- Joined
- Feb 20, 2013
- Messages
- 869
- Location
- Axedale, Victoria, Australia
- Website
- axerail.coffeecup.com
So far, my testing is turning out OK except for the lack of low speed gearing which I will address shortly, and a propensity for dropping the rear chain when pushing backwards if necessary for a turn that can only be completed that way. Both fixes viewed as easy when I get the time.
Another successful experiment that I need to share:
Do any of you have any sick SLA batteries? I recently discovered that my two 12V, 9AH SLAs had become more than a little sick after sitting around for a while and were not appropriately responding to charging. They were also immediately dropping to 9-10V with only 150mA of discharge current. I recalled that I had been going to try something that I had seen in a YouTube video quite a while back. This is how it turned out:
1: Carefully remove the top panel from the battery with a knife or screwdriver to reveal the rubber caps on the cells.
2: Remove the rubber caps.
3: Top up each cell with water. Yes, that's right, the video mentioned water but I would use distilled water - if I had some.
4: Replace cell caps and top panel.
5: Charge.
I didn't have any distilled water left, so I used tap water after considering I really had nothing to lose. The charging process took longer than it had recently been taking, indicating that the process may have worked. The immediate voltage drop no longer occurred and now, all looks fine again.
I do have another battery that I labelled years ago as usable (barely), plus some I was given as no longer usable that I will also try to rejuvenate. It is worth a try.
Another successful experiment that I need to share:
Do any of you have any sick SLA batteries? I recently discovered that my two 12V, 9AH SLAs had become more than a little sick after sitting around for a while and were not appropriately responding to charging. They were also immediately dropping to 9-10V with only 150mA of discharge current. I recalled that I had been going to try something that I had seen in a YouTube video quite a while back. This is how it turned out:
1: Carefully remove the top panel from the battery with a knife or screwdriver to reveal the rubber caps on the cells.
2: Remove the rubber caps.
3: Top up each cell with water. Yes, that's right, the video mentioned water but I would use distilled water - if I had some.
4: Replace cell caps and top panel.
5: Charge.
I didn't have any distilled water left, so I used tap water after considering I really had nothing to lose. The charging process took longer than it had recently been taking, indicating that the process may have worked. The immediate voltage drop no longer occurred and now, all looks fine again.
I do have another battery that I labelled years ago as usable (barely), plus some I was given as no longer usable that I will also try to rejuvenate. It is worth a try.