Elcon never gets there.
Selection 9 says 157.9 but it never gets there 
How long does it take to charge you pack?


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2011)

Did you buy a 156 volt charger? I purchased a 120 volt charger. And asked for a custom algorithm which they did and then programmed in 10 end voltage settings so I can taylor my pack to my needs to within 10 different volt ranges but all near what the end voltages should be. 

For example: 34 cells at 3.65 volts is like 124 volts. So my end voltage would be 124 volts. I could change the end voltage choice so rather than pick 124 I would pick 126 of the 10 available. That would give me 3.705 volts per cell as the end voltage. Or I could pick 122 volts and that would give me 3.588 volts per cell. This way I can play with my end voltages a bit. 

The above is an example only and not how mine is configured as mine is a 120 volt nominal charger. 

Which Elcon do you have? The 1500, 2500, 3000, 4000, or 5000 and what voltage. 

When you asked for your 10 settings did you specify? Or did you just accept what was given? 

You need your charger to go to 168 volts. Looks like you might have the wrong charger. 

Nominal is 3.2 volts per cell when configuring the pack voltage like 156 or 144 or 120 volts. So 48 volts gives you a nominal pack of 153.6 volts. Usually one would go to like 49 cells and go to 156.8 volts nominal. So you'd then pick a from the manufacturer a 156 volt controller and have it configured to your needs. I picked 120 volt charger and 10 end voltage settings. Each of the voltage settings is one volt different than the other. I use 38 cells in my pack. Which gives me a pack of 121.6 volts which is close enough to 120 volts. I then pick my end volt setting I want. I decide on 3.65 volts so I pick a voltage setting that will get me close to that. I can either loose a cell to raise the end voltage of the pack or I can add a cell to reduce it or I can do a combination of add a cell to reduce the end voltge and pick the next higher volt to increase it a bit more. So I can play with my settings to find the best combination of cells vs voltage settings on the controller. But I can't change it to a nominal 156 volt charger. For that I must go buy another charger and pick different voltage settings. 

You have a nominal 153.6 volt pack with 48 cells. You need to add a cell to bump you up to 156 volts. The charger you need will be minimum of the Elcon 3000 and 156 nominal voltage charger. 

So which charger did you get and what nominal voltage charger did you get? 

Take a photo of your algorithm page on your minimal manual which by the way I have as well. There should be a tad or something on the charger that has that info too. Maybe not but look anyway.


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

I have the 2500. Unit is programmed for algorithm 502v. 144v2k5w 43 cell
3.65v/c. 180 ah u2=6a 115vac 1420 w 230vac 2200w
I have selection # 9 programmed that should give me v4 at 167.9v

How long does it take you to charge your pack?
The selections range from 138.7 to 171.55
I told the guy I was only using 43 cells because he gave me such a hard time. He originally sent me back the charger with algorithm 512 after I asked for 502


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2011)

That's 3.497 volts per cell. It should reach that no trouble. Try a different setting? Check the voltage once it goes into CV mode and check a few times during the cycle to see if it changes. 

Do you have it connected to 220? Connecting to 110 sucks. 

So you have a 144 volt charger and not the 156 volt version. Interesting you are using that for basically a 156 volt nominal pack size.


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

INSURANCE GUY said:


> I picked a algorithm that gets to v4 of 167.9, close enough to 168 for me, especially with no bms
> Here is my issue and maybe you have the experience and knowledge to answer. Pack gets to 163
> Charger show solid green light. In the minimal instructions that means DONE.
> Where is the 167.9?
> ...


It is possible that the charger is misconfigured but perhaps it is timing out because it you have fairly large cells (180 amp hour.) After the charger thinks it is done (solid green) try shutting it off and restarting it. I would let it run for a few minutes and then take a meter and check the voltage of each cell. They should all be right around 3.40 volts with the pack at 163 volts. That point is about where a LiFePO4 cell will hang while accepting quite a few amp hours (after getting enough amp hours to be nearly full the voltage will start up from there quite rapidly.)

Pete (gottdi) is the resident expert on the fine points of those Elcon chargers. I just wanted to toss out another idea of where to look.


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

I really that all you guys for your help. The charger was purchased and configured for my first EV. A 144 lead acid pack. I finished my second EV and used lithium ion. That is where the reconfiguring confusion arose.
I originally charged with a 110
I am now using 220
I will try all the ideas presented 
Thanks again.
Is the large pack preventing the charger from reaching 167.9 v4?
There is another selection but that is 171v
I am not sure I want to use that with out watching the first few charges very carefully


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## Coulomb (Apr 22, 2009)

INSURANCE GUY said:


> Is the large pack preventing the charger from reaching 167.9 v4?


I doubt it.



> There is another selection but that is 171v
> I am not sure I want to use that with out watching the first few charges very carefully


It's less than 2% higher than 167.9 V, so there should be no problem trying that. It could be that your meter is reading low and the charger is outputting a bit low; 163 V is only 3% short of 167.9 V. A cheap multimeter could easily be 2% off. It's tempting to trust the multimeter, since it has so many significant digits (good resolution), but the accuracy may be off. Perhaps you could try another meter as well.

I found my Elcon's voltage readings (over the CAN bus) disagreed with my multimeters by more than I'd expect (I don't remember the exact numbers, sorry). Remember it just has a micro in there, and it's possibly using an 8-bit A-D port to measure voltage. Also, it will be measuring the voltage inside the charger, so any voltage drops across the charging leads will lead to more errors. (However, at end of charge, the current is low, so it should make little difference to the terminating voltage; it might just make it take longer to get there).

Elcons have a capacity parameter as well as one or more voltage parameters. These set the cutoff current. I think it terminates the charge at something like 0.05C, and the C for the battery is one of the parameters.


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## INSURANCE GUY (Dec 23, 2010)

So I checked each cell individually and they were all 3.2 volts 
A few were 3.25 
None were under 3.2 none over 3.25
I am looking to purchase a really good voltage tester as I think your thoughts on the meters being off is a good one.
Any reccomendations for a really good tester?
I want to be able to get some precise readings of pack and charger.
I will try the higher selection to see if I can get the pack closer to 168 volts
Can someone let me know best way to monitor the charge cycle manually?
Merry christmas


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