Absorbed Glass Mat Battery Management Nuggets
Absorbed Glass Mat Battery Management Tips
• I do not live in an ideal world. Battery manual writers live in an ideal world. Technical perfection. Testing and battery management according to rote. This conflicts greatly with the reality that exists in my world. I need my battery to perform. Without it I would have no lighting, no Bi-Pap therapy, and perhaps be stuck in a pitch-black room, ninety degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. So my battery is not for recreation. Without it, more than a vacation gets ruined.
• A hurricane here can knock power offline for days, even a week or longer. In this country power crews commonly rig emergency temporary transmission lines and try to supply an hour or two’s worth of utility service. This means an opportunity for me to try and stuff as much recharging into a depleted battery as possible. But isn’t that sort of like running a generator to recharge an AGM battery bank while on vacation? Some folks can tolerate endless buzzing and fumes from operating a generator – I cannot. And forget solar panel recharging. Thick storm clouds can block 80% of the energy needed to fully energize a solar cell. I do not have ten thousand dollars to erect a giant solar field array to compensate for an 80% loss in panel delivery. Last year hurricane Patricia came ashore packing wind gusts of 225 MPH (NOAA and NWS certified data). Luckily Patricia landed 250 miles to the north. To withstand this violence, a solar array would need to be embedded in concrete and shielded with three inches of transparent Lexan. This makes an otherwise unattainable goal of solar energy battery charging “fully” utterly absurd.
• I have a depleted group 31 AGM battery and an hour (or so) to do something about it. What is the wisest course of action? To be blunt – jam as much energy into the battery as is safe and rational.
• Lucky for me an AGM battery is designed and constructed to have a recharging limitation that has only two limit parameters. Voltage and temperature. The absorbed glass mat battery does not like voltage in excess of 14.4 volts for day-in and day-out recharging, and it greatly prefers to live in an environment of 120F or less. Bingo! Apply 14.4 volts across the battery terminals. Big surprise. An AGM does not act like a Wal-Mart deep cycle battery. Upwards of fifty amps will flow with a sustained voltage of 14.4 volts. My Concorde Lifeline accepts 96-amperes to start off with. This means with a large enough charger (to maintain a constant voltage 14.4 volts), battery fast-recharging time can be ONE FIFTH that of a standard RV battery, golf car battery or scrubber flooded battery. AGM batteries can recharge much quicker than any flooded battery. Regardless of brand. Regardless of model of AGM battery. The time advantage is anything but subtle.
• Some folks wonder if “their” special-purpose Telecom, or UPS AGM battery may somehow differ. The proof is in the manufacturer’s recommended absorbsion voltage value. If the manufacturer recommends 14.4 volts, then the battery can withstand full 14.4 volts from the moment the charge cycle begins until the magic <1% amperage of total bank amp hour capacity arrives. The point at which the battery should default to maintenance float voltage and stay there.
• Why do some specialty battery manufacturers clearly state a charge “C” formula? It’s because the manufacturer lives in a perfect world, and calculates theoretically perfect recharge values to squeeze that extra 2% or so battery lifespan increase out of its product. A Telecomm battery may get called upon to deliver energy. But wait! Its recovery cycle is stable and continuous electrical recharging power that will be available for days –weeks – months. It would be the height of folly to not predicate a “perfect” recharging formula based on these ideals. When a Telecomm customer uses six thousand batteries, 2% does indeed matter – sixty tons of shiny new pennies would “matter” as well. Get the picture? Only a foolish manufacturer is going to tell a Telecomm customer one thing and a single purchase customer another. As far as the manufacturer is concerned, the Telecomm recommendation becomes rote law. The company applications engineer isn’t going to go “psst you can get away with”. Corporate heresy. Pink Slip. Tar & Feathers.
• Prove whether or not this concept is valid yourself. Charge your battery at a constant manufacturer’s recommended absorbsion voltage limit. If it takes thirty amperes, so be it. If like me with both Lifelines more than 200 amperes, fine. Do it. Don’t let visions of “C” values cloud this formula. If you can reach maximum absorbsion voltage limit instantly – do it.
• Your “B.S. Detector” is an instrument. An infra-red thermal “digital” thermometer. This instrument is extremely reasonable price-wise. It can delineate temperature to one degree. As you max charge your battery, scan both the positive and then the negative battery posts. It is they and not the plastic jar that’s going to tell you what’s going on inside the battery. Scanning the cells via the case will tell you if there is a difference in temperature between cells. If a difference in temperature between cells is noticed, stop the charging. Something is and has been wrong with that battery all along. It has a bad cell and a bad cell will have a higher temperature than the good cells. By charging at a maximum rate you just found a problem the easy way.
• As the battery deals with 14.4 volts the temperature of the battery posts is going to slowly but surely increase. With no cables connected, the temperature of both posts should be relatively the same (why would they not be?). If by chance both battery post temperatures approach 110F, back the charging amperage off or shut the charger off. Reaching 110F on a 100F days is not impossible so don’t get excited if it does. Simply stop the recharge and let things cool off.
