Desulpator success story? [RE-wrenches]

[Doug Pratt]

Oh man...! He *gave* you an Electrak with all the accessories? I've
lusted after one of these sweeties for years. So far, no luck. (Anybody
got one they want to be rid of? Contact me off list please.) 

This is an example of what desulphators are best at...reviving batteries
that have simply been sitting without any use for long periods. They
won't help when the batteries are simply worn out with all the lead
flaked off and laying on the bottom of the cell, but they're great for
knocking off heavy sulphation. You'll probably get a good 6 to 12 months
use out of these batteries (you lucky dog).

Cheers,
Doug Pratt


-----Original Message-----
From: Travis Creswell, Ozark Solar [mailto:ozsolar at ipa.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 2:13 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Desulpator success story? [RE-wrenches]

or maybe it's a testament to the robust Trojan T-105 battery.  You can
read
my story and decide for yourself.

Recently, a friend gave me his GE Electrak E15 lawn tractor.  It
included
the front mounted 42" mower deck, hedge trimmers, snow plow and 36 volt
inverter.  Everything works perfectly.  What a fun machine.  It's fun to
be
able hear the neighbors lawn mower over yours as you mow your own yard.

Back to the desluphator topic.  Of course, he hadn't charged it for
years so
when I went to pick it up I found the T-105's had voltages from 1.2 to
-1.2.
 Two of them had reversed polarity!  All of them had at least an inch of
the
plates exposed.  Of course, I new I'd be buying a new set of batteries.

The on board charger was dead and there is no pushing it up a ramp into
a
trailer as those of you who own one know.  I thought I would at least
try to
get enough in the batteries to get it up the ramp so  I hooked up my12
volt
/ 500 watt Tiger inverter and charged two batteries at a time.
Actually, I
had to use a standard car battery charger to get the batteries above 8
or 9
volts (per pair) as the Tiger wouldn't even try to charge until it could
at
least tell it was hooked up to battery.  After several days and gallons
of
distilled water I returned to pick up the tractor.  To my astonishment,
all
of the batteries were staying above 6 volts with no charger them.  The
tractor barely got it self on my trailer but it did.  I brought it back
home
and made several laps around the yard as the tractor slowed down to a
crawl
as the batteries went down.

At the house I hooked up a spare SW4048 to the tractor as you can adjust
the
charging parameters perfectly for a 36 volt pack.  Who says Trace can't
do
anything right!  Also, I hooked some 12 volt
maintainer/charger/desulphator
units that I keep at my shop for the various batteries I inventory.
They
are 120 AC and charge at just over 1 amp.  Charged the pack up again and
took the kids for rides.  Made it a little further around the yard.  Did
the
whole process over again, took the kids for rides up and down the
street. 
Went even further this time.  Charged with SW and desulphators again. 
Proceeded to mow the 1 acre yard and barely made it.  To make this long
story a little shorter the last time I used the tractor, I mowed the
neighbors yard after I mine and still had plenty of mowing left.  A few
hours after this last test the batteries were sitting at ~6.18 volts
(with
no charging).

All of the batteries voltages stay with .05 of each other while charging
and
discharging.  I am convinced that there is something to these
desulphators
that are powered by 120 AC.

And yes, I am making up new battery cables from welding cable for them
as
soon as the new lugs I come in.  "Fusion" lugs by the way.  It will be
my
first time to use them so I'll report on them.

Travis Creswell
Ozark Energy Services

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