The batteries were too good a deal to pass up. I got them all. Two
have
been sold at $175 and are being taken to Dan tomorrow for delivery.
I'm not sure if I'll make it to Bulli-Gras but if anyone else wants
one and
can pay (send a check/money order) I can ask Dan if he'd be willing to
deliver them at that time. Anyone who orders and sends me a check
before
Bulli-Gras can get them at $175. After that any I have left go to $200
because I'll be paying interest on the investment shortly after
that. Since
I bought them all there should be 7 left for sale after Dan gets
the two
he's already scheduled to get.
Turns out there were 18 available. I'm keeping 8 (may sell 2 of
them later
current plan is 4 for a UPS at the house and 4 for the bus -- 2 for
stereo
and 2 for other 12V aux and an inverter) and Chris (my co-worker)
gets one
because he's going to pick them up tomorrow then drive to Houston to
deliver to Dan. He already went and got 2 and brought them to me so
I could
check them out personally. They had stickers showing they had a
"topping
charge" done in MARCH 2006 -- I stuck an auto-charger on one and it
started
at 5 amps and was down to 0 amps in less than 20 minutes. Was still
holding
a full charge from almost a year ago. The specs say they have a 2 year
shelf charge life.
That leaves 9. The two going to Dan leaves 7.
My UPS at the house came with 14 amp-hour batteries and lasted
about 20
minutes under full load. These should get me up to 2 hours at full
load
and, since I don't think the things I have on it even pull half load I
should be able to run 6 or 8 hours in a power outage. 2 computers,
cable
modem, router, VOIP phone, a couple of CFL lamps.
Gerald
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:33:24 -0600 (Central Standard Time) "Gerald V.
Livingston II" <gerald.tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK, the lowest I can go is $175 regardless of how many I get (but 5
minimum).
There are 16 available right now. I want 2. Anyone else interested
email
me.
Gerald
On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:02:26 -0600 (Central Standard Time) "Gerald V.
Livingston II" <gerald.tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If I can sell 5 total I can get the price down to $175. That's
about $15
less than a Yellow Top and they are rated almost twice the
capacity of a
Yellow Top.
I'm planning to buy 2 so I need three more sold. I'll call the
guy that has
them in the morning and see how many are left. I'm sure they
won't last
long. I may go ahead and buy 5 to get the better price and sell
to those
that have emailed already at $175 then any that I have to sit on
I'll sell
at $200 later.
My "other half" here at work (Chris) has to go to Houston to get
his kids
later this week so I could probably get him to deliver to one of the
Houstonian TCB crewe to pass on to any others who buy one. If I
know who he
can meet in advance you could maybe get together and pay that
person and
they could just pay Chris when he shows up. PayPal would work too
but I've
discovered they're really slow about releasing funds back to
one's bank
account.
These are a good deal and a good way to start piecing together a
full
camping setup like Mark Sawyer's. Also a good source for an
emergency jump
if your main battery decides to bite it one night (not for use as
a daily
starting battery though, deep cycle batteries are designed for
steady drain
over several hours down to 10.5 volts or less repeatedly, starting
batteries are designed to spit out several hundred amps all at
once but
never be discharged really below 11.8 volts).
Add 12 volt inside lighting and and inverter for "primitive"
camping. Later
on, add an RV power converter/charger (an 80 amp unit can be had
on Ebay
for about $150) and anytime you have 110 available you run your
12V and A/C
accessories from that -- and charge the battery at the same time.
A plain
old battery charger can be used while you're saving for the
converter/charger but it won't really run any 12V loads, just
charge the
aux battery.
And if you're adding a "thumping" sound system then dual
batteries are
pretty much a requirement due to the ACVWs weak generator/
alternator. If
you have a sound system drawing 20 - 40 amps consistently that
only leaves
15 - 25 amps from your 55 amp generator/alternator to run
everything else
in your bus AND try to charge the main battery. When night
driving it may
not be enough. With a dual battery setup your aux battery can run
the
stereo. It may not get much charge at night but day driving (or
driving
some with the volume turned down a bit <grin>) should bring it
back up to
speed. Your main battery is never in danger of going flat
unexpectedly.
OK, I'm done extolling the virtues of a dual battery setup and
trying to
sell these to get my price down. I've been saving for a couple of
Yellow
Tops so I have the money for at least 2 set aside already. If I
can get the
lower price I may buy a 3rd for myself to put in the Bug when I
build the
sound system for it.
This isn't directed at you Eric, I'm pretty sure many people
missed my
first post because I sent it over the weekend. This is your
chance to get
in on the deal. I'll post how many are available after I call in the
morning.
Gerald
