(ET) Running Hawkers as a aux pack for an E-20

[Chris Zach <czach computer org>]

Well, after balancing out a set of three Hawker batteries (26ah, 
previously dried, and re-watered to about 85% capacity) I put them 
together in parallel with my Elec-Trak's 6 T105 pack.

Before hooking them up I charged the T105's to full (all 3 sets of 2 
T105's were reading 14.7) and charged the Hawkers individually, then 
together for 24 hours in parallel. All batteries read between .1 volt of 
each other (more like .05 or better)

The hawkers are fused 40 amps, and plugged in parallel with the main 
pack via the accessory port. For safety's sake the Elec-Trak core has a 
45amp breaker on this port as well.

Driving the tractor was very nice. The voltage sags were less and the 
tractor felt a bit more "crisp". After running around for awhile I drove 
back to the house and put it on charge.

All three of the Hawkers were reading different voltages under charge. 
One would read 14.5 while the second was reading 13.9, and the third was 
reading 14.2. When the charger hit "full", two of the Hawkers were at 
14.5, with the third at 15.4. Bit odd, however at this point current 
thru the Hawker string was .3 amps.

I'll run them thru a few more charge/discharge cycles however this did 
look something like what I saw in the Prizm pack. Batteries that looked 
to be in sync based on resting voltage being out of sync after a small 
discharge and on recharge. I might also spring for a set of six Rudman 
regulators, and try running two strings of Hawkers in parallel with the 
T105's.

Chris