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Date:         Thu, 23 Mar 2000 12:49:17 -0500
Reply-To:     John Anderson <jander14@WVU.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Anderson <jander14@WVU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Optima Batteries
In-Reply-To:  <200003231128.AA3307733226@intrex.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

With all this talk I was wondering if anyone else has noted that Optima is now marketing through part store branded versions of the batteries as well. Autozone and Advanced both have versions just like the Optima, but frankly the NAPA version is nicer than all of them IMHO. It features side terminals with 2 sets of top terminal, so that whichever direction the thing is installed you have the option of the correct terminal orientation. This is pretty fabulous IMHO as it allows easy intallation in bays or vanagons on either side without worrying about length of wires.

On some other asides, I first saw these things back in about 1991 when they were I think just out, we used them for a robot project in mechanical engineering. Even those first batteries we used for deep discharge, and they last hundreds and hundreds of cycles. I think at that time, they were in point of fact still vented batteries but with the gelled electrolyte on the fiberglass mesh they were leak proof and installable in any direction. I believe they then went to truly sealed spiral cells with a little gas expansion room in each cell.

More interesting trivia, in the 50's whoever became Exide made (a EE friend still has a few of them) a "infinite life" car battery. Apparently it was in response to rationing during WW2, and some bright engineer got the idea to spin the lead up full of short chopped fiberglass strands from which they made the plates. My friend at the time explained to me why lead acid batteries fail (this guy is an all around super genius BTW, 65 years old, scores of patents, etc) and I think but don't recall that basically lead sulfide is bigger than lead so as a battery is discharged and charged and the little particles migrate back and forth, actual physical damage occurs to the plates, the chopped fiberglass reinforced the plates so the physical damage would not occur (as fast), and the batteries lasted with deep discharge forever essentially. He had 3 of the things, which were 6V 50's vintage batteries and he'd guessed they'd been charged 1000's of times. The reason this technology didn't persist, apparently the rest of the battery manufacturers, didn't much care for it and it didn't look good for Exide financial wise either, so a gentlemans agreement not to make them any more was reached. Anyway trivia or BS, I don't know, I know this guy had been recharging his regular akaline penlights with a little AC trickle just like "Renew" jumped on, but he's been doing it for 15 years, and I tend to believe him in a lot of things.

John jander14@wvu.edu


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