|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 00:00 |
 Pushing the Prospector
Let me just say, we probably should have topped off the batteries.
They were fresh from the factory with a good charge, but I would bet they were not at 100% full. Second, we realized that batter pack monitor we got, the PakTrakr, is not the best about giving dynamic results. I think that it is not the manufacturer's fault, but a result of the Pb-acid chemistry of the batteries. We drove around town for a little bit, then decided to go visit a friend and show him the car. He lives up a hill. Not a hill that gives most cars trouble, but our underpowered Subaru EV with a partially empty battery pack did not make it very well. Going halfway up the hill mostly drained the batts.
But we noticed that when they sat for a bit, they would recover (I think this is because the lead plates build up a bunch of sulfur on the surface, with deep discharge, which is then dissolved back into the electrolyte). Anyway, we decided to keep trying. Eventually we made it. We gave it some time to recover, took our friend around the block, then started back home. We didn't make it very far. We had a few bicyclers pass us. Finally, we decided to concede. I think we had about 26 miles on the trip odometer. We called our buddy for a tow.
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 20 November 2008 11:10 |
