The reality is that there is not a dollar spent by the government that someone, somewhere thinks is a waste.
Large trucks have a series of batteries as well. A friend of mine has a couple of tri-axle dump trucks that carry 6 each. According to him, they are replaced every 6 years or so and get tested whenever maintenance is done.
When the name of the power generation game is profit, nobody will offer cheap power. The major purpose of regulation at the federal level is to ensure all areas of the country are serviced and not just the profitable areas (such as densely populated cities). Until the Rural Electrification Act was passed (in the 30s), only 11% of the nations farms actually had electricity.
Politicians have always been good at finding a parade and getting in front of it. Only the naïve believe that means they are leading it.
Max, I'm familiar with those truck batterys. Some makers went to just a couple huge batterys, physically sized around 24" X 30". Six cells at 12volts. Huge cranking amp capacity. My motor home on an Oshkosh bus chassie uses two of those back-breaker batterys as does our Freightliner car trailer puller and fire extinguisher service trucks. Six years is the average service life for those batterys too.
My neighbors bought a Holiday Rambler coach a couple of months ago and I counted at least three very large batteries (one by itself and two in another location) which would definitely give anyone a hernia trying to move let alone lift.
No one need ever be sorry for contributing to a forum. It is there for the purpose of discussion! mo.
Max, when I was younger and dumber, I'd put those batterys in by hand. Now I use a portable engine hoist and can still walk the next day.
Clever man, Too bad it takes us so long to get smart, ya know? I don't know about "no one", but in general you are correct.
Ain't that the truth John ? Guess that's why it's called "Age and Treachery". Kinda' like don't mess with an old man= He won't fight with ya, he'll just shoot you and be done with the problem. Ribald, all three vehicles have onboard inverters/ converters/ chargers, whatever you want to call them. Plug them in when the vehicle is not in use and they charge the batterys. Don't remember the brand names of the units but the spec sheets say they do periodicaly go thru a desulphate cycle to help prolong the battery life. Am I correct in thinking that during the charge/ discharge cycles while the vehicle is charging off the alternator - - Is that like the desulfate cycle ?
It's both. The older I get, the more I realize it. I'm amazed at how much I can accomplish with so little actual effort compared to the youthful me, who just brute forced everything. Having a machine do it for me, being able to talk someone else into doing it for me, or finding a way to not even have to do it at all are all great things I've learned through age and wisdom. It's pretty great.
When you get to retirement you really have a lot of flexibility - Most mornings I plan what I am going to do for that day up until about lunch - then I spend the afternoon deciding what I can put off until tomorrow. By then it is dinner time...
The charge/discharge cycles cause the sulfating. There are a few different methods for correction, the most common currently being to send high frequency pulses into the battery to break up the plaque or crystals that form. Sounds like you have the right kind of chargers on your batteries.
"When you get to retirement you really have a lot of flexibility - Most mornings I plan what I am going to do for that day up until about lunch - then I spend the afternoon deciding what I can put off until tomorrow. By then it is dinner time..." My biggest problem with being old is I adhere to the most useful advice of jotting down things to do, but then short term memory loss kicks in and I can't find my jottings! mo.
Looking back I can't believe how time seems to fly by. Seems like life for me speeds up as I get older. I am not retired yet, but the weekends seem to be over before I know it and I am back to work, wondering what happened to the weekend. But I have to tell Mo and I am just a newby, but I saw the Trifecta of the Classic Mustang, the classy Wife and the Classic house of stone, pretty classy stuff.
j, I don't know WTH yer talkin' about in the last part of the post, but relate totally to the first. I have found, in retirement, that the most dividends accrue from p[aying no attention to the clock or calendar. We workin' stiffs spend our lifetimes shackled to time-clocks and bosses breathing over our shoulders, often they being asshats who know far less than we in general. So, some days, I have to ask my wife what day it is! Not Old-timers' disease, just yet, 'cause I beat her in Scrabble, and can still play winning Blackjack most of the time! mo.
