On 9/15/2018 4:02 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 12:11:51 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:

On 9/15/18 11:56 AM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 07:22:47 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 16:16:44 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 14:32:52 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 14:04:59 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/14/2018 12:04 PM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 9/14/18 11:50 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 9/14/2018 11:43 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 9/14/18 11:28 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 9/14/2018 10:50 AM, Its Me wrote:
On Friday, September 14, 2018 at 7:47:42 AM UTC-4, John H wrote:
On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 21:34:54 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

Well, after we had to evacuate the house for nearly a week while
new hardwoods were being laid, sanded and finished,we are back in
the house today just in time for Florence. At this time the
biggest worry is power outage... the storm is down to a Cat 1,
but is moving so slowly it will dump lots of rain.Â* We're on a
hill so no worries of flooding, but power is a concern with a
well. Should have pulled the trigger on a gen, but we've briefly
lost power twice in ten years, so it hasn't been at the top of
the list. Work is 10 minutes away, and we have a huge gen,
kitchen and showers so really no big deal.Â* Plus I have about 5
ways to cook without electricity, so we are OK.

Hope anyone in the path fairs well.Â* I'll probably just spend my
time painting the newly remodeled parts.Â* All new appliances next
Tuesday!Â* Then we'll have a complete kitchen again after almost 3
months.Â* Whew!

I've heard nothing but good about this generator from the RV crowd.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3500-w...tor-63584.html


As soon as I find a buyer for my Honda 2200, I'm getting the
Predator.


Thanks, but I need 240V@30A to run the well pump.


I don't necessarily need 240v (split phase) but if my Honda ever
gives up the ghost I'll shop for one.

Speaking of the Honda ... I just pulled it out of the storage shed and
gave it three pulls.Â* Fired right up.Â* Last time it was used was last
winter when we lost power for a couple of days.Â* Still has the same
gas in it that it had then with a splash of Stabil in it.Â* I have it
running right now, trying to run it out of gas so I can use fresh gas
if and when I need it again.Â* It's just purring away on the old gas.

So much for the stories that gas goes bad in a month or two.Â* It may
lose some of it's BTU's so an engine can't develop it's full HP rating
but I see no evidence of that.Â* I put a 1500 watt space heater on it
as a load so it burns the gas faster and it runs just fine.




Ahh, you put Stabil in your generator's tank and the gas was good
enough to start up and run your generator and therefore "So much for
the stories that gas goes bad in a month or two."

Gotta love that scientific methodology.



http://funkyimg.com/i/2Le5c.jpg



Universal truth from a single observation?


Just an additional data point from the time the generator sat for five
years unused with gas in it. (again, used some Stabil). After all that
time it ran, although it took extra pulls for it to fire up.
Once running, it burned up the five year old gas with no problems.

I am in the habit of adding Stabil to the gas storage jug immediately
after I fill it with fresh gas. In that way the generator always has
treated gas and it has always fired up and run fine after long periods
of sitting (i.e. 5 years). Just my experience and only with the little
Honda generator. Works for me.

Doing the same now with the gas I use in the little scooter, based on
the luck I've had with the generator. The only difference is that the
scooter uses high test (93 octane) gas.

When it's time to put the motorcycle away for the winter, I'll do the
same for it. In fact, the owner's manual for the Suzuki specifically
says to fill the tank with fresh gas, add an appropriate amount of fuel
stabilizer (the manual recommends Stabil), run the motorcycle for a
while to distribute the treated gas throughout the fuel system including
the fuel injectors before permanently storing the motorcycle.

That is the good thing about being a regular boater. I always have
fresh gas around. My problem now is the cars. We don't drive enough
these days to keep the battery up on all 3 of them. I am not sure my
wife has been behind the wheel for a year.
I should sell one I guess.

Battery Tender works well on autos also.

===

That's what we do. Our three vehicles sit for 6 months when we are
away on the boat for the summer. Each one has its own battery tender
and they start right up when we get home. Without it the batteries
are dead and need to be replaced.

I imagine I would forget about the battery tender and drive off with
it still connected. Maybe I could get a solar panel style tho.



Pain in the ass though it is to do so, I pull the starter battery out of
my garden tractor after the last "mow," leaving the tractor in the
storage building and bringing the battery into the garage, where I hook
it up to a battery tender. Even so, the batteries in these tractors tend
to be, basically, motorcycle batteries, and they don't last more than
three years, no matter what you do, and whether they are "expensive" or
"el cheapos."

