Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on my situation with a
Lectra that was barely used for 4-5 years (see below).

As mentioned in August, when I first bought my Lectra it only had 32
miles on. But the fact that it was raraly used caused the batteries
not to work properly. In fact, I could only drive the Lectra for
about 2 miles at first on a full charge.

I was not very optimistic and thought I'd have to buy a new set of 4
Yellow-top batteries. But since this was pretty expensive, I
decided to wait a few months before replacing all batteries. That
paid off, big time.

I continued recharging the batteries and completely using them
before plugging the Lectra in. At first that wasn't hard: I'd come
back from work every night and drive about 2-3 miles until the
batteries were empty (I had to use the Reserve button).

Slowly, I began to get longer distances out of one charge. 5, 6, 7
miles, etc... I also began to see the lights in the SOC properly
work: one light would go out after roughly three miles, instead the
whole thing going from full to empty in a second.

Yesterday, I was able to get 14.6 miles out of the Lectra - with the
original batteries! In addtion, I can now completely trust the SOC
lights.

Great design and engineering on this baby - even after years of just
sitting in a dusty garage, the Lectra works perfectly like it is
supposed to!

Emmanuel

--- In lectra@yahoogroups.com, "Emmanuel" <news@e...> wrote:
> --- In lectra@yahoogroups.com, "Randy" <RadioRan@a...> wrote:
> > BTW, the batteries are your basic run-of the mill Yellow-top
> > Optimas. You should be able to shop the 'net for an acceptable
> > price.
> > Randy
>
> Thanks Randy, that helps. It does look like I'll need batteries.
> Although the batteries on my Lectra were never used (the Lectra
only
> had 32 miles on), it looks like sitting for 4-5 years did them no
> good...
>
> After charging the batteries, I only get 3.5 miles before all of a
> sudden the SOC goes from full to empty (last green led and red led
> blinking). I'll continue charging the batteries since there seems
> to be an improvement in the last 4 days: at first I was only
getting
> 2 miles, now 3.5, but I don't have much hope.
>
> I did a search in the group archives and found that the original
> Lectra Yellow-top Optimas were the "750"s. Does that sound right?
>
> After doing a Google on these Optimas, I found:
>
> http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/yellow_top_battery.asp
>
> Notice at the bottom that the D34/78 used to be called D750U, and
> the D34 used to be called D750S. The only difference seems to be
> the location of the terminals (the D34/78 has Top Post + GM Side,
> while the D34 only Top Post) and a small difference in weight
(42.9
> lbs vs 43.8 lbs).
>
> Should I get the D34/78 or the D34? Does it matter much? Also,
do
> these D34/78s have a good price ($129 total: $109 per battery +
> roughly $20 S&H):
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?
> ViewItem&rd=1&item=7917414147&category=33574
>
> Thanks for the help,
>
> Emmanuel