There was a local chap, sadly now deceased, who would have loved to advise us ! He was a retired electrical engineer, and spent all his time inventing gadgets and experimenting. He had a Ford Escort that was powered by an American torpedo motor ! He would assume that most visitors to his house would know little or nothing on his pet subject, and when he showed me under the bonnet of his car, I surprised him by asking if the windings could be switched between being connected in parallel and in series, the system used in electric trains to obtain good performance from a standstill, switching over for higher cruising speed. I also asked him about battery life, and whether or not he prolonged their life by adding EDTA tablets to the cells, (Ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid, from memory). I instantly became a good friend instead of just another acquaintance ! I was doing my motor vehicle engineering course at the time, and so these things were all fresh in my mind, together with stuff like the sulphation that caused lead-acid batteries to fail. Sadly I don’t know anybody else with the knowledge that we need, but hopefully there will be a member who can advise us… ?
Brian
