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We typically get 5 years on our
batteries, Trojans. We are heavy users of our tractor and mower
so we have always thought that this is aok. We mow a large lawn
and an acre and a half orchard once a week during growing season
and a 6 acre field a couple of times a year. We also haul things
and rototill with the tractor, so it gets lots of use all the time
except during a few of the winter months and I guess those times
it is broke down...
On 6/3/19 11:22 AM, Dean Stuckmann via
Elec-trak wrote:
I’m surprised as well. I have been using large frame ETs since
1980 and my average for a set is about 7 years using the stock
charger with a Landis controller. My last two sets were Duracell
Ultra SLIGC125 (235AH). The ones in the E15 (snow blower tractor)
are on their 8th year and getting weak. The ones in my E16 (3
season tractor) are 4 years and are loosing some capacity but I
think that is due to extra recharge cycles over the last 2-3
years. I typically mow every 5 days but about 3 years ago I also
started mowing a 2 acre vineyard about once a week. The extra
charge cycles may be taking their toll.
Regards,
Dean A. Stuckmann
5432 County Road U
Newton, WI 53063
On Jun 3, 2019, at 10:55 AM, Graham Allan < gta umn edu> wrote:
I'm surprised you are getting so little life
out of these batteries. My last set of cheap 6v
batteries (Exide brand) from Sam's Club lasted from
2003-2018, using the onboard GE charger. They were quite
feeble near the end but could still get my light mowing
tasks done. Of course your use pattern is probably
completely different from mine, but maybe the float
charger is doing something counterproductive?
On 6/2/2019 11:02 PM, David Tiefenbrunn wrote:
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
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Graham Allan
Minnesota Supercomputing Institute - gta umn edu
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