I used to get five or six years out of the battery in my old Toyota
4Runner.

I was thinking I had a new battery that went bad in my Honda this
spring until I saw the 2010 sticker on it, verified by the receipt in
my glove compartment. It was a Walmart special.



The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:31:07 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/15/2018 3:02 PM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 12:26:28 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/15/2018 9:34 AM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 18:00:09 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/14/2018 4:14 PM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 14:04:59 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/14/2018 12:04 PM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 9/14/18 11:50 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 9/14/2018 11:43 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 9/14/18 11:28 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 9/14/2018 10:50 AM, Its Me wrote:
On Friday, September 14, 2018 at 7:47:42 AM UTC-4, John H wrote:
On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 21:34:54 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

Well, after we had to evacuate the house for nearly a week while
new hardwoods were being laid, sanded and finished,we are back in
the house today just in time for Florence. At this time the
biggest worry is power outage... the storm is down to a Cat 1,
but is moving so slowly it will dump lots of rain.* We're on a
hill so no worries of flooding, but power is a concern with a
well. Should have pulled the trigger on a gen, but we've briefly
lost power twice in ten years, so it hasn't been at the top of
the list. Work is 10 minutes away, and we have a huge gen,
kitchen and showers so really no big deal.* Plus I have about 5
ways to cook without electricity, so we are OK.

Hope anyone in the path fairs well.* I'll probably just spend my
time painting the newly remodeled parts.* All new appliances next
Tuesday!* Then we'll have a complete kitchen again after almost 3
months.* Whew!

I've heard nothing but good about this generator from the RV crowd.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3500-w...tor-63584.html


As soon as I find a buyer for my Honda 2200, I'm getting the
Predator.


Thanks, but I need 240V@30A to run the well pump.


I don't necessarily need 240v (split phase) but if my Honda ever
gives up the ghost I'll shop for one.

Speaking of the Honda ... I just pulled it out of the storage shed and
gave it three pulls.* Fired right up.* Last time it was used was last
winter when we lost power for a couple of days.* Still has the same
gas in it that it had then with a splash of Stabil in it.* I have it
running right now, trying to run it out of gas so I can use fresh gas
if and when I need it again.* It's just purring away on the old gas.

So much for the stories that gas goes bad in a month or two.* It may
lose some of it's BTU's so an engine can't develop it's full HP rating
but I see no evidence of that.* I put a 1500 watt space heater on it
as a load so it burns the gas faster and it runs just fine.




Ahh, you put Stabil in your generator's tank and the gas was good
enough to start up and run your generator and therefore "So much for
the stories that gas goes bad in a month or two."

Gotta love that scientific methodology.



http://funkyimg.com/i/2Le5c.jpg



Universal truth from a single observation?


Just an additional data point from the time the generator sat for five
years unused with gas in it. (again, used some Stabil). After all that
time it ran, although it took extra pulls for it to fire up.
Once running, it burned up the five year old gas with no problems.

I am in the habit of adding Stabil to the gas storage jug immediately
after I fill it with fresh gas. In that way the generator always has
treated gas and it has always fired up and run fine after long periods
of sitting (i.e. 5 years). Just my experience and only with the little
Honda generator. Works for me.

Doing the same now with the gas I use in the little scooter, based on
the luck I've had with the generator. The only difference is that the
scooter uses high test (93 octane) gas.

When it's time to put the motorcycle away for the winter, I'll do the
same for it. In fact, the owner's manual for the Suzuki specifically
says to fill the tank with fresh gas, add an appropriate amount of fuel
stabilizer (the manual recommends Stabil), run the motorcycle for a
while to distribute the treated gas throughout the fuel system including
the fuel injectors before permanently storing the motorcycle.


Are you up in Connecticut now or down south with us racists?

Why put the bike up for the winter. There's usually a bunch of great riding days in the winter, at
least around here. I just keep it ready to go all the time.


I am still in Massachusetts, not too far from the beginning of Cape Cod.
I am not a big fan of cold weather riding. I bought the motorcycle more
as an impulse buy anyway. Might keep it, might not. We'll see.
Actually, I enjoy riding the little scooter but it's not all that
comfortable for longer rides.


