RE: FW: (ET) batt's, new gauge points, and a faq draft for discus sion

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

-----Original Message-----
From: daveb seanet com [mailto:daveb seanet com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 5:57 AM
To: lelie ford com; elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: Re: FW: (ET) batt's, new gauge points, and a faq draft for
discussion


For me this is a great and timely write-up.  Thanks Larry!

I just bought 6 brand new US2300 deep cycle batteries. BTW the caps on 
these 
are really slick being tied together with an easy thumb fore-finger grip 
to 
loosen and remove all 3 caps at once.  very nice.  And they're less likely 
to 
get lost or knocked about.

Anyway I've had these questions about the timer of my E15S's charger:

1.  It doesn't appear to matter if I turn the knob clockwise or 
counter-clockwise.  True?  Or am I damaging (have damaged) something doing 
this?  Usually I turn it counter-clockwise to the desired (guessed at) 
setting.

2.  From memory I think the knob has these 3 markings  1-2yrs,  3-5yrs, 
5-6yrs
with 1-2yr giving the longest charge (about 18hrs?).  For me, Larry's 
write up 
begs the question of what setting is best for my virgin batteries?  Or 
should I 
baby sit them the first coupla times taking voltage readings every 3 or 4 
hours 
(difficult for me to do because the e-trac is not at home being at best an 
hour 
away)?  I realize new batteries will have larger capacity than old 
probably 
sulfated batteries hence the longer charge times for new batteries. 
Correct?  
but is it advisable to "bulk" charge brand new batteries for a full 18 
hours?

thanks again,
dave
E12S
Seattle

1.)  I have seen several different knobs, but only one timer.  SEVERAL of 
them had bad timers.  BTW, the timer is replaceable without changing the 
charger.  The only working timer I have does have a stop; you can only 
turn one way.  CAUTION!  On one machine I had, the stop was broken (it 
sounds like yours...).  The timer would go to 0, turn off for a while, and 
then go BEYOND STOP.  The charger then came back on, this time 
indefinitely.

2.)  This one is opinion.  The main idea of the charger is to make the 
lowest battery come up to a point where all of it's cells are charged.  
Ignoring the timer, if you get the lowest battery up close to 7 or 7.1V, 
the battery pack will be fully charged, and the voltage will drop to 38 or 
39V total a few hours after you turn it off.

Larry