What does the VLCD5 battery level actually mean?

[Jez]

Hi all. Digging into a potential battery issue I have but beginning to suspect my battery monitors rather than the battery. As an alternative means of keeping an eye on things I was wondering what the VLCD5 battery level display actually tells you. The spec for the VLCD5 allows for an input voltage of something like 11V to 60V so what does the VLCD5 see as a "full" battery if the battery can be say a 36V battery or a 48V or as in my case a 52V battery.

A gentleman on this forum implied in his post that the VLCD5 is sold with a preset voltage so it would "know" what the upper voltage should be. Is this the case? If so mine should have gone bang since it's a 48V system running a 52V battery! But it could just be a voltage level value set somewhere in software I suppose.

Anyone know?

Another weird point is that the VLC5 spec indicates that each segment of the battery indicator is 25% of the total battery voltage. But there are six segments.... How does that work then?! Maybe they couldn't translate 16.6 recurring!

 

[E-HP]

Hi all. Digging into a potential battery issue I have but beginning to suspect my battery monitors rather than the battery. As an alternative means of keeping an eye on things I was wondering what the VLCD5 battery level display actually tells you. The spec for the VLCD5 allows for an input voltage of something like 11V to 60V so what does the VLCD5 see as a "full" battery if the battery can be say a 36V battery or a 48V or as in my case a 52V battery.

A gentleman on this forum implied in his post that the VLCD5 is sold with a preset voltage so it would "know" what the upper voltage should be. Is this the case? If so mine should have gone bang since it's a 48V system running a 52V battery! But it could just be a voltage level value set somewhere in software I suppose.

Anyone know?

Another weird point is that the VLC5 spec indicates that each segment of the battery indicator is 25% of the total battery voltage. But there are six segments.... How does that work then?! Maybe they couldn't translate 16.6 recurring!

From what I gather, the auto-sensing feature on display units that handle multiple voltage attempts to detect voltages in standard multiples of 12 volt (24, 36, 48, 60, 72 etc.). If it guesses 48 for your 52 volt pack, the battery meter becomes useless since it will show fully charged until the 52 volt pack is closer to drained. There are a few displays I've seen that can actually deal with the oddball voltage, and some that let you set it by the number of series cells in the pack (e.g. 13S, 14S, etc.).

 

[Jez]

Oh now that's very useful to know. Thanks.