Converting HiSun Sector E1 to Lithium

[SunFunKits]

Greetings,

We would like to share how we converted a HiSun Sector E1 UTV to Lithium from the stock Lead Acid batteries. The batteries now have 16.4 kWh (315 AH) of capacity, 22 horsepower peak, and it reduced the weight of the unit by 360 lbs. We were able to use the same onboard charger but did upload a lithium profile to it. We also needed to add custom battery trays. The conversion process is explained below in this video:

Thank you.

 

[bmaverick]

Really neat stuff being able to take older vehicles and upgrade them.
People are doing this with the EV Club Cars too.

I know of other purposed vehicles using the heavy NiMH converted to LIFEPO and the charger did change. It wasn't much of a change, it made things simple.

When Sodium-ion becomes mainstream for mobility uses, I plan to make my conversions then. Lithium is just a place-holder until then. The Sodium-Ion should be a 1-for-1 swap of the battery pack with NiMH and the weight would drop drastically too. The same charger would work, but upgrading would allow faster charging. It all depends on the application.

 

[Torvy]

Lowering weight may be good for some applications. I like mine the way it is.

 

[fatjay]

I converted my club car to lithium. It's been great, other htan last week. Lithium, specifically LiFePO4, or LFP, doesn't do well below freezing. To the point that the BMS, or battery management system will just shut the battery down in order to protect itself from damage.

Well, the chickens still need to eat even if it's below freezing. So that's something to consider.

 

[Torvy]

Freezing is a rather short-lived situation here. We might get a week or so every year where the temps stay that low all day.

It's 72 right now heading to 76.

We've had 1 or 2 White Christmasses since we moved to TX 20 years ago.

 

[hayden]

Some LFP batteries have built-in warmers to address this. It obviously reduces capacity to keep them above freezing, but in some situations it's the best solution.

 

[fatjay]

Freezing is a rather short-lived situation here. We might get a week or so every year where the temps stay that low all day.

It's 72 right now heading to 76.

We've had 1 or 2 White Christmasses since we moved to TX 20 years ago.

It's not a problem most times, until you need the machine and it doesn't work. As long as you can afford to live without it, put off work for a few days or a week, or use something else, it's great.

Some LFP batteries have built-in warmers to address this. It obviously reduces capacity to keep them above freezing, but in some situations it's the best solution.

I have found that the ones with built in heaters are much less common than i initially thought, and they're much more expensive.

 

[hayden]

It's not a problem most times, until you need the machine and it doesn't work. As long as you can afford to live without it, put off work for a few days or a week, or use something else, it's great.

I have found that the ones with built in heaters are much less common than i initially thought, and they're much more expensive.

Too bad to hear that. I wonder how plausible an insulated battery box with a thermostatically controlled heater of some sort would work? Like an electric blanket for batteries...

 

[fatjay]

Too bad to hear that. I wonder how plausible an insulated battery box with a thermostatically controlled heater of some sort would work? Like an electric blanket for batteries...

I was thinking much lower tech, as in a plug in heating pad. But the under side is completely exposed, if I were to go that route I would want to try and contain the heat a bit and enclose the battery box.

 

[SunFunKits]

I converted my club car to lithium. It's been great, other htan last week. Lithium, specifically LiFePO4, or LFP, doesn't do well below freezing. To the point that the BMS, or battery management system will just shut the battery down in order to protect itself from damage.

Yes this is very important, so if using our batteries you can set them to maintain temperature, even when they are not charging, we call this standby heating. In cold discharging suffers as well so using some power to keep it above freezing is a fair trade off (45 mins, 31 seconds).

See this time stamped location of the vid:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em2sh-kYeQE&t=2731s