Re: (ET) charger -- resend from delay

[Jeremy Gagliardi com]

Sorry, this message got delayed, because I forgot about the attachment
rule.

"Rhett T. George" wrote:
> Yes, you may hook up one charger to each two battteries in series.  There
> is a good chance that hooking the tree chargers in series will not work
> well because of slight differences in the internal control circuits (if
> they have such).  However, the charger outputs are isolated from the 
> power
> line and, consequently, from each other, making simultaneous operation
> okay.

I think just to be cautious, I won't hook the chargers in series, then. 
There's really no problem in hooking them up to every 2 batteries when
charging time comes around.  Another question:  Should I hook up the
chargers after each use of the tractor, or can I go lengthy periods of
time before doing a full recharge?

> Another poster suggested that one of the two diodes (or both) might have
> shorted while running the tests.  I have had a diode fail as a dead short
> and trip the house circuit breaker.  A new diode installed on the heat
> sink fixed that problem.

The new chargers were cheap enough, and they are modern -- making me
feel safer about recharging the batteries -- that I really don't want to
muck around with rebuilding the old charger.

> My E-20 does not have a horn.  I wonder if that was a change during the
> production or an option.

There are some things unusual about my E-20.  It was bought sometime
around '73 to '74 (not sure when Wheelhorse took over).  Mine not only
has a horn*, but it has a hand crank for engine speed, instead of a
pedal.  One more unusually thing is that the original console board
shows a rabbit and a turtle icon, but a separate piece was grafted over
that with a Fwd/Rev switch and a button labelled "Cruise".  I have no
idea how the Cruise feature works, and I really have no idea how to
shift this thing from one gear to another (it has D1, D2, L & LL).  I do
not have an owner's manual.

* The horn is located under the hood, facing out, on the top, left side,
about halfway between the console and the headlights.  It has a large
button all the way on the right side of the tractor, about halfway below
the console.


TIP:  I have a 1000Watt continuous/2000W peak 12VDC to 110VAC power
inverter.  At first, I wasn't sure if I could hook it up to my tractor,
considering its a 36VDC system, but 5th grade science class refreshed my
memory about batteries hooked in series, and as long as you hook up the
inverter to only 2 of the batteries, you get 12VDC to the inverter and
you get great AC output for all sorts of tools and equipment (I've
actually run my refrigerator off of that inverter for 2 hours during a
lengthy power failure).  See below for description.  One more great
thing I found out is, despite my inverters rather large size, it fits
perfectly under the hood, resting right on top of the batteries (I have
a non-conductive shield between the batteries and the inverter).  I
hooked a power strip into it and can dangle the power strip outside the
tractor when I need it.  

Under the E-20 hood:
Connect Inverter + to Battery 1 +
Connect Inverter - to Battery 2 -
Connect Inverter Ground to tractor body.
Put a non-conductive shield above the batteries and you can rest your
inverter on top, with plenty of clearance under the hood.
Note, what I call Battery 1 is the one closest to the charger, while
Battery 2 is closest to the wiring panel.

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