Batteries!

So we (read: Dad) have done some testing just using a 12v batteries, and the lights work, faults are showing up where they're supposed to, etc.

Now we need to install the safety fuses to keep the Dolphin (ie. the combo controller/inverter/charger) from accidentally blowing up in testing!

But to really test it, we have to find some batteries. We've been going round and round, getting some good advice from the fella over at the US Electricar yahoo group, and I think we've settled on an overall approach: Buy some relatively cheap batteries, but ones that are let's say 100ah or more capacity. Add to that some inexpensive regulators (like the zener regulators) and a good smart charger to make sure that we top off all the batteries relatively equally, and that's about it.

We've been thinking of getting better batteries, such as the Penn/Deka gels that are commonly used in Solectria trucks, and adding an expensive BMS (battery management system). These would likely get us better range, and for sure get us longer life. But I keep coming back to the fact that batteries are likely going to change - a lot - whether that's lithium or super capacitors or whatever. So why spend a lot of time and money on lead? Plus we could accidentally ruin them, we want to reduce our overall spend on this project, etc.

So if anyone has a line on 26-28 cheap AGM batteries with good capacity, let me know!