I keep kicking around the scooter idea. I'd get one of these. Very comfortable for a tall guy. There
is also an extension for the windscreen. With a 650cc engine, the thing will scoot over 100mph and
is fine on the interstate.

https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/...ABS-5004031071


The inexpensive little scooter I bought is nothing like a Silverwing.
Only 150 cc and has a top speed of about 60-65 mph on a good day.
Still, it's fun to tool around with and make runs to the convenience
store. It's not comfortable enough to go much further. I bought a
color coordinated seat cushion for the seat that helps.


I've about trashed the scooter idea anyway. Scooters seem like they'd be much more convenient than
the motorcycle. But, I'd still have to put on long pants, a jacket, a helmet, and gloves, so the
convenience really wouldn't exist.



The thing I like about the little 150 cc I have is that it is super
lightweight compared to a motorcycle. It's nimble, easy to maneuver
under power or just pushing. It has a turning radius that is about half
that of the Suzuki. The Suzuki CT-50 weighs 696 lbs wet. The scooter is
just over 200 lbs.

I noticed that the Honda Silver Wing is about 550 lbs wet. To me,
although it looks like a scooter, it's weight defeats one of the main
advantages of one.

Each are made for different things.

Oh yeah. The Silverwing is more a 'touring' scooter, as opposed to a 'run around town' scooter. I'd
never checked the weight. Didn't realize it weighed that much. I've not ridden one, but when sitting
and rocking it I thought it was pretty light. A whole lot of the weight is down low, so maybe that's
why it felt nimble, as opposed to the Guzzi.

On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.



Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still
quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on
the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the
skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in
was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big
son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a
higher output alternator and a big ass battery.

Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the
Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling
the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the
boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't
a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output
ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries
over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida
when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the
boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he
never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though
because I didn't think of it either.

The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with
multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time
and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the
batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an
issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the
original charger did.

On 9/15/2018 8:43 PM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:31:07 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/15/2018 3:02 PM, John H. wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 12:26:28 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/15/2018 9:34 AM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 18:00:09 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/14/2018 4:14 PM, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 14:04:59 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 9/14/2018 12:04 PM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 9/14/18 11:50 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 9/14/2018 11:43 AM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 9/14/18 11:28 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 9/14/2018 10:50 AM, Its Me wrote:
On Friday, September 14, 2018 at 7:47:42 AM UTC-4, John H wrote:
On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 21:34:54 -0700 (PDT), Its Me
wrote:

Well, after we had to evacuate the house for nearly a week while
new hardwoods were being laid, sanded and finished,we are back in
the house today just in time for Florence. At this time the
biggest worry is power outage... the storm is down to a Cat 1,
but is moving so slowly it will dump lots of rain.Â* We're on a
hill so no worries of flooding, but power is a concern with a
well. Should have pulled the trigger on a gen, but we've briefly
lost power twice in ten years, so it hasn't been at the top of
the list. Work is 10 minutes away, and we have a huge gen,
kitchen and showers so really no big deal.Â* Plus I have about 5
ways to cook without electricity, so we are OK.

Hope anyone in the path fairs well.Â* I'll probably just spend my
time painting the newly remodeled parts.Â* All new appliances next
Tuesday!Â* Then we'll have a complete kitchen again after almost 3
months.Â* Whew!

I've heard nothing but good about this generator from the RV crowd.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3500-w...tor-63584.html


As soon as I find a buyer for my Honda 2200, I'm getting the
Predator.


Thanks, but I need 240V@30A to run the well pump.


I don't necessarily need 240v (split phase) but if my Honda ever
gives up the ghost I'll shop for one.

Speaking of the Honda ... I just pulled it out of the storage shed and
gave it three pulls.Â* Fired right up.Â* Last time it was used was last
winter when we lost power for a couple of days.Â* Still has the same
gas in it that it had then with a splash of Stabil in it.Â* I have it
running right now, trying to run it out of gas so I can use fresh gas
if and when I need it again.Â* It's just purring away on the old gas.

So much for the stories that gas goes bad in a month or two.Â* It may
lose some of it's BTU's so an engine can't develop it's full HP rating
but I see no evidence of that.Â* I put a 1500 watt space heater on it
as a load so it burns the gas faster and it runs just fine.




Ahh, you put Stabil in your generator's tank and the gas was good
enough to start up and run your generator and therefore "So much for
the stories that gas goes bad in a month or two."

Gotta love that scientific methodology.



http://funkyimg.com/i/2Le5c.jpg



Universal truth from a single observation?


