181: Saturday 19th March 2011

Last Sunday I took out the 10 lead acid batteries and put them into my neighbours garage. They were going back to the supplier for testing. My range was down to 10 miles and I believe that it is not due to just one battery. However the battery supplier said they could not do anything until they have tested the batteries to determine their capacity and that means they will need to be cycled through charge and discharge. They also said it will take them about a week to test them, so the Probatron is now off the road. I shall call them again on Monday to see if they have the tests completed yet. Last week was not too much of a problem, as I road my bike to work on Monday (saddle sores, ouch) and got a lift on Tuesday. I was picked up on Wednesday for a drive to Germany for my work and we came back on Thursday. I borrowed my wife's Toyota Previa ("ruby") on Friday as she does not work on Fridays. I have a lift arranged again for Monday and beyond if necessary. I am looking forward to getting my batteries back and hopefully they will send me a new set soon to replace them. However my wife is not looking forward to helping put them back in the car at 50kg each.

2 comments:

  1. I think that "50kg each" would tell me that it is time to upgrade to LiFePo4!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately it is the price of LiFePO4 batteries that is still a problem. I am trying to arrange some financing to get money to buy these. I am aiming for 200Ah at 128v (40 x 3.2v) from Thundersky. I have found an outlet in Chzec Republic. These cost twice as much from uk distributors and there is a whole load of tax to pay on anything coming from China or America. I was expecting more from Lead Acid, lessons learned. Keep watching this blog, I am sure I will win the lottery or something will come up soon and I will be able to afford them.

    ReplyDelete