it's been a while

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anekut
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it's been a while

Post by anekut »

Dear Sharkey and all,
I've been happily driving my '81 SCT VW Rabbit EV for almost 2 years now and the batteries are nearing the end of life. Started checking into prices and I'm having sticker shock. The US145s I bought for about $100 apiece two years ago are now over $200. Does anyone have any info on likely battery prices over the next six months? I see that lead prices have been dropping.

Sharkey, did you ever buy AGM's for your "lead sled"? Maybe this winter I'll get around to completing that SCT controller schematic...no promises though. I'll take time when I can to browse your forum. Probably a lot of interesting stuff in here.
Tony in Ithaca, NY
Sharkey
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Post by Sharkey »

Hi Tony, good to see you are still getting the EV grin.

As for batteries, they have gotten so expensive that I have pretty much given up ever getting a new set. I spent a lot of time this summer getting the seven-year-old set in the EV Rabbit kicked into something like serviceable condition, even bought some EDTA to put in the cells to correct any sulfation (haven't used it yet).

Since the car has only a 16 mile range, I also have been working on the original Lester charger so that I can fast charge at work (once the building is bulit and the power service connected).

AGM's sound good, but I think the sticker shock will be even worse, and you'll still need about a half ton of them to get the same range. About the only advantages would be no watering, and the capability of higher discharge current, which is useless on an SCT because our motor current is limited to 275 amps. The charge controllers that each battery needs to be safely charged would be enough to throw me off using them.

We can always hope that a new affordable battery technology will come along, but my fear is that this has been the promise since the beginning of time, and that waiting for it will only mean more petroleum-fueled cars on the road. Lithium-Ion sounds great, but I understand that there are a lot of quality control problems, and that the charge maintenance is a huge issue. Too bad Chevron buried the NiMH battery, it would be the best solution using today's technology.

I've been thinking of the controller schematic myself. Time to line up some winter projects for the long, cold nights ahead.
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Dennis The Bus Dweller
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Post by Dennis The Bus Dweller »

Hey can you guys use 6 or 8 volt golf cart batteries in your EV's? I just bought 12/8 golf cart batteries from Sam's wholesale club for $79.00 each and they have 6 volt one's for $62.00 each. Do you have these kind of stores out on the west coast?
Peace along the way
Dennis the bus dweller N.Y.
Sharkey
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Post by Sharkey »

No Sam's Club around here that I'm aware of, but that price is good, about what a Trojan T-105 cost four or five years ago. My understanding is that the Sam's batteries are brand-name units with the Sam's labels on them. Also possible to get the same deal at Costco, as little as I want to trade with them.

My friend in Portland who sold me the car says that he can still get Trojan blemished batteries for about that price, but they will have the stupid "combination" post, which I would have to cut off and cast as a round "automotive" post. He also has a nephew who works at a rental yard, and they rent out various battery-powered equipment (floor polishers, scissors lifts, etc). Any time they get any kind of complaint about the equipment's performance, they send the nephew across the street to the NAPA store to buy new golf car batteries, and let him take the take-outs home. I'm on the list for some of these for my electric tractor. It's hit-or-miss, some of the batteries might actually be defective, but some of them are still serviceable, so for free, I'll play crap shoot for a little while.
anekut
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Post by anekut »

We have Sam's around here so I'll check out their battery specs. 12v batteries seem to have a better energy/price ratio than 6v so I might consider using them.

I use braided ground strap soldered directly to terminals to make battery interconnects. Very quick, low resistance method.

I've also made a battery watering wand to rapidly top off batteries. It's connected with rubber tubing to a distilled water reservoir that I set on the roof of car to gravity feed. Wand has grip operated valve to control flow and and a set of electrodes on the tip which inserts into the cell. When the acid level in the cell reaches the electrodes, a LED lights up telling me that I'm done.
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Post by Sharkey »

Tony, I would recommend that you steer clear of 12 volt batteries. Everything I've heard is that they do not live nearly as long as 6 volt batteries. The 8 volters seem to hold up better than 12 volt, but are still a compromise compared to 6 volt. 8 volt are somewhat more expensive per Ah, due to the fact that they are not used nearly as much as 6 volt GC batts. In all, I doubt that there is anything that can touch the value of a 220 Ah GC battery.
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