Re: (ET) Ccccold Batteries

["steves" <ssawtelle fcc net>]

On the throttle; I had the same problem when it got cold. I think the 
grease
gets too thick at cold temps. I was in the middle of plowing and so I 
needed
a quick fix - so I sprayed some Kroil in there and it worked much better -
long term that might not have been the best solution - a beefier spring
would probably be better, or clean out the old goo and put in something 
with
better temp characteristics.

The lift kept going intermittent too. Like the leaky roof; it's too cold to
fix it when it doesn't work, and it works when it's warm enough to want to
fix it.

BTW on the snowplow - I'm really impressed with it once you have on good
chains and extra weight. Kinda wish we'd get more snow.....

- SteveS
E20
.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T Humphrey" <thumphrey mynra com>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 2:43 PM
Subject: (ET) Ccccold Batteries


> OK Where do I start.....
>
> It's cold and so are my batteries. So obviously I have reduced
> range.
>
> I have noticed two things and have some questions also so if my
> thoughts seem distracted it's because they are, please bear with
> me.
>
>
> I have a Landis controller. I noticed one day when it was a nice
> warm -10 degrees outside (yeah, neg 10, not uncommon in the
> northeast lately) that my range was greatly reduced. I was plowing
> the driveway, then the neighbors driveway, and  STOP, no slowing
> down just STOP. No readings on the gauges, no power to anything.
> Actually I should confess, my wife was doing the plowing, and
> could not tell me what the gauges were doing just before the shut
> down. Anyway after about 6-7 minutes, click, everything came back
> up. I told her to take it back to the garage.
>
> Plugged it in, it immediately started to charge, .....good. I am
> fortunate that I heat my house with a wood boiler, and it is in
> the same garage stall as the ET. So I have a real good reason to
> visit the ET every 4 hours or so. I noticed after about 12 hours
> that the charger had stopped and was now in the "Landis Phase".
> This seemed really bad to me, since when I was using the stock
> timer it would run continuous for what 15-18 hours or so. Has
> anyone timed the timer?
>
> Two days later, she was plowing again. She could not finish our
> own driveway, let alone the neighbors. I figured it was not a full
> charge on the batteries. (Yes David, I will go get a hydrometer).
> So I did two things;
>
> 1. I made a jumper wire that I can clip onto the Landis Controller
> to bypass it, which allows it to run constantly until I remove the
> jumper.
>
> 2. Figuring in the sub-zero cold this time of year, I reset to
> Landis Controller to come on at 41v.  Thats 2.27 vpc, is this too
> high, should I go higher? I will reset it back to 39 when the
> warmer weather comes. I noticed after a 36 hour constant on charge
> (very slight gassing, almost unnoticable) with the controller set
> at 41v, it is still cycling every 20 minutes or so.
>
> After my 36 hour charge, I was able to plow my driveway and have
> lots of power when I got done. Put it on charge, let the Landis
> charge it, It started cycling after less than 8 hours so I
> bypassed it for the overnight, in case I needed it again in the
> AM.  Then let the Landis take over. Like I said I am in the garage
> at leat every 4 hours, so there's no chance that I will forget to
> remove the bypass.
>
> There is one more possibility that could result in my wifes loss
> of power on the tractor. The pedal is very sluggish on the return
> stroke when it's this cold. If she, I, we, were to stop the
> tractor with the brake, and the pedal didn't return all the way
> off, then the tractor will not restart until it gets "reset to
> zero". I noticed many times, when I was plowing, that I had to
> lift the slider with my toe. Any suggestions, I'm thinking heavier
> spring as this one is pretty weak at the top.
>
>
> trying to...
>
> Stay Charged!
> Hump
> I-5 NY
>
>
>
>
>
>
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