• The boogie-man under the bed is frightening stories about “overcharging” and “venting” and “thermal runaway” (let’s see – did I miss anything?). If you simply must have your hair stand on end while following this recipe closely, I recommend having a copy of a Thomas Harris, Hannibal The Cannibal, book on hand and read it. If your battery swallows 31 amps at 14.4 volts, so be it, that’s life. Your battery will be satisfied – your adrenal glands will get a workout and everyone goes home happy (and turns the lights on all night).
• Your job is to scan the battery occasionally with your IR temperature gun, make sure your power source does not exceed 14.4 volts and then suspend charging once amperage flow sags to 1% of total bank amp hour capacity.
• Now that your proof-testing is finished, you can stow the IR gun. But use common sense here – please! If you can connect to public power just make sure to recharge your battery bank at a minimum charge rate of 20% of rated amp hour capacity. For me and the 31 Lifeline, it means twenty percent of ninety amp hours, 18 amperes or more STARTING OFF current. But while connected to public power it would be silly to maintain a maximum charge limit recharge. Like living off high calorie, high fat C-rations while living next to a grocery store.
• An AGM is a forgiving battery up to a point. Even when mistreated they manage an impressive lifespan. Those who chortle “I charged my AGMs low and slow and they lasted eight years” I wonder how long they would have lasted if they were treated correctly, hmmm…? And don’t draw the living room drapes in the chance an asteroid may come flying through the window. Remember, rumor, unfounded opinions, and hyperbole rule the internet and especially chat forums. Disprove mental garbage and take advantage of reality. You will sorely disappoint every alarmist out there.
• If you have been conned into believing an AGM battery cannot be used for chassis/automotive use, it’s time to put that myth to bed- preferably a bed upside down over the Grand Canyon. Low antimony batteries survive under-hood. High antimony batteries do not. Most chassis batteries are 1% antimony. AGM batteries are 0.00% antimony. Just about every fire engine, ambulance, and emergency vehicle in the USA has an AGM battery under the hood. Go to Sears. See all the BCI battery sizes for use with a car? Telephone an AGM battery manufacturer. Offer a thousand dollar reward for battery manufacturer warnings against using an AGM battery under the hood. Go to 120F summer Phoenix and run up and down the streets yelling “You can’t do that!” Run in circles. Tear out your hair. You are ready to believe in area 51, the third bullet, sasquatch, and any available conspiracy theory that comes along. When the cops and boys in white coats come to get you. Run away quick! Pop the hood on those cop cars and wire cage nut-mobile. Stare at the AGM batteries. Then start strumming your lower lip with a fore-finger.
• I do not live in an ideal world. Battery manual writers live in an ideal world. Technical perfection. Testing and battery management according to rote. This conflicts greatly with the reality that exists in my world. I need my battery to perform. Without it I would have no lighting, no Bi-Pap therapy, and perhaps be stuck in a pitch-black room, ninety degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. So my battery is not for recreation. Without it, more than a vacation gets ruined.
• A hurricane here can knock power offline for days, even a week or longer. In this country power crews commonly rig emergency temporary transmission lines and try to supply an hour or two’s worth of utility service. This means an opportunity for me to try and stuff as much recharging into a depleted battery as possible. But isn’t that sort of like running a generator to recharge an AGM battery bank while on vacation? Some folks can tolerate endless buzzing and fumes from operating a generator – I cannot. And forget solar panel recharging. Thick storm clouds can block 80% of the energy needed to fully energize a solar cell. I do not have ten thousand dollars to erect a giant solar field array to compensate for an 80% loss in panel delivery. Last year hurricane Patricia came ashore packing wind gusts of 225 MPH (NOAA and NWS certified data). Luckily Patricia landed 250 miles to the north. To withstand this violence, a solar array would need to be embedded in concrete and shielded with three inches of transparent Lexan. This makes an otherwise unattainable goal of solar energy battery charging “fully” utterly absurd.
• I have a depleted group 31 AGM battery and an hour (or so) to do something about it. What is the wisest course of action? To be blunt – jam as much energy into the battery as is safe and rational.
• Lucky for me an AGM battery is designed and constructed to have a recharging limitation that has only two limit parameters. Voltage and temperature. The absorbed glass mat battery does not like voltage in excess of 14.4 volts for day-in and day-out recharging, and it greatly prefers to live in an environment of 120F or less. Bingo! Apply 14.4 volts across the battery terminals. Big surprise. An AGM does not act like a Wal-Mart deep cycle battery. Upwards of fifty amps will flow with a sustained voltage of 14.4 volts. My Concorde Lifeline accepts 96-amperes to start off with. This means with a large enough charger (to maintain a constant voltage 14.4 volts), battery fast-recharging time can be ONE FIFTH that of a standard RV battery, golf car battery or scrubber flooded battery. AGM batteries can recharge much quicker than any flooded battery. Regardless of brand. Regardless of model of AGM battery. The time advantage is anything but subtle.
