gail wrote: > Would this make batteries light enough that I could change my own > battery pack? There is no way I can lift my Trojans in and out of > the battery racks but if they were in smaller sizes I definitely > could.
There are good reasons why cylindrical cells are the most widely used type. They are simple and inexpensive to build, and easy to stack end to end in arrays for higher voltages. A 1-cell Optima would weigh about 7 lbs, and be about 3.25" diameter and 6.5" high. Hexagonal arrays pack tighter than the rectangular array of the present Optima (about 14% more battery power in the same box). A pair of studs on top is the obvious way to connect them (like the Hawker single-cell BC). But this is a LOT of bus bars and nuts. Some kind of connector would be very interesting. Perhaps snaps like 9v batteries, which can be snapped together in arbitrarily large series strings. Or just cylindrical cells with a contact on top and bottom, that are placed in tubes and held by contact pressure on the ends, like flashlight batteries. Venting would be a problem. Where do you put the vent? It can go on top if you know all cells are vertical, but what if you allow any orientation? -- Lee A. Hart Ring the bells that still can ring 814 8th Ave. N. Forget your perfect offering Sartell, MN 56377 USA There is a crack in everything leeahart_at_earthlink.net That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
