Re: Automotive posts vs. "L" terminals (was: RE: US Battery US8VGC-HC Questions)

["David Roden (Akron OH USA)" <roden@ald.net>]

On 15 Jan 2002 at 14:55, Bob Rice wrote:

> After that operation we
> melt down the "L's" to salvage the nice stainless Steel bolt for other
> uses 

Hold on there!  

I think we're not talking about the same thing.  It sounds like you are 
talking not about L posts, but rather about the hated universal posts, an 
automotive style post with a bolt sticking up out of it.  You may be 
calling these L posts because they often are offset, for some reason.

Universal posts are widely used on golf cars.  The bolts are OK for EVs 
with 400 amp controllers (I've used them quite successfully in that 
application).  But for higher current applications they are not very 
stable (and they make the batteries taller, a disadvantage).  The best 
way to use them is to carefully whack the bolt off with a bolt cutter or 
hacksaw, grind smooth, and use an auto-type clamp connector.

 L posts are not round!  They are completely ~flat~ on both sides and 
perhaps 3-5mm thick.  They don't have bolts in them, rather they have a 
hole drilled through them horizontally to which you can bolt up your lug 
with whatever hardware you choose (stainless steel bolts and dish-shaped 
washers). 

They are not offset!  They stick right up from the point where the post 
goes through the battery top.  Look at the typical garden tractor 
starting battery for a miniature version of L posts.

True L-posts do not have any rounded section.  You can't put automotive 
clamps on true L-posts.  I don't recall what the rounded ones with holes 
through them are called, the ones on which you ~can~ use automotive 
clamps -- I think "marine posts" or some such -- but I don't much like 
them.  The contact area is less than true L posts for lugs, and less than 
auto posts for auto clamp types.  But they are probably better than the 
universal type. 

L-posts accept lugs directly and, in my experience, work nicely at any 
current that road EVs are likely to use.


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David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
1991 Solectria Force 144vac
1991 Ford Escort Green/EV 128vdc
1979 General Engines ElectroPed 24vdc
1970 GE Elec-trak E15 36vdc
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