Balancing The Battery - Omron LD-60 User Manual

Balancing the Battery

The battery is composed of multiple cells, which need to stay balanced in order to maintain
maximum run-time.
There are three ways for managing battery balancing:
Set the AIV's DockUntilDoneCharging parameter to True. In this case, the battery will
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balance before saying it's done charging, so the battery will get balanced every time the
AIV docks. You do not have to do anything extra to balance the battery.
In this mode, the battery will typically take about 10 minutes to balance after charging.
NOTE: This is the mode that we recommend for installations that aren't
doing battery swapping.
Exchange the in-service battery, periodically, with a fully-charged spare battery.
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A spare battery that remains plugged into a docking station will be balanced. In this
mode, you don't have to worry about battery balancing, although it does add the task of
manually swapping batteries.
The interval between battery swaps depends on how the AIV is used. This includes the
weight it carries, the electrical load of any accessories, and what percent of the time it is
in service. You will need to determine the best interval for your situation. Swapping the
battery at every shift change is a commonly-used interval.
NOTE: This is the mode that we recommend for battery swapping, if you are
not charging the battery while it is inside the AIV.
Set the AIV's DockUntilDoneCharging parameter to False, to let the AIV get a partial
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charge by docking. The StateOfChargeToChargeTo and MinutesToChargeFor parameters
need to be set to appropriate (non-zero) values. You would then do a battery swap with
a fully-charged and balanced battery periodically, such as once a week.
StateOfChargeToChargeTo determines the state of charge the battery needs to
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attain before the AIV can stop charging.
A 90% value here would get the battery mostly charged, but not balanced.
MinutesToChargeFor determines the number of minutes the battery needs to
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charge before the AIV can stop charging.
The AIV will stop charging when the battery reaches either of these parameter
values.
In this mode of charging, we recommend that you do a battery swap weekly, at a min-
imum. If you see a reduction in run-time, you should do a swap more often than that.
Chapter 7: Operation
CAUTION: If both of these parameters are left at the default of 0, and
DockUntilDoneCharging is set to False, the AIV will dock, and never
undock.
LD Platform User's Guide, 11970-000 Rev E
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