Comments for When is Best to Recharge EV Batteries?

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starstarstarstarstar 		Sealed Lead Acid Battery has Memory
by: Stan

Hi Lynn,
My homemade Currie electric drive I-zip hybrid bike has a sealed lead acid (SLA) battery. I purchased the system as a kit and installed it on a rusty old 1980's vintage Taiwanese moly-steel 10 speed road bicycle. I love it and commute to work on it most of the year whenever the weather is clear.

The owners manual that came with the kit said that the battery has memory and that I needed to deplete it as fully as possible the first few cycles of use, and from then on, avoid excessive recharge cycles. According to Currie, the battery had a finite number of charge cycles and every time that the battery went from discharge mode to recharge mode it would withdraw between a half and a whole recharge cycle from the finite lifetime recharge "balance".

It seems as if for this application, staying topped off is to be avoided even with the smart charger that comes with the kit.

Does anyone have thoughts or comments on this? I don't want to argue--I just want to learn. Is there an exception to the top-off paradigm for SLA batteries?

Hi, Stan -
That's a puzzler.

The most likely explanation is that your manual is actually intended for nickel based batteries. They did and do offer NiMH batteries, and everything the manual says is consistent with nickel.

I found some information over at Battery University that you might be interested in. The first is their SLA page: https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/lead_based_batteries

And the second is about memory effects in batteries. https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/archive/memory_myth_or_fact
Hope this helps.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Order of Charging Vehicle
by: Anonymous

Great Site. Question: Is it best to plug charger into wall first, then into electric vehicle? I have two vehicles (scooter and bike) and each supplier has told me something different.

Thank you: )
I guess I'd plug charger in to EV first, then into wall. Anyone else want to weigh in on this?
- Lynne

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