The Charge Doctor autocut default settings are current mode & 1.0A threshold (charging is cut when current drops below 1.0A). This corresponds to a 90% charge, in general. Autocut by current is a handy mode and is ok for most users because when using the CD on wheels with different battery voltages, there is no need to readjust the threshold.
But there are cases when autocut by voltage is preferable:
- on big batteries, eg > 560Wh, a 1A threshold corresponds to 95% even 99%! A threshold of at least 3A would be needed to cut at 90%, which is of course impossible using a single 2A charger (no problem using a CD-double-input and two chargers though)
- on even bigger batteries (eg >1000Wh, Dualtron, MSuper3…), the wheeler would like to cut charge only to 70%, even 50% to best preserve the battery. Such charge levels are in the constant current phase so autocut by current is not possible
To set the threshold in autocut-by-voltage mode, use the following approximation (for LiIon cells only) : 3.3V/cell for 0%, 4.2V/cell for 100%. Some calculations based on those values are in table 1. Those are just calculations, to adjust accurately the threshold, follow the steps described previously.
Cells | 0% | 30% | 60% | 70% | 80% | 90% | 100% | |
Total discharge cycles* | 1800-3600 | 1200-2400 | 950-1900 | 700-1400 | 500-1000 | 300-600 | ||
Hoverboard | 10 | 33.0 | 35.7 | 38.4 | 39.3 | 40.2 | 41.1 | 42.0 |
Duatron | 14 | 46.2 | 50.0 | 53.8 | 55.0 | 56.3 | 57.5 | 58.8 |
Ninebot | 15 | 49.5 | 53.6 | 57.6 | 59.0 | 60.3 | 61.7 | 63.0 |
Generic | 16 | 52.8 | 57.1 | 61.4 | 62.9 | 64.3 | 65.8 | 67.2 |
Inmotion/ GW1600Wh | 20 | 66.0 | 71.4 | 76.8 | 78.6 | 80.4 | 82.2 | 84.0 |
Table 1: voltage threshold to set into the Charge Doctor as a function of % charge, values in Volts * calculated from Battery University‘s thumb rule : number of cyles doubles with 14% less charge |
Examples :
- 30% charge is used for battery storage
- Charging to 80% instead of 100% more than doubles the number of cycles, to 700-1400 instead of 300-600
- On the Dualtron, set threshold to 55.0V for a 70% charge
- On the Inmotion, set threshold to 80.4V for a 80% charge.