Arlen wrote:
>We *have* changed the case a little; the new design should have hit the
>sales outlets about 6 months ago, give or take. There's now a lip, the
>intent of which is to help prevent the seal from being broken in the manner
>Lee described. You find something else you think will help you work with
>the battery, feel free to give a shout, hear? (Yeah, I know. *We'd* love it
>if we made a 3-pound 600AH version of the YT, too. I mean we're trying, but
>it's a ways off, yet. ;{>} )
My only complaint with the Optima case (and I think this was changed quite a
while ago) was the removal of the rounded cutouts in the top case on the
long edge between the cells. In my original pack (now several years old and
ready for replacement) the batteries had these "cutouts" such that when two
batteries were placed side-by-side, they formed a round opening which lined
up with the hole in the "foot" below. From the top (view in fixed-width
font, x and y dimensions not necessarily to scale):
_________ _________
/ \/ \
| || |
) ( ) (
| BATT #1 || BATT #2 |
| || |
) ( ) (
| || |
\_________/\_________/
My battery hold-down strategy was to run two bolts through the holes in the
"feet" of the batteries and through the (steel) battery box with nuts on the
other side. The holes formed by the two batteries abutting each other
turned out to be just the right size to allow a socket wrench to get down
there to tighten the bolt (without much clearance to be able to see what I
was doing). It made for difficult installation and removal of batteries,
but they were quite secure.
When I got replacement batteries (which I'm going to be installing in the
upcoming weeks), I was disappointed to see that all of them have (nearly)
straight edges, so that there are (essentially) no gaps through which I can
access the bottom of the battery. I still haven't figured out how to fasten
them down adequately.
One option is to place one battery at a time and bolt it down before placing
its neighbor. That has two obvious drawbacks of (1) not being able to
secure the last battery in the same fashion (no access), and (2) having to
remove all batteries in the reverse order of installation if the first one
were to fail. Painful and inelegant, but still probably easier than trying
to come up with (and implement) a different hold-down strategy. Any
alternative suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dean