Just an additional data point from the time the generator sat for five
years unused with gas in it. (again, used some Stabil). After all that
time it ran, although it took extra pulls for it to fire up.
Once running, it burned up the five year old gas with no problems.

I am in the habit of adding Stabil to the gas storage jug immediately
after I fill it with fresh gas. In that way the generator always has
treated gas and it has always fired up and run fine after long periods
of sitting (i.e. 5 years). Just my experience and only with the little
Honda generator. Works for me.

Doing the same now with the gas I use in the little scooter, based on
the luck I've had with the generator. The only difference is that the
scooter uses high test (93 octane) gas.

When it's time to put the motorcycle away for the winter, I'll do the
same for it. In fact, the owner's manual for the Suzuki specifically
says to fill the tank with fresh gas, add an appropriate amount of fuel
stabilizer (the manual recommends Stabil), run the motorcycle for a
while to distribute the treated gas throughout the fuel system including
the fuel injectors before permanently storing the motorcycle.


Are you up in Connecticut now or down south with us racists?

Why put the bike up for the winter. There's usually a bunch of great riding days in the winter, at
least around here. I just keep it ready to go all the time.


I am still in Massachusetts, not too far from the beginning of Cape Cod.
I am not a big fan of cold weather riding. I bought the motorcycle more
as an impulse buy anyway. Might keep it, might not. We'll see.
Actually, I enjoy riding the little scooter but it's not all that
comfortable for longer rides.


I keep kicking around the scooter idea. I'd get one of these. Very comfortable for a tall guy. There
is also an extension for the windscreen. With a 650cc engine, the thing will scoot over 100mph and
is fine on the interstate.

https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/...ABS-5004031071


The inexpensive little scooter I bought is nothing like a Silverwing.
Only 150 cc and has a top speed of about 60-65 mph on a good day.
Still, it's fun to tool around with and make runs to the convenience
store. It's not comfortable enough to go much further. I bought a
color coordinated seat cushion for the seat that helps.


I've about trashed the scooter idea anyway. Scooters seem like they'd be much more convenient than
the motorcycle. But, I'd still have to put on long pants, a jacket, a helmet, and gloves, so the
convenience really wouldn't exist.



The thing I like about the little 150 cc I have is that it is super
lightweight compared to a motorcycle. It's nimble, easy to maneuver
under power or just pushing. It has a turning radius that is about half
that of the Suzuki. The Suzuki CT-50 weighs 696 lbs wet. The scooter is
just over 200 lbs.

I noticed that the Honda Silver Wing is about 550 lbs wet. To me,
although it looks like a scooter, it's weight defeats one of the main
advantages of one.

Each are made for different things.

Oh yeah. The Silverwing is more a 'touring' scooter, as opposed to a 'run around town' scooter. I'd
never checked the weight. Didn't realize it weighed that much. I've not ridden one, but when sitting
and rocking it I thought it was pretty light. A whole lot of the weight is down low, so maybe that's
why it felt nimble, as opposed to the Guzzi.



One thing that surprised me about the Suzuki C-50 was that it's
wheelbase (65.2 inches) is actually longer than the Harley Ultra
Classics that I had at 63.5 inches. The C-50 is considered a
"mid-sized" bike while the Ultra Classic is "full sized" or "large"
but I think it's more to do with the engine sizes.

My brother has a 2008 Harley Road King which is basically the same frame
as the Ultra Classic. Sitting side by side, they appear to be about the
same size but the seat on the Suzuki is noticeably (by a few inches) lower.

With a smaller engine and lower seating, the center of gravity is
significantly lower, something I like. I had a couple of Harley
Softails also but I can't remember what the CG was like on them compared
to the Suzuki.

BTW, one other thing I've noticed (and something I have to be careful
about) is that the scooter feels and handles very differently than
a motorcycle. Took me a little time to get used to it. I have to
think about it a bit when I alternate riding the scooter and the
motorcycle. For some reason the motorcycle feels more natural to me.

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.



Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still
quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on
the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the
skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in
was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big
son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a
higher output alternator and a big ass battery.

Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the
Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling
the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the
boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't
a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output
ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries
over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida
when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the
boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he
never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though
because I didn't think of it either.

The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with
multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time
and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the
batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an
issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the
original charger did.


===

I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in
parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm
getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much
easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly
different but not radically.

