I'm using the 555/scr set up to discharge my caps into my batteries. The hard part about this is I'm still waiting for the proper caps to use for this circuit, as it's designed, but they are still on their way in from an oversea EBAY purchase. I went and cannibalized some disposable camera's to get the caps from them, and since they are so large they take longer to charge to any decent voltage, I'm only reading about 22 to 23 volts across them, where ass the other caps where getting into the 150v range. I've already hardwired my 555 circuit so I can't easily change the timing to let the caps charge higher.

I was also testing to see if dumping the coil directly into the battery (after the rectifier of course) would change the charging. It hasn't seemed to make any difference. I've got two more batteries on the way, I'll charge them up and discharge them like you suggested to start fresh when I finish getting all my componants.

I did want to ask about discharging the batteries. I have been using small 14v lamps wired in series to discharge the batteries, they were rated at .2 amps, which I figured would give me .8 ams overall for a C20 rating (with the two 8ah batteries in parallel) But I didn't get any decent discharge until I put two of the lamps in parallel. I can't seem to measure amps on my meter, it just cuts off anything behind it so I don't get any idea of the amp usage, only the amps available. How can I calculate the exact load for discharging these batteries at a C20 rating.