RE: (ET) New guy in town...

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

On 10 Feb 2004 at 12:55, Pieter Litchfield wrote:

> Be sure you keep the plastic bags around the
> batteries to prevent battery acid from eating its way through the boxes 
> too.
> That seems to be a traditional problem.

When I got my tractor almost 6 years ago, I had a bunch of 12-volt group 
24 
East Penn gel batteries sitting around gathering dust, so I put 6 of them, 
connected in series-parallel, to work in the tractor.  I figured they'd do 
for 
a couple of years.  When people asked about them, I said "they're OK, but 
I'd 
be using golf car batteries if I hadn't had these on hand."

Well, they're still doing great.  I finally managed to discharge them to 
the 
"time to quit" stage this winter.  It happened one day with temperatures 
in 
the 10 deg F range.  I plowed my own driveway and then did my neighbor's 
MUCH 
more sloped driveway for him.  That was the first time they've ever run 
out of 
steam in all these years.

After using them all this time, I've come to the conclusion that VRR 
batteries 
- gel or perhaps AGM - just might be worth the extra money (about 2.5 to 3 
times as much), even if I had to buy them especially for the ET.  I never 
have 
to water them, and maintenance is just wiping the grime off the tops (no 
acid!) and checking the terminals to make sure they're still tight.  And I 
don't have to worry about the plastic bags or acid eating the battery 
boxes.

If I were getting batteries just for the ET, I'd probably buy GC-2 size, 6 
volt VRR batteries, rather than the 12 volters.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
1991 Solectria Force 144vac
1991 Ford Escort Green/EV 128vdc
1970 GE Elec-trak E15 36vdc
1974 Avco New Idea 36vdc
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