I noticed that as the pack gets older the amps go up at the finish voltage and a old old pack is hard to get it to 15.V ( looking at 1 12v bat) . My pack right now is about 6 months old (6 x 20)and probable in its prime . When it hits 15v its only charging a 1.1 amps .and like you say there is no standard days . As it gets older the finish amps will get higher until the bad boy just won't get the voltage up there . I'll be turning the trip voltage back a year form not . Right now I'm putting back in %110 but way down the road it will take %150 to charge them . I will also be seeing less amp hours . My feeling now is that when the voltage drops to 10.5 with a c1 load after pulling out 75 amphours its time for new bats. Reason >> its costing more money to charge these old dead solders then there worth . also the batteries can still be used by someone making a new project or some one restoring a golf cart can use them . I was asking one of the birds in my nest if he had added water to the bats and he said they didn't need it . I told him he may not be charging enough . I gave him the truck with 2 bad boys both with no brains one a 120v with some inductance (manners) the other a 240v bad ass bad boy that I've seen put out 50 amps . He doesn't seem to mind (cheep cheep) watching and unplugging when it gets charged . I have watch him go from knowing nothing at all to starting to get a handle on the EV thing .I an wondering if the pcf-20 is doing some de-sulfating . Bad boys don't clean anything Steve Clunn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce EVangel Parmenter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 9:53 PM Subject: Re: charging question
> Other may POST about the voltage numbers, but have done a lot > of charging (since I have six chargers). > > David please (re-) state what charger you are using. > > Yes, when I smell the slightest amount of sulfur, I shut > down the charging. A good charging cycle on healthy batteries > should not smell. But a good charging cycle on tired > batteries, will. > > I have found a manual (bay boy, variac), light dimmer (K&W > BC-20, Russco), Zivan chargers is not set correctly can be > rough on batteries, over charging them, using too much > water, etc. > > But once I set the PFC-20 to the pack voltage (in my case, > I set my 132V pack to finish at 164V), I didn't have any > smell or issues. It was like the TV-infomercial > 'Set-it, and forget-it'. > > But this brings up a point that occasionally happens that > others may want to share their views on. > > Sometimes the performance of a pack vary. Not much, > but you can feel it. You can have good days, where the > pack is performing well, and other days, when things > seem to have a little less umooph (performance). I know > that wording is hard for the techies to get their > measurements and calculations around, but > seat-of-the-pants observations rarely are. > > I attibute these variances to the various variables: > > -how well the electrolyte is mixed, > -if the pack is balanced, > -the temperature of the pack, > -some batteries in the pack perform differently > (non uniform manufacturing or flaws) > > Of the later, you can see some of that when you do your > monthly watering. Some cells will use more distilled > water than others. > > So far, with a new US145 pack and charging with a PFC-20, > the slow smooth finishing charge has given me more > uniformity in performance. > > Recently, when I turned my loaner PFC-20 charger back > into manzanitamicro for the PFC-50 I ordered, I was using > one of my 120VAC Zivan K2 chargers (the older 1kw K2 is > shaped like a brick and has less output than a 120VAC NG3). > I feel the difference between charging with the PFC-20 > and other chargers by the pack's performance. > > Watt do you think? > > > > ===== > ' ____ > ~/__|o\__ > '@----- @'---(= > . http://geocities.com/brucedp > . EV List Editor & RE newswires > . http://egroups.com/group/evangel > ===== > > __________________________________________________ > Yahoo! - We Remember > 9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost > http://dir.remember.yahoo.com/tribute > >
