1 October
Drove 25.5 actual miles and used 8.47 kWh for a mileage of 3.02 miles/kWh. Apparently the dragging emergency-brake issue has been solved. I still would like to have a spring on the cables near the wheels. Last month's mileage was 2.59 miles/kWh; part of that low mileage was due to extensive use of the new desulfator during the last week, but mostly due to the dragging e-brake. Now I will only use the desulfator for overnight once a week.
- Got the motor shield from Norm Woodward and easily installed it.
- Ordered the speedometer corrector from Norm Woodward.
6 October
Went on vacation for a week. Left Sun Roper plugged in with desulfator running.
13 October
Returned from vacation. Sun Roper was not fully charged. Charged 2.60 kWh. Why?
Drove 32.3 miles to a race-car drivers shed in Christiansburg to practice loading SR in a trailer for transportation to the Green Living and Energy Expo in Roanoke on 2-3 November. Charged 30 minutes there and then for 1.5 hours in Blacksburg at the YMCA Center while I ate supper at a restaurant.
Installed a compression spring on the emergency-brake cable near the left-rear wheel to try to keep it from dragging. I could not find a spring at Lowes or Home Depot the right length (1/4"x1.5"), so I bought two 1/4"x1" ones and cut one of them in half. With some difficulty I threaded the springs onto the cable. I used a wire to compress the longest one while I threaded the shortest one:
16 October
- The desulfator was left on for 11 hours after a full charge. It then took 0.45 kWh to charge, which corresponds to 40 watts power and about 0.5 amperes current used by the desulfator.
- The left axle came in from Midwest EV, so I will have South Main Auto install it soon, as they did the right one.
18 October
After fully charging the charger was left on overnight. It used 0.16 kWh.
I loaded my new Ocean Frenzy Kayak (River Roper) on top of SR and drove to Whitethorn to paddle in a wide place on the New River. To come back I put it in the bed of SR:
I think I must have damaged my batteries when I ran them so low when the brake was dragging. I getting only 20-25 miles per charge now instead of almost 30 and I am losing power on hills sooner than I used to do.
20 October
After fully charging SR, I left the charger running for 5.5 hours and the QuiQ charger used another 0.06 kWh, which indicates that the charger uses power of about 11 watts in the "fully charged" state. Then I turned the desulfator on with the charger left on for 11 hours and the charger used another 0.11 kWh, which indicates that the charger and sulfator together uses power of about 10 watts in the "fully charged" state (which I do not understand). Then I turned the desulfator off but left the charger on for 2 hours and the charger used another 0.18 kWh for a power usage of 90 watts. Can anyone explain these numbers?