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 13:33:48 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:


I keep kicking around the scooter idea. I'd get one of these. Very
comfortable for a tall guy. There
is also an extension for the windscreen. With a 650cc engine, the
thing will scoot over 100mph and
is fine on the interstate.

https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/...ABS-5004031071



The inexpensive little scooter I bought is nothing like a Silverwing.
Only 150 cc and has a top speed of about 60-65 mph on a good day.
Still, it's fun to tool around with and make runs to the convenience
store.* It's not comfortable enough to go much further.* I bought a
color coordinated seat cushion for the seat that helps.




Everyone loves your new scooter outfit...

https://flic.kr/p/MkRNce


You're just jealous ...

https://tinyurl.com/y8e6w6pg


===

'Airee would need a wide load sign and an escort vehicle.

On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.



Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still
quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on
the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the
skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in
was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big
son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a
higher output alternator and a big ass battery.

Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the
Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling
the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the
boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't
a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output
ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries
over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida
when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the
boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he
never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though
because I didn't think of it either.

The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with
multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time
and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the
batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an
issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the
original charger did.


===

I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in
parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm
getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much
easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly
different but not radically.


I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require
a special charger?

On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.



Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still
quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on
the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the
skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in
was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big
son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a
higher output alternator and a big ass battery.

Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the
Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling
the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the
boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't
a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output
ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries
over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida
when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the
boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he
never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though
because I didn't think of it either.

The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with
multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time
and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the
batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an
issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the
original charger did.


===

I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in
parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm
getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much
easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly
different but not radically.


I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require
a special charger?

===

They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold
cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of
their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with
a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern
chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the
voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does
not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a
newer unit.

On 9/15/2018 11:29 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 23:07:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 10:16 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 21:34:49 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/15/2018 7:43 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.



Yeah, AutoZone was kind enough to lend me some wrenches. It was still
quite a project in the parking lot though. The engine compartment on
the Superduty series Fords is pretty high and balancing yourself on the
skinny front bumper while hefting the old battery out and the new one in
was a bitch. The battery and it's replacement was a big
son of a gun because the truck had the plow package which included a
higher output alternator and a big ass battery.

Still not anything like changing the three 8D batteries in the
Navigator. Those suckers were about 150 lbs each and hauling
the old ones out of the engine room, then loading the new ones on the
boat, down the hatch and into the engine room by myself wasn't
a fun job. I had to replace them because the big, 3 output
ferro-resonant type charger that came with the boat "cooked" the batteries
over the course of about six months when I left the Navigator in Florida
when we returned to MA for the summer. I hired a guy to look after the
boat while we were gone (he scraped the bottom every month) but he
never thought to check the water in the batteries. Not his fault though
because I didn't think of it either.

The newer, high capacity, switching power supply "smart chargers" with
multiple outputs were just becoming popular and available at the time
and I replaced the original charger with one of them when I replaced the
batteries. Wasn't cheap, but neither were the batteries. Never had an
issue after that and it didn't boil off the battery water like the
original charger did.


===

I've replaced all of our 8D batteries with 2 group 31 AGMs in
parallel. They have more cold cranking amps than a single 8D. I'm
getting much better life out of them, with less maintenance, and much
easier replacement effort. The physical footprint is slightly
different but not radically.


I've noticed that AGM's have become very popular. Do they require
a special charger?

===

They are rugged, have a higher charge acceptance rate and high cold
cranking power compared to conventional lead acid batteries because of
their lower internal resistance. Ideally they should be charged with
a somewhat lower float voltage to prevent over charging. Most modern
chargers have an AGM mode setting. That said, I have not changed the
voltage regulators on my alternators, and my port side charger does
not yet have an AGM setting although I'm planning to replace it with a
newer unit.


Now that you mention it I think the new, "smart charger" I installed in
the Navigator had settings for either lead acid or AGM batteries. I
replaced the batteries with 8D lead acid. This was many years ago now
but I guess AGM type batteries must have been available then also.

The challenge at the time was finding a "smart", 3 stage charger with
three independent outputs and at a high enough current capacity. Smart
chargers had been around for a while but not many with the ratings I
needed. I forget where I got it.

The three battery configuration was one for each engine and one for the
genset but with the battery switches, you could direct battery power to
any or all if needed.

All I remember is those damn batteries were heavy suckers.