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I put my best 12 batteries up front
and wired them up with a device I made to conveniently charge the
batteries while in the front tray
Inside Charging Connector Box
Finished Charging Connector Box
Each Front Battery (12) could be charged from this point
One evening I energized the truck. Installing all of the
original battery cables up front as I bought it. There was no batteries
in the rear of the truck at this time.
It "snapped" when the last connection was made.
The main power controllers were not plugged in at this time. I was
satisfied that everything was proper, so I tightened the terminal and
looked things over.
Probably the most exciting thing was to reach into the cab and turn
on the headlights!
They worked! I tried to beep the horn, but it didn't
work. I tried the flashers, they worked.
Later, I turned on the ignition switch. The truck's power steering motor
came to life. Everything was checking out fine.
I tracked down the horn problem, I was disconnected under the hood. All
interior bulbs were removed and placed in the glove box. It would
be 6 months till I began to understand why they removed. I imagine
the horn was disconnected to keep co-workers at the utility from
reaching into the truck and beeping the horn. - With bad batteries, who
knows what that sounded like!
Maybe the bulbs were removed in case someone left the interior light
on. After a period of time I suppose the truck batteries could run
down or maybe once the truck batteries reached a certain level, the
DC-DC controller could be affected?? I can only guess.
One should not run a $4,000-$5,000 dollar AGM battery pack down flat,
even once.
Well, one night I was watching TV. For some reason I decided it was
time to power up the drive system of the truck.
I went out to the garage and carefully made all connections in the
sequence that made the best sense. Finally, I plugged in the Anderson
connector into one of the controllers.
I don't remember if I just tried one or bother controllers, but I
got in the truck and turned on the ignition. I put the selector in
forward and pressed the accelerator down.
The truck moved forward!
I guess I had owned the truck a few months by then. When I tried the
other controller, I knew I had problems (still have) the truck would do
nothing with the other controller plugged in. I suppose that other
controller is a small story in itself.
A story that is not yet finished to this day!
A Few Details --
I sent the controller away. I received it back un-repaired, but they
could sell me a used one for $3000. - More that the total I have
in the truck!
Upon receiving the controller back, I took apart for myself. I found an
obvious problem. -Blown Fuse- I replaced it, but I wondered what
caused it to blow in the first place. I put the controller back
together, and tried it in the truck. The truck
"jittered" in forward and reverse. I chickened out and removed
the controller.
(In May of 2003 I reinstalled the controller, jacked up the rear
end off the ground. The wheels spun properly both forward and
reverse. I lowered the truck and drove it forward. I took it
up the road. It blew its fuse about a tenth of a mile down the
road. - Back to the drawing board)
Here is some pictures of the controller taken apart
(capacitors properly discharged by service )
One Friday night, I went into town (not in
the E10-It still couldn't get out of the driveway)
I went to the local automotive supply store. I found myself looking at
the batteries on the rack. All at once I looked at a battery on
the floor marked "good used battery".
I lit up. I asked one of the employees if that battery was for
sale. She said it was, and the price was around $20.00. I asked if
she had anymore of these. The employee showed me to the back of
the store. On the shelf I found almost 12 batteries less than 6 months
old, some less than 3 months old. These batteries were returned,
but tested good. They all were just starting batteries (car
batteries) but a few of them were the stores best, largest
batteries. I bought the best top post batteries of decent capacity
for a very fair price. Now I was making progress!
I spent that weekend buying battery cable (8 gauge) universal battery
terminals, a few large terminals (crimp type), a crimper. Heat shrink,
and other stuff.
I spent that weekend removing the spent AGM's from the front of the
truck, insulating the loose terminals, and installing the
"new" batteries in the rear battery tray. I also moved
the charging connector box to the rear.
Automotive batteries placed in rear battery compartment
After purchasing tags, I took the first drive on road with the above
layout.
The first trip was about 3 miles.
Over the next few evenings I took the truck, sometimes barely making it
home.
It seems I was getting about 7 miles of range at best.
Some of the batteries were taking quite a beating, while others were
barely getting touched. I expected the results I was
observing. The lower capacity batteries were doing the greater
amount of work, while the bigger batteries were not being discharged
much. I switched out a few of the weakest batteries--Now it was
time to take the plunge and decide on "real" batteries for the
truck.
Next
Page - New Batteries
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