Re: (ET) 30 volts?

["David Roden" <etpost drmm net>]

On 7 Feb 2022 at 16:26, Larry Chace wrote:

>  the local Advance Auto Parts had one (1) GC2 battery in stock for only
> $137.  

"Only" ? Sheesh, in 2001 I paid $57 each for golf car batteries.  The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation calculator says that $57 in 2001 
would 
be $90.76 today.  

However, lead prices seem to have outpaced inflation.  I read some years 
ago that lead demand was enormous from China (for construction?  For 
bullets???).  

In the road-EV world, the few remaining hobbyists have almost entirely 
abandoned lead batteries for lithium.  They say that the latter's cost per 
cycle is now usually competitive or lower.  I don't know whether they're 
including the cost for the necessary advanced charging and BMS hardware in 
that, though, and I haven't done the math myself.  

> They puchased "Die Hard" from Sears.  I hope they haven't just
> re-branded some less worthy products! 

I hope so too.  Sears never made batteries.  Sears never actually made 
anything, as far as I know.  So anything you get under the names once 
associated with them was and is by definition re-branded.  (Don't get me 
started on what's happened with Craftsman tools.)  

Correct; Advance Auto Parts bought the Diehard name in the Sears 
bankruptcy 
sale. Like any other recycled brand name, it means nothing except to 
people 
impressed by dead brand names. Advance may or may not be burning off the 
Diehard "brand equity."  

Diehard batteries used to be manufactured by Johnson Controls, formerly 
Globe-Union.  Johnson's battery business is since 2019 owned by an "asset 
management group.," which gave it a sparkly-cute new-age name, "Clarios." 
(And Fiat-Chrysler-Peugeot-Citroen-Ferrari-Vauxhall-Opel-Bob's-your-uncle 
is now called "Stellantis."  Again, don't get me started.)  

Anyway, I have no clue whether "Clarios" still supply Diehards to Advance 
Auto Parts.  

In my experience the best golf car batteries are made by Trojan and US 
Battery.  

One problem with buying golf car batteries from a parts store is getting 
fresh ones.  With a non-specialist dealer like that, you have no idea how 
long the battery has been sitting on the shelf or in the warehouse.  In 
your case, you're "marrying" this new battery it to an old battery family, 
so it may not matter much.  The general rule is that when you strap a new 
battery into an old pack, it quickly ages to everyone else's status.  

> One highly experienced correspondent suggested that high-current
> operations are best done using the round automotive posts with clamps
> since the threaded posts have a small contact area. 

Those are the favorites of the gearheads who drag-race EVs.  Not only do 
the stud on top terminals have less contact area, the studs will creep up 
through the lead and need to be tightened periodically.   

My preference is for L terminals, but they're hard to get.   

That said, ETs usually aren't that demanding, so I wouldn't worry about 
stud posts too much.  Just use good quality Bellville (dished) washers 
over 
the lugs, or split washers if you can't get Bellvilles, and snug the nuts 
up once or twice a year.  


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA

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