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Old 04-27-2009, 06:03 PM   #1128 (permalink)
bennelson
EV test pilot
 
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Oconomowoc, WI, USA
Posts: 4,435

Electric Cycle - '81 Kawasaki KZ440
90 day: 334.6 mpg (US)

S10 - '95 Chevy S10
90 day: 30.48 mpg (US)

Electro-Metro - '96 Ben Nelson's "Electro-Metro"
90 day: 129.81 mpg (US)

The Wife's Car - Plug-in Prius - '04 Toyota Prius
90 day: 78.16 mpg (US)
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I took the Metro out for a trip today that I usually would have used the truck for due to range.

The location is almost exactly 10 miles away - each direction - for a 20 mile round trips.

I figured it should be no problem, because I once went 23 miles on the 6-battery pack last summer. With 12 batteries, I should be able to go, what, 30 to 40 miles?

I stopped at a few places on the way out, including the local "Members Only" golf course.

I had a long conversion there a while back with the head maintenance guy, Smokey, a while back. I was trying to locate a lead of batteries or a used charger at the time.

I stopped in and showed him the car. Overall he was very impressed. He actually invited me to stop back sometime once I had all the "spit & polish on it" to show to club members!

Anywho, I drove off to where I was going, and on the way back, my batteries really started to take a dive right around 15 miles or travel.

15!!?!!? What's going on!? I still had 5 more miles to get home.
I took it real slow to minimize amperage.

I was planning on stopping at the grocery store anyways, so I plugged in there while I shopped for about ten minutes.

When I came out, the charger indicated 3/4 full!
Huh? What's going on? I know I can't get 3/4 of a full charge from a 15 amp outlet in ten minutes!

All I can figure is that the batteries are imbalanced enough from each other that it's causing the charger to not properly fill them back up.

Having USED batteries may be a really good reason to have individual chargers instead of a single high-voltage one.
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