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Re: (ET) Batteries



Disclosure: I sell Soneil chargers. (My first Soneil charger was a 3610SR for my E-12, and as a result of that experience, I became a Soneil distributor. That charger is still in the tractor - 14 years later, and is still the only charger I use in it. It gave me 6 years on my first set of used batteries - 8 years old when I got the tractor. Second pack is going strong after 8 years.)

David, I understand the theory which is the base for your comments. My experience just says if you are charging quickly after the discharge, the sulphation-blasting is not an issue. (Soneil does claim a de-sulphating function as a by-product of the pulsing frequency in many of its chargers.)

The Soneil is a 3-stage intelligent charger, and when the pack is charged, it shuts off the charging. It monitors the battery continuously, and turns on again automatically if the pack voltage drops below a preset threshold. It's not perfect, but I see it as good protection of my battery investment.

I check my batteries for watering periodically, but since switching to the Soneil only add water at the start of the summer season - whether the batteries need it or not. Less than a litre across the pack is typical.

(Although I don't use this machine for mowing, it works year-round plowing, snowthrowing, tilling and towing/pushing.)

The Soneil reaches full charge via saturation over a longer period of time than brute force chargers, but does not resort to overcharging ("equalization/gassing") as a matter of course.

The downside of the 3610SR is that it can take over 24 hours to put a full charge back onto a full-capacity, fully-discharged pack. I have that kind of time. If others do not, Soneil has a line of larger 36-volt models for lead-acid batteries with the same intelligence features, up to 30 amps output. If that is not enough, we can parallel many of the Soneil models to get more output. On a 20-amp, 120-volt AC circuit, I expect 40 amps is likely the maximum we should aim for.

If anyone wants more information about the Soneil chargers, please contact me off-line. I don't want to use this list for a commercial message any more than necessary.

Darryl McMahon

On 29/04/2014 2:33 AM, David Roden wrote:
On 28 Apr 2014 at 18:18, Jeff Antonucci wrote:

Have you looked at the Soneil 36V charger?
http://soneil.com/content/3610sr

That's really too small - its output is only 4.5 amps.  I'd recommend a
charger that can deliver 0.15C to 0.2C, with 0.1C as an absolute minimum.

Thus, for a 220 amp hour golf car battery, a 16-22 amp charger is
reasonable.  I wouldn't go below 11 amps.

Part of the problem is the time a small charger takes to get the battery
full.  On a 220ah battery, just to get from 20% SOC to 80% (bulk charging)
would take that little 4.5 amp guy almost 30 hours!

That may not seem like such a big deal with a tractor you use only once a
wkee, but there's also the fact that lead batteries sort of get lazy if 
they
don't get that initial "kick" when they're charged.  Some need it more, 
some
less, but they all need it to some extent or they really do lose capacity.

I'm not an electrochemist, far from it, and I've never understood the
science behind this.  I've heard it explained as "you need to blast the 
lead
sulfate off the plates" and similar images, but I don't think that's what
high initial current literally does.

One way you could use a low power charger like that would be to use the
blunderbuss GE charger for most of the bulk phase charging (to 70% or 80%
SOC), then let the little guy take over and treat the battery nicer where 
it
counts.  The only problem with that is how to automate the changeover,
because if you're like me, you WILL forget to do it manually.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

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Darryl McMahon
Project Manager,
Common Assessment and Referral for Enhanced Support Services (CARESS)