Re: (ET) Update my my old "cooked" Trojan batteries

["David Roden" <etpost drmm net>]

On 26 Aug 2009 at 22:57, Tim Humphrey wrote:

> There are some who will advise you that the Landis is not a standard
> charger algorithm and it is a better idea to just charge the pack then
> monitor it and turn the charger back on when it is low. Which is kind
> of confusing; because that's exactly what the Landis does.

That would be me. ;-)

I'm sort of the token list skeptic when it comes to Harry Landis's 
controller. That's because it's a battery _maintainer_, and I've found 
that 
battery maintainers usually aren't very helpful or necessary.  

The only case I can think of where a maintainter might be useful is if you 
left your EV in some isolated place for a year at a stretch, and needed to 
use it immediately upon arrival. But I _still_ wouldn't.  There's too much 
risk of having the electrolyte fall below the level of the plates, and no 
maintainer I know of is smart enough to look in the cells and say "whoa."  
I'd fit AGM or gel batteries, which have very low self discharge, keep 
them 
clean and dry and as cool as possible, and not waste the electricity on 
the 
maintainer.

Anyway, getting back to Harry Landis's controller, if you accept the 
notion 
that a battery maintainer is useful, I think that Harry's control 
algorithm 
is rather clever.  But while it may be suited to battery maintaining 
(disclaimer: I've never tried it), IMO it's not really ideal as a charger 
for cyclic use, meaning routine recharging of a battery that's deep-cycled 
like ours are.

Some folks here -- probably most -- use it that way, though.  I get the 
impression that they like it better than the plain old timer on the GE 
charger.  But with all due respect, about the only thing worse than the GE 
timer would be no charge control at all.

So, IMO it's not the ideal bit of kit for recharging a discharged battery 
in 
a cyclic application.  But hey, it's not very expensive, and it re-uses 
some 
of the hardware you have now (the main guts of the GE charger).

So what do I use?  Three 12 volt Exide brand (made by Cliplight in Canada) 
cycle-dropping type chargers, with a timer set for 12-16 hours.  I use the 
outboard timer because these allegedly automatic chargers never really 
shut 
off completely. This combination has kept my East Penn gel batteries going 
strong for about a decade now.

FWIW, my charging setup cost about $100 (closeout deals on the chargers 
and 
a garage sale price on the timer).  It would probably cost about $175 to 
duplicate with new gear at the store today.  

I think with a little digging you could actually set up something similar 
for pretty close to what I paid.  For example, I just checked Ebay, and 
found a mechanical Intermatic timer like mine for $30, and open box 
Schumacher automatic 10 amp chargers at two for $50 + $10 postage.  I have 
no idea how good the Schumachers are; I recall looking at a Schumacher in 
the store recently and not being too impressed with the build quality, but 
I'm not sure this is the same item. 


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

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