On Fri, 10 May 2013 23:36:44 -0400, rickman wrote:

Just like much of the equipment on the railroad, they had
batteries in service for many, many years. I believe I was told they
would be expected to last some 20 years. They looked like car
batteries, not anything special like the huge ones they use at the phone
company. The point is that they used a trickle charge.

Presumably, those were flooded wet cell batteries, not AGM. I don't
think that will work. Flooded cells lose about 1% of their charge per
day due to self discharge. A trickle charger just can't keep up.
However, AGM only loses 1% to 3% per month, which should work well
with a trickle charger.

But then there may be differences in batteries.

Yep. Flooded versus AGM.

These were some 40 years ago and I believe
this was before they started adding small amounts of cadmium or similar
things to reduce the need for adding water, etc. Maybe trickle charging
is no longer recommended. But back then that was what the battery
makers wanted you to do to prevent damage, trickle charge.

One thing nice about trickle charging (and float charging) is that it
seems to reduce suflation.

Have you thought of contacting the company directly rather than through
the stores? I bet their web site has some good info on this.

My conspiracy theory of battery charging is that if you ask the
battery vendor how to maintain and charge their batteries, they will
direct you to the best way to kill the battery, so that you will buy
more batteries. I suspect you may do better asking the battery
charger vendors, who have a financial interest in keeping the
batteries alive.

Mo
http://batteryuniversity.com
http://www.mpoweruk.com
http://www.mpoweruk.com/chargers.htm


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558