Re: (ET) Battery Question

[David C Robie <mycroftxx1 juno com>]

Well, I wouldn't think you would have to monitor your batt E daily -
that's an overkill.  Daily for a while to see what the Landis is doing
perhaps.  I never worry about mine, just charge it.  As for the drift
down in E this is normal, it is the surface charge going away.  Batt E
measurements are only meaningful when it is gone, like the morning after
an evening charge has terminated. 

Incidentally - a trick for those people who leave their tractors outdoors
while charging but want to monitor to see when the charge is complete
without opening the door and going out in the blustery cold.  Plug her in
indoors and read the AC current going into the charger with a clamp on
ammeter clamped over a single wire in the cord (black or white, not
green).  When the ammeter reaches it's lowest point you are charged. 
Can't give you numbers cause all are  little different but there will be
a definite point where the ammeter won't read below no matter how long
you leave it on.  When you hit that point, unplug it.   No sense in
wasting current.    This ammeter method, of course, assumes you have a
stock GE charger that tapers due to it's ferro resonant nature, and
assumes you got a long charge cranked into the timer.  Don't think it
would work on a landis, as the landis senses charge state and cuts off.

Back when I was charging with AC,  I would plug her back in for a short
time (about a cup of coffee's worth) to warm the batteries up and top her
off before goin out and hittin the snow.  Ammeter still in there told me
whether or not I should have another cup of coffee.

Dave
Weymouth MA

    
On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:41:56 -0500 "Raymon Ellis"
<raymonellis adelphia net> writes:
> Many well qualified members on this digest have offered useful advice 
> and I
> have tried to accept those things that would be helpful. The Landis
> controller was disconnected and the old GE charger was placed on a
> mechanical timer for 17 hours to equalize the set of 6 volt Crown 
> CR-225
> batteries. After apparently reaching the specified voltage for 
> equalization,
> the charger was turned off. A few minutes ago the voltage of the 
> pack had
> drifted down to 38.6 volts a level which would trigger the Landis 
> controller
> if connected.  I will monitor the voltage daily and follow the 
> procedure
> used over the years to maintain the batteries. A new GE timer may be 
> needed
> in a few days.
>