(ET) Charger Problems?

[marty canada <emcanada yahoo com>]

After 17 years of working 6 days a week at 10 to 12 hours a day. I suddenly
find myself working 5 days and 38 hours per week.

With this new found largess of time I intend to restore the E-15 I bought
from a doctors estate three years ago. I will try to keep the list 
informed 
on the progress (if any) of my endeavor.

My problem, however, is not with my E-15. Yesterday (6-14) I bought an E-12
with new batteries and 6 used batteries. I also got the mower deck, a 
chain 
saw and an ingenious combination front lift and fork for moving material. 
The
man I bought it from used the lift, fork combo for moving manure from the 
barn to a small garden.

When the tractor arrived the fuel gage indicated almost full. I attached 
the mower and started using my new "baby". Within 15 minutes it just made 
it 
back to the garage to be plugged in. I set the charger at the 1 to 2 year 
indicator thinking that perhaps the batteries had never had an initial 
charge
During the charging process I did some volt meter checks. Each battery read
6.22 v or higher up to 6.30 which seems pretty well balanced to me. The 
total battery pack read 37.20 v with the charger off. With the charger 
running the pack read 39.70 v. After 4 hours the fuel gage read past full. 
Again I take off to mow. This time I struggle back to the garage after 
about
20 mins with the fuel gage reading empty. At this time I am pretty well 
disgusted so I plug it in and leave it to charge over night.

This morning when I went to check it after 12 hours of charging the fuel 
gage is still below full by 1/4 of an inch. The pack voltage is 37.2 and 
each battery is reading 6.02 to 6.12 v. I am going to the store today and 
pick up a good hydrometer and will report on those results if needed, later
today. While using the tractor yesterday I kept my eyes on the usage meter 
and only saw it into the yellow zone once or twice. I don't think there is 
any unusual current drain that could be causing the sudden power lose but 
I am pretty well frustrated at this time. My wife has threatened my life if
it turns out that  I spent the money to buy it and the GE is bad when I had
a "PERFECTLY GOOD GAS TRACTOR ONLY ONE YEAR OLD"(her words and tone) which
I put in storage as a back up unit.

So for the sake of domestic tranquillity  PLEASE HELP !  


Marty
  

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