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(ET) Another Soneil charger experience
Disclosure: I am so enthused with my Soneil charger I am in the process
of
becoming a distributor for this line of chargers.
I have the 36-volt, 4.5 amp Soneil charger on my ET 12S. 2 summers ago I
thought
my pack was done (it is at least 12 years old now). However, I put the
Soneil on
primarily to have a plug in and forget charger while I was away from it
for a week
or more at a time, and to see if the claims for this charger were valid.
I used
both chargers for a period of time, until the capacitor failed on the ET
charger.
I have noted 3 significant changes in using the 2 chargers.
1) With the Soneil, I am not using nearly as much water. The ET charger
would have
me watering the batteries every 2 months. I have added water once in the
year-plus
since I have been using only the Soneil.
2) With the Soneil, the tractor is ready for use when I arrive. With the
ET
charger, I would invariably have to recharge before use.
3) With the Soneil, the batteries have more effective capacity, as
measured in
round trips hauling construction material around the cottage property.
While the desire for a charger with more initial oomph may be desirable
for certain
constructions, I certainly have not detected any issues with the Trojan
105s using
only the Soneil. These are reduced capacity batteries due to age, but
given that
many of us use second-hand or simply older batteries, that may relevant to
some. I
am prepared to discuss the potential for a higher-rated charger with
Soneil if a
number of you here think that would be of value.
I believe the 4.5 amp Soneil will take longer to charge a fully-discharged
pack.
This has not been a factor for me. The pack has always been fully charged
overnight with the Soneil in my experience (based on dash gauge and
voltmeter
readings over 43 volts on full pack while Soneil is in a refresh cycle in
the
morning).
The Soneil is a 3-stage charger, so it will pump out 4.5 amps continuously
in the
bulk charge stage, where the ET charger starts high, but tapers down
quickly. It's
been a while since I had an ammeter on the ET charger, but my recollection
is 18
amps to start, which had dropped to 12 within an hour and down to 6 within
3 hours.
(Again, this pack probably does not have full capacity of a new pack -
but it will
blow snow for an hour without problems - with batteries cold.)
With the ET, I have to guess how long to set the timer for a charge based
on
age/capacity of the batteries, and how discharged I think the pack is.
With the
Soneil, no guess-work. Just plug it in and walk away.
I am now planning to buy 12 of the 12-volt Soneil units as finish chargers
for my
next on-road EV project instead of using regulators with a bulk charger
for finish
charging. I will have the bulk charger as well for fast charging on the
car.
Disclosure (repeated): I am so enthused with my Soneil charger I am in
the process
of becoming a distributor for this line of chargers.
--
Darryl McMahon http://www.econogics.com/
It's your planet. If you won't look after it, who will?