From: dannyb@panix.com
In <90nns95aq8lmsr9tlhui5l0sb32ft2isar@4ax.com> Neon John
writes:
>On Sun, 20 Jul 2014 14:25:52 +0000 (UTC), danny burstein
> wrote:
>One other comment. At 2+ years (no idea how long the unit was used by
>the previous owner), the batteries are probably nearly shot. A new
>battery set seems to be in order.
I replaced two of them last year and then, due to a fire (see below)
that destroyed the others, I swapped them as well.
I could probably get about a half hour out of them nowadays but
my own back and leg issues limit me to 10 minutes, so that works
out well.
- Pushing a lawn mower (at least over level ground) is just
about perfect for keeping my back and leg from locking up. I can
lean into it, there's just the right resistance, the vibration
helps, too...
Anyway, in regards to the fire: The series wiring (6 inch or
so cables) between the batteries uses... slip on/friction tabs.
A lawnmower is the poster child for a vibrating platform.
One of the wires (well, the others, too..) came loose enough
that it was sparking at the battery tab. I didn't realize
this was happening or how bad it was until...
.. until I turned it off for a bit to remove the collector
bag and dump it out. I turned back around and there was
a small fire coming through the plastic top of the unit.
I carefully (yes, I even had goggles...) moved it aside
and saw that the corners of two batteries had light flames
on them.
I was able to put it out... inspected things very carefully,
replaced the two batteries and the burnt out wiring,
and everything was and has been fine.
Except that... there was one "extra" wire just sticking
out. I couldn't figure out where it should go, so capped
it and tried my luck. The unit worked and charged fine.
In another thread over at alt.home.repair dealing with
a plug in electric lawn mower.. someone mentioned that
these would be used to (when the mower gets shut
down) to redirect electron flow, so to speak, turn
the motor into a generator, and just about instantly
stop the mower blade.
And sure enough, when I saw that I realized my unit
was now "free wheeling" quite a bit longer than in
the past. By "quite a bit" I mean 10 or so seconds,
so for now I'm living with it. One of these days
I'll try to figure out where that wire should go.
http://www.dburstein.com/images/battery-fire.png
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
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