I've been running a large frame Elec Trak for years now.
I used to be able to get used golf cart batteries for about 1/3 the cost
of new ones, and they would work well enough for a few years, so pretty
good deal. I used a simple analog float charger to keep them at full
charge, and used the stock built in charger for the main charging. A
few years back, I got a fancy 36V modern charger, but found that it was
horribly power hungry in idle / float mode, and the float set point was
too high, boiling water away too fast, and NO adjustment!
The last set of batteries I bought new Duracells from Sam's or BJ's.
They are showing low capacity already, only been a year or so. I've
been using 3 smart energy efficient 12V chargers to keep them at proper
float voltage. Even if I got the expected 5 years under ideal
conditions for flooded cell lead acid batteries, that's about 6x90= $540
every 5 years. Yikes! And right now, that's not even close to what I
got.. [I have to go gather data to determine if I have one dead battery
/ cell / or the whole set is low output]
Contemplating looking at other battery types, or an inverter generator
with a big power supply [which I have the parts to build laying around]
to power the Elec Trak.
Dave
_______________________________________________
Elec-trak mailing list
Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak