RE: (ET) batterys in my I-5

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

>From the condition, I would say KEEP THEM AND USE THEM.  16 to 24 hours 
>charge on a nearly dead set is pretty much what I would expect from a 
>NEARLY NEW set.  40 to 42 Volts a half hour after the charge ended is 
>normal.  The fact that the cells are not equalized is not unusual; you 
>can also use a DVM to measure each battery individually.  I suspect you 
>will see nearly a half volt difference on the ones that didn't float all 
>the balls.  You CAN 'trickle' (not my favorite term) charge the weakest 
>batteries one at a time without disconnecting the pack (most chargers are 
>isolated) at about 10 amps for an extra hour or two.  If you get them all 
>to the same level you will run much longer.  Thereafter you can probably 
>just charge them as a set.  My guess is you have a set that can mow 
>normal grass for about 3 hours.  After one reasonable discharge (to 1/2 
>capacity) and one full re-charge you should see all the balls float.  
>BTW, the last hours of the charge on series connected batt!
 eries are for voltage equalization.  My battery equalization circuit has 
finally passed Ford's intellectual property (the lawyers) and will be 
published in Electronic Design magazine in the next few months.  If anyone 
wants the circuit, I can provide it.  

Larry Elie


-----Original Message-----
From: D Howell [mailto:dervatl yahoo com]
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 11:16 PM
To: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: (ET) batterys in my I-5


The initial results are back on my battery pack.  As
you may recall, I had a post a few days ago regarding
the Trojans in my I-5 having been sitting for the past
year in a state of discharge.  After about 16 hours of
charging with my golf cart charger (which has an
automatically controlled smart circuit board)it
finally cut off.  The pack voltage was good after
sitting 24 hours (about 40 volts I believe).  I have
one of those cheap cell testers with four floating
balls (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%).  I tested each cell in
all the batteries.  All of them floated 3 balls (75%)
or more.  About 6 cells out the the 6 batteries
floated all four balls.  If I assume an average of
75%, is this enough to give me very much run time? 
Since a battery should never be run down below 50%, it
would make sense that I have about one-half capacity
of new batterys.  Is this a valid conclusion?

Darryl Howell
Smyrna GA