Re: (ET) Chargers

[et jpjt net]

Hey Darryl,

I don't think anyone should be offended at you offering another route for 
us to keep our 
tractors going.  On the contrary, I think we're all happy to hear what 
works for other owners 
and it seems to me to be a ringing endorsement when a user of a quality 
product likes it so 
much they become a distributor.  Thanks for that.

Anyway, the reason I'm tempted by the Soneil 3610SRF (that's the one for 
the Elec-traks 
right?) is because the OEM charger is so inefficient.  Do you have any 
quantitative or 
qualitative comparison of the efficiency of the Soneil solution to the OEM 
solution?  

By the way, the wording in your post seems to suggest that the Landis 
charge controller is an 
alternative to the OEM charger.  For any readers who read it that way, the 
Landis controller 
is actually an alternative to the OEM timer on top of the charger.

On a separate but related topic, currently I'm running a beefy 12-volt 
winch on the front of 
the tractor instead of the defunct OEM lift.  I worry that I'm imbalancing 
the pack by driving 
it off the two front T-105s, especially when snowblowing or plowing when I 
lift the blower or 
plow up and down all the time.  I wonder if I take out the OEM charger and 
start using a 
Soneil 3610SRF instead, I can put a 12V battery in it's place and use that 
for the winch 
motor.  Then to charge the 12V I can get a 36VDC-12VDC converter.  I could 
use an inexpensive 
little one with low rated amps, and make sure it's disconnected from the 
circuit when drawing 
the big amps with the winch. (Maybe I can use one of those 
self-resetting-fuse things, 
positive temperature coefficient devices to protect it?)  Or maybe I'd be 
better off with a 
separate Soneil charger for the 12V bat.

Joel
========

Darryl wrote:

There are a lot of posts of late regarding chargers and charging of the 
tractors.  The capacitors are failing from old age on many units, and 
many owners are looking for a viable unattended maintenance charging 
solution.

I own a Soneil 36-volt charger which I use on my E-12, and it is simply 
marvellous.  It's the only charger I use now, despite having a 
completely functional original charger still in the tractor (on its 
third capacitor).

Disclosure:  I am a distributor for Soneil chargers - because of the 
unit I originally bought for the E-12.  (It's been a while since I have 
talked about replacement chargers, so I hope no one is offended by my 
post.)

I have not used the Landis charger controller, but it sounds like one 
reasonable approach.  The original charger is also reasonable, provided 
you know your capacitor is the correct size for tuning the 
ferro-resonant charger, and is in good working order.  The Soneil simply 
provides another option, which is intelligent, affordable, compact and 
lightweight.  Plug it in, walk away, and forget it.  The charger will 
push the maximum rated current into the batteries until they reach 
charged voltage.  Your tractor will be charged when you come back to it 
the next day, or a week, or a month, later.  The Soneil can even charge 
in parallel with the original charger to increase the charging rate 
(requires two circuits, as the GE charger can suck a 15-amp circuit dry 
on start-up).

-- 
Darryl McMahon                  http://www.econogics.com
It's your planet.  If you won't look after it, who will?


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