AGM Battery Charging THE PRIME DIRECTIVE
I have gotten several communications about AGM battery maintenance. Using solar voltaic charging.
The big error I read is that the subject of total and complete recharging is not mentioned. And that is the # 1 most important mandatory requirement in AGM management.
If panels cannot do it and your electricity charger cannot do it you are condemning the battery.
The battery must be subjected to enough power to allow resistance to rise so that applying 14.4 volts across the battery...
One group 24 battery allows .4 AMP or less into the battery
Group 27 or 31 .5 amp
GC220 1.1 amp
Multiple batteries? Add each additional battery. Four golf car batteries -- 480 amp hour total = 2.2 amps maximum at 14.4 volts
Forget amo hour counting, slide rules or hocus pocus -- one half amp per hundred ampere hours at 14.4 volts. That's the battery's law not mine.
And this is a CHEMICAL matter, so time spent discharge is critical. Cycled to 50% every day is not as significant as cycling to 50% and then allowing the battery to remain at 50% level for days on end.
The CLOSER you can recover to that 1/2% flow of amperage the longer you can go without actually reaching the half percent at 14.4.
The deeper the discharge the more critical it becomes
It's exactly like radiation dosage. Accumulation is far more important than intensity or time. Only in this case it is depth of discharge and time spent at depth. A battery that is discharged to only 70% total capacity and then spending many weeks at that level is affected every bit as much as a battery that is discharged to 40% state of charge for 10 days.
But no matter what getting the battery at 14.4 volts and one half of one percent amp hour capacity amperage flow is key.
A measly 400 watt megawatt power supply can take over when your converter falls flat on it's face delivering less than 35 amps and the megawatt which is set a 14.4 volts will finish the job.
The big error I read is that the subject of total and complete recharging is not mentioned. And that is the # 1 most important mandatory requirement in AGM management.
If panels cannot do it and your electricity charger cannot do it you are condemning the battery.
The battery must be subjected to enough power to allow resistance to rise so that applying 14.4 volts across the battery...
One group 24 battery allows .4 AMP or less into the battery
Group 27 or 31 .5 amp
GC220 1.1 amp
Multiple batteries? Add each additional battery. Four golf car batteries -- 480 amp hour total = 2.2 amps maximum at 14.4 volts
Forget amo hour counting, slide rules or hocus pocus -- one half amp per hundred ampere hours at 14.4 volts. That's the battery's law not mine.
And this is a CHEMICAL matter, so time spent discharge is critical. Cycled to 50% every day is not as significant as cycling to 50% and then allowing the battery to remain at 50% level for days on end.
The CLOSER you can recover to that 1/2% flow of amperage the longer you can go without actually reaching the half percent at 14.4.
The deeper the discharge the more critical it becomes
It's exactly like radiation dosage. Accumulation is far more important than intensity or time. Only in this case it is depth of discharge and time spent at depth. A battery that is discharged to only 70% total capacity and then spending many weeks at that level is affected every bit as much as a battery that is discharged to 40% state of charge for 10 days.
But no matter what getting the battery at 14.4 volts and one half of one percent amp hour capacity amperage flow is key.
A measly 400 watt megawatt power supply can take over when your converter falls flat on it's face delivering less than 35 amps and the megawatt which is set a 14.4 volts will finish the job.
