John G. Lussmyer wrote:
>
> At 05:06 PM 10/5/2002 -0700, Thomas Shay wrote:
> >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.
>
> Yup, though pulling 32AH out of a (nominally) 45AH pack shouldn't be 80%
> DOD. That's why I'm looking for a different/better battery. I'm going to
> setup a heated corner of my shop so I can keep the Sparrow warm which
> should help.
>
> >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?
>
> I think they come on at around 8V, and the current was probably in the
> 70-100A range. (Fairly steep hill at low speed, but I was taking it easy.)
>
> --
> John G. Lussmyer mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Dragons soar and Tigers prowl while I dream.... http://www.CasaDelGato.com
Re the Low Batt detectors on the Rudman Regulator MK2s.
They are set at about 10 volts 9.5 to 10.00 as I recall. They are
adjustable, and can be bumped if handeled . Hey it's a Setpot... I don't
glue them set so you CAN adjust them.
Well last week while it was sunny and dry I decided to remove the known
bad #7 Yt in Goldie. For those that don't know She is a 13 Yt powered 8
inch driven 1200 amp tire burner. So she has the SAME battery pack as a
Sparrow.
I have been able to light up all the LowBatts at will and at any time I
suck more than 500 amps. So the 10 volt Lowbatt setting doesn't tell me
much that the smoke cloud from the tires Says with conviction.
So I set one of them to 7 volts, and I am trying to get the Analog temp
feed back to the charger to work as planed. The 7 volts is nice because
it's about where the power peak in on a Yellow top Optima, ya get more
amps but less watts if you suck them lower. Also at 1200 amps, 10 volts
is Joke.
So if you need some more elbow room on your Lowbatts, please feel free
to adjust them down. They are set where Optima would like you to never
go below (10 volts). But reality 8 maybe better if you have a long
range or a healthy controller.
I am also going to get the Analog cutback circuit to pull the charger
back, and also keep the heat sink temp on the Regs at a given temp. Say
120 deg F??? This is to be used to have the regs slowly pull the massive
amps back without actually having to go to 0 power to let the Regs cool.
This gives you the fastest time to finish , and the fastest possible
Regulator based equalize times. And, in the old climes a temp regulated
battery pack. Kinda a buch of good things.
I have gotten this to work on a single battery. Pretty nifty, adjust
the setpot, and watch the Reg blink on , just a second of over voltage,
then the heatsink jumps 10 degF and the current drops back to 1.5 amps
and the Bettery voltage sags back to the Reg's 14.8 volt setpoint.
Cool!!! Now lets try that in a 4 year old stack of Yts on a Real EV.. I
suspect a bit more fussing about.
--
Rich Rudman
Manzanita Micro
www.manzanitamicro.com
1-360-297-7383,Cell 1-360-620-6266
