*A heavy electrolytic cap near the second battery might keep* * the voltage up enough to pulse-charge the second battery. I'd use something like 10,000+ Mfd at 25vdc or so, then make the pulses 1/3 to 1/4 duty cycle, which will allow the cap voltage to charge back up during the off interval.* -> Solar pulse charging advice sounds good. Pedantic nit-picking: I take it that 10,000 Mfd =3D =3D 10,000 micro-Farad. Olin's head would probably explode on that one :-). He loves to take mF as milli Farad when people write that and proceed as if they meant it. I'd take MF as mega-Farad. I tend to use uF for micro-Farad, as it's generally well understood - but of course that is informal. In this case Olin's 10,000 mF =3D 10F is realisable albeit expensive at 25V= , so is an unlikely but possible interpretation. 20 of these in series (with balancing) at about $200 :-) http://www.maxwell.com/products/ultracapacitors/docs/datasheet_d_cells_1017= 105.pdf Russell --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .