Some questions I believe we need answers to before moving on to doing a direct change from a Lead acid ranger ev to Lifepo4 cells ...
1. Do these cells get hot when charging or Discharging like NIMH batteries or Li-Ion cells ?
2. Do these need a cooling fan or air blown across them to cool them like NIMH or Li-Ion ?
3. Do these need banded like NIMH ? How much pressure should they have ?
4. Should these be connected with the original small plates sent with the Lifepo4 cells ?
5. Should the aluminum bolts be used with the Lifepo4 cells ?
6. Should we be using 100% pure copper connectors and stainless bolts like most installs ?
7. Should these have a shunt regulator on them ? they cause heat in the battery box will this
affect the temperature sensors in the battery box ?
8. Do we really need the IOM system that the NIMH uses with the installation of Lifepo4 cells ?
9. Is Lifepo4 as Safe as they say they are ? or Should we take more precautions like those used in the NIMH Ranger EV ? are these in place for a reason or are they just over protective ?
10. Do we really need a BMS system ? is the original ranger BMS system enough ? if we need a BMS system what are the parameters and guidelines that need to be incorporated into them ?
11. Can the original charger be used if we do not update to the NIMH parameters ? the NIMH parameters are top limit 385V and 14.4 amps of charging ... the lead acid is 450V and 18 amps
of charging .. is this too much for the Lifepo4 ? can we control this on the lead acid trucks and fool it with sending different signals .. ?
12. Is it safe to be installing external systems that will affect the running of the truck ? what is the legal side to changing the original truck and who is responsible if someone gets hurt or someones property gets damaged due to a change from the OEM system to a conversion system ?
13. can we just install 3 cells for each of the 39 sense leads ? will the truck go farther putting higher voltage and higher amperage cells in the truck or will the truck just shut down from the limits being surpassed ?
14. When these cells get older do they create more heat like the lead acid and the NIMH do ?
If so have we allowed for this to happen with a protective circuit ?
Some testing is pretty much in order , maybe some of the owners have already done this and have the figures ............. once we have some answers we can move forward on a test vehicle..