• Some folks wonder if “their” special-purpose Telecom, or UPS AGM battery may somehow differ. The proof is in the manufacturer’s recommended absorbsion voltage value. If the manufacturer recommends 14.4 volts, then the battery can withstand full 14.4 volts from the moment the charge cycle begins until the magic <1% amperage of total bank amp hour capacity arrives. The point at which the battery should default to maintenance float voltage and stay there.
• Why do some specialty battery manufacturers clearly state a charge “C” formula? It’s because the manufacturer lives in a perfect world, and calculates theoretically perfect recharge values to squeeze that extra 2% or so battery lifespan increase out of its product. A Telecomm battery may get called upon to deliver energy. But wait! Its recovery cycle is stable and continuous electrical recharging power that will be available for days –weeks – months. It would be the height of folly to not predicate a “perfect” recharging formula based on these ideals. When a Telecomm customer uses six thousand batteries, 2% does indeed matter – sixty tons of shiny new pennies would “matter” as well. Get the picture? Only a foolish manufacturer is going to tell a Telecomm customer one thing and a single purchase customer another. As far as the manufacturer is concerned, the Telecomm recommendation becomes rote law. The company applications engineer isn’t going to go “psst you can get away with”. Corporate heresy. Pink Slip. Tar & Feathers.
• Prove whether or not this concept is valid yourself. Charge your battery at a constant manufacturer’s recommended absorbsion voltage limit. If it takes thirty amperes, so be it. If like me with both Lifelines more than 200 amperes, fine. Do it. Don’t let visions of “C” values cloud this formula. If you can reach maximum absorbsion voltage limit instantly – do it.
• Your “B.S. Detector” is an instrument. An infra-red thermal “digital” thermometer. This instrument is extremely reasonable price-wise. It can delineate temperature to one degree. As you max charge your battery, scan both the positive and then the negative battery posts. It is they and not the plastic jar that’s going to tell you what’s going on inside the battery. Scanning the cells via the case will tell you if there is a difference in temperature between cells. If a difference in temperature between cells is noticed, stop the charging. Something is and has been wrong with that battery all along. It has a bad cell and a bad cell will have a higher temperature than the good cells. By charging at a maximum rate you just found a problem the easy way.
• As the battery deals with 14.4 volts the temperature of the battery posts is going to slowly but surely increase. With no cables connected, the temperature of both posts should be relatively the same (why would they not be?). If by chance both battery post temperatures approach 110F, back the charging amperage off or shut the charger off. Reaching 110F on a 100F days is not impossible so don’t get excited if it does. Simply stop the recharge and let things cool off.
• The boogie-man under the bed is frightening stories about “overcharging” and “venting” and “thermal runaway” (let’s see – did I miss anything?). If you simply must have your hair stand on end while following this recipe closely, I recommend having a copy of a Thomas Harris, Hannibal The Cannibal, book on hand and read it. If your battery swallows 31 amps at 14.4 volts, so be it, that’s life. Your battery will be satisfied – your adrenal glands will get a workout and everyone goes home happy (and turns the lights on all night).
• Your job is to scan the battery occasionally with your IR temperature gun, make sure your power source does not exceed 14.4 volts and then suspend charging once amperage flow sags to 1% of total bank amp hour capacity.
• Now that your proof-testing is finished, you can stow the IR gun. But use common sense here – please! If you can connect to public power just make sure to recharge your battery bank at a minimum charge rate of 20% of rated amp hour capacity. For me and the 31 Lifeline, it means twenty percent of ninety amp hours, 18 amperes or more STARTING OFF current. But while connected to public power it would be silly to maintain a maximum charge limit recharge. Like living off high calorie, high fat C-rations while living next to a grocery store.
• An AGM is a forgiving battery up to a point. Even when mistreated they manage an impressive lifespan. Those who chortle “I charged my AGMs low and slow and they lasted eight years” I wonder how long they would have lasted if they were treated correctly, hmmm…? And don’t draw the living room drapes in the chance an asteroid may come flying through the window. Remember, rumor, unfounded opinions, and hyperbole rule the internet and especially chat forums. Disprove mental garbage and take advantage of reality. You will sorely disappoint every alarmist out there.
• If you have been conned into believing an AGM battery cannot be used for chassis/automotive use, it’s time to put that myth to bed- preferably a bed upside down over the Grand Canyon. Low antimony batteries survive under-hood. High antimony batteries do not. Most chassis batteries are 1% antimony. AGM batteries are 0.00% antimony. Just about every fire engine, ambulance, and emergency vehicle in the USA has an AGM battery under the hood. Go to Sears. See all the BCI battery sizes for use with a car? Telephone an AGM battery manufacturer. Offer a thousand dollar reward for battery manufacturer warnings against using an AGM battery under the hood. Go to 120F summer Phoenix and run up and down the streets yelling “You can’t do that!” Run in circles. Tear out your hair. You are ready to believe in area 51, the third bullet, sasquatch, and any available conspiracy theory that comes along. When the cops and boys in white coats come to get you. Run away quick! Pop the hood on those cop cars and wire cage nut-mobile. Stare at the AGM batteries. Then start strumming your lower lip with a fore-finger.
