RE: (ET) time for a new pack...

["Elie, Larry (L.D.)" <lelie ford com>]

How long are you charging?  Is your charger on a long extension cord?

Does your 'fuel' (voltage) gauge work?

After SEVERAL hours (perhaps 6 for 'low' batteries) the needle should go 
out of the green ('F' value 45V {!}) and go into the charge region.  
SEVERAL hours later, as the (probably mis-matched) batteries equalize, you 
should peak at about (in my case) 47V.  After disconnecting, and waiting a 
few hours, you would have a value (again in my case) of about 42.5 to 43V. 
 That's charged for my batteries.  In my case, it is for 6 "Sam's Club" 
(not super) batteries, of which two are one brand (215 AmpHour) and 4 are 
another (220 AmpHour).  They were bought in pairs over a one-year period.  
All are at least 4 years old.  A 'full charge' will mow for 4 hours in 
first gear cutting 1.5" of grass off the top without problem.  This is 
about 1.5 acres.  A matched set of good batteries would do better, but 
probably only 15 or 20% better.  I get about 3.5 hours in second gear, if 
the grass is a bit shorter, and that cuts more than 2 acres.

Don't be afraid to 'trickle-charge' pairs (or if you have a 6V trickle 
charger, singles) if one battery just refuses to come up to 7V or so.  I 
have seen that help a lot, and after a few discharges the 'almost bad' 
battery start to perform like the rest of the pack.  If you don't trickle 
the 'almost bad' battery, the GE charger just can't bring that one battery 
up to parity with the rest.

Larry Elie


-----Original Message-----
From: daveb seanet com [mailto:daveb seanet com]
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2001 4:54 AM
To: lelie ford com; daveb seanet com; Daniel Eyk; Jim Coate; Elec-Trak
List; diggerdave bigfoot com
Subject: RE: (ET) time for a new pack...


The 43.5v reading is while the charger is ON.  the 38.3 or 38.5v reading 
is 
several hours after the charger has turned off ie the pack is "at rest".

And you are right I dare not attempt to more for more than 10 minutes or 
even 
travel too far without mowing for fear of either damaging the pack or not 
being 
able to get back within 100 feet of the an outlet or both.

I'll be pulling the pack this wkend and trying out a pulsating 12v charger 
on 
the 4 batteries that match.  If they come up significantly higher charged 
in 
pairs then maybe I'll just look for two new batteries to match these four 
CarQuest batteries.  

Thanks for all the advice.  I am slowly overcoming my impatience and 
becoming convinced that I should probably wait till spring before putting 
in 6 
new batteries.

However I was hoping that the Harry Landis Charge Controller replacing the 
timer on the E-trak's charger would keep the new batteries in top shape 
through 
the winter without my having to babysit the pack. Just plug it in and 
forget 
it. Well check on it every other week or so.  Is this totally naive? 

dave barden
E12S
Seattle