Re: (ET) charger -- resend from delay

["David Roden (Akron OH USA)" <roden ald net>]

On 23 Oct 2001, at 9:37, Jeremy Gagliardi com wrote:

> 
> 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?

You should charge lead batteries as soon as possible, every time you use 
5% or more of their charge.  A battery allowed to sit in a partly or 
fully discharged state is subject to sulfation, which causes a permanent 
loss of capacity.


> 
> 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.

There are plenty of "modern" chargers that aren't materially different 
from old chargers -- particularly cheap ones.  If yours are "automatic" 
chargers (that is, they have some kind of charge control circuitry), they 
are probably at least acceptable.

The old GE chargers are not subtle by any means.  Their charge control 
consists of a ferroresonant transformer (stabilizes voltage output) and a 
timer.  But thanks to the ferro design, they are better than a plain 
transformer-and-rectifier charger without any charge control.


>  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".  

The horn was an option.  The hand control sounds more like an E15's.  How 
odd that they would still include cruise -- perhaps the hand control was 
added by an owner?

I have seen the rabbit and turtle, but don't remember now what it was for 
-- maybe the "power pulse" button on an E12?


> 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.

There's a copy of an E15 owner's manual at 

     http://www.elec-trak.org/

Look under "resources."  OK, it's not an E20 manual, but it may help.

The shift lever should move easily when the tractor is stopped.  I don't 
think you can shift "on the fly."

 
> ... as long as you hook up the
> inverter to only 2 of the batteries, you get 12VDC to the inverter ...

If you do this, be sure to use your separate charger on those batteries 
only when you recharge.  Trying to charge only two of the batteries in 
the pack with the GE charger will severely overcharge the other four 
batteries.

BTW, this is one of the ET's minor design flaws.  Tapping the pack for 
lights and lift imbalances the batteries, with some discharging more than 
others.  That means that, when you charge, the battery not powering 
either the lift or the lights reachs full charge first, followed by the 
two powering the lights, and finally the three that power the lift.  So 
half the pack is always overcharged.  If GE had used a DC:DC converter to 
power the lights and lift, or a separate battery, our battery packs might 
last longer (years of service) and give better range.  (Not that those 
are really major problems.)


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
1991 Solectria Force 144vac
1991 Ford Escort Green/EV 128vdc
1979 General Engines ElectroPed 24vdc
1970 GE Elec-trak E15 36vdc
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