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got the tires back on, the Mule is now Mobile!

The OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE TO THE STATE OF CHARGE diagram is very useful and seems to mirror what I have found in measuring the batteries.

That's interesting. So after the first time in the shop you started testing the batteries and only a couple, or three would show low (you said you replaced them in stages 2,2 then 3). I didn't really want to have to pull all the batteries out of the vehicle and haul them to the mechanic (or pay $200 roundtrip for someone to haul it) but maybe that is what I need to do. Did you happen to keep a log of the voltages? I got myself a pretty good multimeter which I have been using. Looks like we have to educate ourselves! I will try and contact Hisun down in Texas, where they assemble and test the units we get up here in Canada. Thanks very much for the PDF. Very interesting. It seems that at around -10C the batteries only have half their regular capacity. The chart shows that they should not be used under -20C. I am wondering about storing them at a low temperature as we do not have heated storage at the moment. And interesting to see that you have the same opinion of the energy gauge. I will ask what it is actually measuring. It is too bad because overall the vehicle suits our purposes well. And from the initial research I did it seemed like the batteries were of high quality. Together we will get to the bottom of this! To be continued....

Nice, I still get emails from clicking your link. There's some good deals out there. I've found some affordable 6ply tires from those emails. Before long, I'll need new tires as well.

Thank goodness we do not have really cold temps here. If one battery is defective it affect your power output. In an emergency there is something you can try. Remove the bad battery. With the power off. connect the two battery cables from the removed battery. If the other batteries are good and charged, you should have enough power to move the vehicle. I have never tried this but technically I think it would work.

I removed my right rear wheel tonight since i bought new tires to put on. I found one of my wheel studs had stretched, i torque them to 25 ft lbs when i install as the manual says to do. i went ahead and inspected all the other studs on each wheel and they're fine. Kawasaki wants anywhere from $6 to $12 per stud, but the thread size is all you need, it takes M10-1.25 stud.

Hi Osney, Since we last wrote winter has descended upon us and today it is -10C. Today my wife was out and even though the vehicle was fully charged it couldn't make it up the first hill and is in fact stranded there now after giving a new error code 4dc3 which is Power Supply Critical. Hopefully left overnight, and with weather warming up slightly, we can get the vehicle home. We have not brought the vehicle in yet as my wife wanted to do more work with it before bringing in. The service centre said to just bring in the battery in question, the one that has tested low since the beginning. Since it will cost me close to $200 to have the vehicle transported to the service centre I will start that way. I am not looking forward to removing the battery and will have to borrow an insulated torque wrench I think. I was never one of those guys who liked to fiddle around with vehicles, but you do what you have to do. As for battery charging. In the manual (which I can send if you like) it recommends charging after every use. I haven't been doing exactly that, but almost. Hope this finds you well. Regards, Howard

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house, a woman looking out her kitchen window watched the two men as the checked her meter. Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one. As they came running up to the truck, they realized that the lady from the last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her was was wrong. Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I see two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figured i'd better run too!"