Batteries not holding charges
We have been having trouble keeping a charge on our house batteries. I have a Coacmen Freelander 29 QB. With 2 grp 24 deep cycle batteries we have to charge 2 to 3 times a day. This seems unreasonabl...
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Batteries take much more time than one hour to charge. It depends on the DC Charge voltage you are using and how much DC the batteries are allowed to draw.
The rule of thumb is you will want to have around 18-20AMPs of DC CURRENT available for each battery you are charging in your battery bank. i.e. if you hit a discharged deep cycle battery with 14.4VDC the battery will demand around 18-20AMPS of DC CURRENT from the source charger to start its re-charge mode.
Consider this report from PROGRESSIVE Dynamics on how long it takes to charge a deep cycle battery when discharged down to 10.5VDC
"Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.
14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.
13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.
13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."
This is battery charging science at play here - not many ways to get around it...
Just some of my thoughts here...
Roy Ken
The rule of thumb is you will want to have around 18-20AMPs of DC CURRENT available for each battery you are charging in your battery bank. i.e. if you hit a discharged deep cycle battery with 14.4VDC the battery will demand around 18-20AMPS of DC CURRENT from the source charger to start its re-charge mode.
Consider this report from PROGRESSIVE Dynamics on how long it takes to charge a deep cycle battery when discharged down to 10.5VDC
"Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.
14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.
13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.
13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."
This is battery charging science at play here - not many ways to get around it...
Just some of my thoughts here...
Roy Ken
