With the help of local EV drivers, I had found EV charging
at a SF parking garage near my potential job meeting today
(I was to go and see the work being done).
Yesterday, I watered my batteries after a full charge. I
used about a gallon of distilled water for my 22 US145s.
This is about right for the amount of charging I have been
doing.
I also noticed that I had an increase of water usage on
batteries that were exposed to the windows. I assume that
this is evaporation from the hot weeks we just had.
I am now PFC-less, and I am using my zivans, I put all new
connectors on all my extension cords. Anyone with bad power
factor corrected EV chargers are going to wear out their
connectors. Don't wait until they fry both the plug and
receptacle, just replace them when you see they are wearing
out.
I plugged my battery warmers in last night before I went to
sleep, as cold morning batteries would have less capacity.
I awoke early as the excitement of a job possibility made it
hard to sleep. Even though I was not going to meet the
manager and just hang out with 'the guys' at a job site, I
got all 'gussied-up', wearing my preppy slacks, white shirt,
tie and my hp CE jacket. Interview-ees get dressed up to
show they are hungry for the job but are too pretty to do
any real work.
I left and got on Highway 101 heading North toward my San
Francisco destination. Early SF bound drivers are aggressive
in every lane and like to read your bumper (they are so
close they can).
When I heard the traffic report state, the Highway 101 SF
bound commute was a parking lot I went to plan B. I took
Highway 380 West and exited onto El Camino going North. I
like taking El Camino (a city street) to the Colma BART (our
rapid transit) station rather than Highway 280, because 280
wastes too much power going up and down and is just plain
dangerous with all the early morning 'bumper readers'.
Driving El Camino Real ("The King's Road" that ran between
the California Missions) through San Bruno going North to
Colma, was nice except the bumper readers were unfamiliar
with EVs.
I had one tailgate, then drive along my left side side
honking, then tailgate, jumping up and down in his seat,
arms gesturing until after three stop lights, he must have
read the 'ELECTRIC' and HOV stickers on my Blazer and
understood I was not going to race to the next light like he
and his fellow Mercedes SUV drivers.
I pulled into one of Colma BART station's EV parking spots
(there are three), there was a lemon yellow truck conversion
in the inductive spot. He had a skinny gauge power cord
running to a 120VAC outlet using a cheap light timer to
control the charger.
It was in pretty good shape, but in was in the wrong spot.
I pulled into the AVCON spot (the ics-200 is busted). I
wanted to leave the middle EV spot open just encase an
inductive showed up. I found and plugged into a different
120VAC outlet to get 10 amps pumping into my pack.
I continued my Electric ride, not with my EV, but on BART
(480 VAC three phase Electric train). It was fairly
inexpensive (much cheaper than parking in SF), but a
squeaky, bumpy ride (not as nice as Wash DC's Metro).
I came out of the BART subway at Embarcadero and found my man
waiting for the customer to go to work (it was just before 9
am and he wasn't in yet). We killed some time while he
chugged some coffee at a local coffee shop, and I listened
to the details fo what the job was about (I have given up
caffeine, though I love it).
We then walked back and caught up to everyone inside. It was
a different experience 'not' going into the computer room
(as my previous job had me do), but go to the back rooms
where the 180KVA power conditioning units (2) and each of
their UPS battery banks were installed.
Talk about POWER, as I came in, you had to be careful as the
battery DC power connections were raw (exposed to the touch)
and live. Four huge cables mounted to an end large plate
that connected one end of the large tall UPS wet cell
battery strings (there were two of these four cable
harnesses running out the room). The metal in each of the
four cables was at least two inches in diameter (thats eight
inches worth of metal > huge current ability).
These batteries were the tall-n-heavy telecom/UPS type. Way
over 200 lbs each, and about 2.5 ft h x 1 ft w x 2 ft. deep.
Each one was two lead-acid wet cells (a 4 V battery).
Since I was not allowed to touch anything (I was not company
'certified' and I was dressed too pretty), I stood back as
he explained what his job was about.
Adding water to the cells that needed it, cleaning up burped
acid, measuring the float and ripple voltages, and taking
specific gravity readings (the same stuff we wet cell EV
drivers do, but done on a huge scale).
I got to talk to his fellow co-workers that were there to
help bang-out the work (one guy yells out the measurement,
another data-entry the readings into the laptop, that last
one preps another bank of batteries for measurements.
I was being told there is 'a lot to batteries, more than you
know'. After they were done, I told them that I knew all
this because I do this same thing with my Electric car
batteries. :Silence: That flew right by them too (the
phrase Electric Car did not register). I did not bother
repeating it. If I was hired to work with these guys, I do
not need them thinking I am a wacko.
So what had been shown to me was their 'Battery Specialist'
job: Routine maintenance, less overtime, less stress, less
pay, and less of a challenge when compared to their CE job).
After they had showed me another UPS set up in a different
building using sealed valve regulated batteries (looked
about the same as a 12V starter battery), I sweet talked the
customer into showing me the computers the power
conditioners/UPS fed.
This was the SF PG&E control center and it was very
interesting. A swanky room with a swooshy wall (lots of
embedded indicator lights) showing all the high voltage
transmission power running up and down the California state.
All the preppy IT guys were sitting behind the desks,
slurping coffee, rolling the track ball, gazing at the
large PC flat screens, and relaxing their way through the
day with their feet up on the tables (maybe I am seeking the
wrong job?).
Afterward, the guys broke for lunch and I said my goodbyes,
as I needed to get back and prepare for tonight's class.
Later, I will have to discuss with their manager if I can
continue my night classes toward me degree or will they ask
be to drop the classes (that's the question). I do like the
job, working with all that power and batteries would be
interesting.
And there are a few perks: I would have an endless supply of
distilled battery water to use :-)
=====
' ____
~/__|o\__
'@----- @'---(=
. http://geocities.com/brucedp/
. EV List Editor & RE newswires
. (originator of the EV ascci art above)
=====
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More
http://faith.yahoo.com
