(ET) charger voltage

[Michael S Briggs <msbriggs alberti unh edu>]

I've been scanning through the archives, and also the Service Manual, and 
am seeing some mixed messages on this - what voltage should the charger be 
putting out to the batteries? Mine's putting out a shade under 40 V 
(39.5V or so), and they seem to not be holding as much energy as I'd like 
(T-105s that are a few years old, bought used). According to the Service 
manual, 40-45 V is ok (well, not on exactly the same wires as I'm 
measuring the voltage, I'm measuring across the battery pack, rather than 
at S3 and S1 directly on the charger, so there's presumably a small amount 
of voltage lost between the points the manual says and the points I'm 
measuring at, especially if some weak connections, such as at the Diode 
heat sink). According to the archives online, I've seen people saying that 
if the voltage isn't 42-45V, the charger won't fully charge the batteries 
enough (some people who replaced the capacitor when the charger was only 
putting out 39V or so, for example).
	With mine charging, the charge meter goes slightly into the white 
section - whereas in the archives, I've seen statements that if the meter 
doesn't go all the way to the high end of the white section, the batteries 
won't get a full charge.
	On the other hand, the Landis controller only has the charger on 
when the pack voltage falls below 38V, by default, unless you adjust it 
up. So, if charging to 38V will give you a full pack, then there's no need 
to have the charger putting out more than 39V or so (other than that the 
higher the voltage it puts out, the quicker the pack will charge).
	So, which is it? Is 39-40V from the charger ok, or should it be 
42-45?
	Essentially it comes down to - what should be the voltage of a 
fully charged battery pack (I know it's higher than 36V, but how much?)?

Thanks,
Mike

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Michael S. Briggs
UNH Physics Department
(603) 862-2828
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