Re: Newbie:- The Optima/Flooded

[Lee Hart <leeahart@earthlink.net>]

Chris wrote:
> the Fiesta now requires a new set of batteries, so which is it to
> be... Fooded or Optimas?

Well, I wouldn't use batteries as Food... :-)

> Background info... vehicle uses 40-50 amps at 30mph... but up to 60mph
> at 250+amps and under hard acceleration will push 400amps... current
> cells are 100Ah floodeds... range 20-25 miles (fine for my use)

It sounds like you drive fast enough to discharge the pack in under an
hour. That suggests that 12v floodeds are not a good choice. They are
cheap, but perform rather poorly at high discharge currents.

You could go to Optimas, but as you say, they are expensive and wouldn't
last all that long. As an in-between option, have you considered
Concorde deep-cycle lead-acid AGMs? I have 12 Concorde GPC-1295 (12v,
95ah, 63 lbs, 12"l x 6.6"w x 7.5"h, $126.95 each) batteries in my EV,
and they are almost 3 years old and doing a good job for me.

Some people have had trouble with them; you need a proper charger for
AGMs, and they do not like high currents as well as Optimas (although
they are better than floodeds in this respect).
-- 
Lee A. Hart                Ring the bells that still can ring
814 8th Ave. N.            Forget your perfect offering
Sartell, MN 56377 USA      There is a crack in everything
leeahart_at_earthlink.net  That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen