ElectricMotorcycleForum.com

WWWEELLLLLL, I have to put my 2 cents in here. I'm a firm believer in the one battery - one charger theory. The batteries have a tendency to go unbalance when using a series charger. They actually make "balancers" you can place at each battery to assure a correct balance but then you are looking at like another $30 per battery (I think). While if you had individual smart chargers like a Soneil charger then they charge and maintain an even balance amongst all your batteries. And theres no feedback thru the chargers that would cause a discharge. The chargers I use are small and easy to mount (I used industrial strength velcro). Five batteries, 5 chargers. Done.

Thank you for the compliments I've been getting.

Sparky, as we call him, is built from an modified aftermarket Harley rigid frame, Harley wheels (both are front wheels, the rear being modified also), a Harley Springer front end, an ETEK-R motor, 5 Yellow Top 52ah Optima batteries for a 60v system. He carries 5 Soneil battery chargers on board and 8 feet of extension cable underneath one of the fuel caps. I'm using a Kelly KD72300 controller but wish I had used a 400 amp controller. Not using Regen as I felt it was more expensive than it was worth. He'll do 52mph but likes 30-40 the best, and although I havent ran him dead my math says I should do about 25 miles on a charge. My rear ratio is 5.1 to 1. I have no monitoring system other than the odometer. I watch how far I've gone and adjust to that. The individual smart chargers do all the maintaining of the batteries for me and it usually takes about 6 hours for a full charge after a day's commute. I recommend using the individual chagers to maintain a near perfect balance of the battery pack.