I wonder if 120 cycles isn't close to the end of life for Optimas in your situation? I think your depth of discharge was at least 80 percent when your batteries were new and now after the batteries have aged some and the weather is cooler, DOD is fast approaching 100%. That doesn't mean the batteries are kaput, it just means they aren't good enough for your commute.
You said that the undervoltage indicators on your MKIIs lit during your final climb. What does that mean in terms of volts per battery? How much current was being drawn at the time? Tom Shay ----- Original Message ----- From: "John G. Lussmyer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 8:40 AM Subject: Sparrow YT lifespan > Well, in the 6 months I've been driving my Sparrow (-2 1/2 months of > crash/broken/sick time) I've put 3000 miles on it. The 13 Optima YT's were > new when I started. This is about 120 charge cycles where I pulled about > 5KW from the pack each time (about 32AH, both numbers from the > EMeter). I've had Reg MKII's installed almost the entire time. > I've found that the YT's are still holding up IF they are warm! This > becomes really important during my commute to work, where the last 1/4 mile > is significantly uphill. The car sat all day Thursday and cooled off, and > on Friday morning during that last bit of uphill, my undervoltage > indicators on the MKII's lit up like a Christmas tree. I've only > occasionally, on bad traffic days, had a random 1 of them light up > previously. The batteries were still cool when I arrived at work, they did > warm up during the charge cycle. (and I had to run the Zivan NG3 twice to > get all the regs to activate - not good.) > > I doubt they will last another 3000 miles (14 weeks of commuting) > though. Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised! I REALLY need to find a > better battery pack though. I should probably start nagging Evercell and > Dragon-Sky to see who can ship me a pack first. > -- > John G. Lussmyer mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Dragons soar and Tigers prowl while I dream.... http://www.CasaDelGato.com > >
