Another AGM conditioning question
This is my chassis battery, an agm I got used and have little experience with. Trickle charger failed in storage, it is dead as a doornail. Not covenient to babysit it for long hours on meanwell or...
Forum Discussion
I use my Meanwell rsp-500-15 as a converter, as a top charger, equalizer, portable charger, float charger, conditioner, everything.
Rated at 500 watts it will output over 600, all day long, but I have added ventilation and heatsinking to it, along with a better voltage adjustment Potentiometer.
After all the stressing over which converter to get, which charger can match and best do the job of actually charging any given battery, the Meanwell is by far the simplest, and it is not Automatic.
Twist a dial while watching a digital voltmeter to set it to the correct absorption voltage unloaded, plug it in, thgen some time later, watch an ammeter until amps taper to the specified amperage.
It really is that simple, and with it, and the knowledge gained over the years, I am getting the best cycle per dollar of any battery yet, and it is a 340$ battery with tax.
The MEanwell mocks my Amp hour counter. My amp hour counter and my ignorance, is responsible for me killing several sets of previous batteries quite prematurely. This was because I did not have it set to hold absorption voltage for long enough.
It sounds like Smittys battery monitors installed a false confidence while allowing the very capable programmable charger, into chronically undercharging the very expensive batteries.
All my previous short lived batteries, my AH counting battery monitor loved to say 0Ah from full and 100% state of charge, and gave me warm and fuzzies until the day i saw 20Ah from full and 11.9v under a 2 amp load, and knew I had been lied to.
I blamed the batteries, I blamed this that and the other thing. My ignorance and confidence in the battery monitor display were responsible.
The Screwy 31, when new, I was determined to get a lot of cycles out of it, but 3 weeks in I saw horrible voltage for the Ah removed.
Finally broke down and got a good enough hydrometer, and saw 1.220 when the battery monitor was screaming green 100%, 0Ah from full.
Ah Haaa!
I found that Absorption voltage needed to be higher, and held longer, much longer, and regular equalization charges of 16v were required basically every 15 deep cycles.
Compared to keeping the Screwy31 battery happy, the Northstar AGm is simple. but the screwy31 still lives on the floor of my Workshop, shallowly cycled and now seeing 2 hours of absorption every day via solar.
The AGM is easy in comparison to the screwy31. Bring it to absorption voltage, hold it until amps taper to 0.5%, and when voltage held for AH removed seems lower than it should, depleted it to 50% or below and give it as much amperage as I possibly can to Absorption voltage, and hold it as long as required for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity and 'It's back baby!'
I am likely approaching the 750 Deep cycle range over 51 months, and at least a hundred of those cycles are to well below 50%. I can tell the battery is degrading. It does not crank the engine quite as fast, and the voltage it holds during engine cranking is not as high, and recently it falls enough that my stereo shuts off during engine cranking, but by no means does it struggle to start my engine, even depleted 65 of its original 90Ah capacity, at least in Southern California's coastal mild temperatures.
However, overnight voltages will still quickly rebound to over 12.2v under a 0.6 amp load with 45Ah removed from it in 5 to 6 hours, well over the 4.5 amp average rate at which it earned its 90AH rating.. If I could not apply that 140 amp starter load watching a voltmeter, I would not be able to notice any degradation, other than the extended absorption times required.
It now takes much longer for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity, compared to when it had 200 deep cycles on it.
Guess what would happen if I could not get to and hold absorption voltage for as long as required? The battery would be recycled and I would have spent money I did not yet need to spend.
I'm probably going to get a 18AH high rate chinese AGM, just for the day that the single battery struggles to start my engine, sometime in the future, but I am not replacing this battery any time soon not until 6+ hours of absorption are required each and every recharge, or it shorts a cell, or behaves like Smittys batteries.
Rated at 500 watts it will output over 600, all day long, but I have added ventilation and heatsinking to it, along with a better voltage adjustment Potentiometer.
After all the stressing over which converter to get, which charger can match and best do the job of actually charging any given battery, the Meanwell is by far the simplest, and it is not Automatic.
Twist a dial while watching a digital voltmeter to set it to the correct absorption voltage unloaded, plug it in, thgen some time later, watch an ammeter until amps taper to the specified amperage.
It really is that simple, and with it, and the knowledge gained over the years, I am getting the best cycle per dollar of any battery yet, and it is a 340$ battery with tax.
The MEanwell mocks my Amp hour counter. My amp hour counter and my ignorance, is responsible for me killing several sets of previous batteries quite prematurely. This was because I did not have it set to hold absorption voltage for long enough.
It sounds like Smittys battery monitors installed a false confidence while allowing the very capable programmable charger, into chronically undercharging the very expensive batteries.
All my previous short lived batteries, my AH counting battery monitor loved to say 0Ah from full and 100% state of charge, and gave me warm and fuzzies until the day i saw 20Ah from full and 11.9v under a 2 amp load, and knew I had been lied to.
I blamed the batteries, I blamed this that and the other thing. My ignorance and confidence in the battery monitor display were responsible.
The Screwy 31, when new, I was determined to get a lot of cycles out of it, but 3 weeks in I saw horrible voltage for the Ah removed.
Finally broke down and got a good enough hydrometer, and saw 1.220 when the battery monitor was screaming green 100%, 0Ah from full.
Ah Haaa!
I found that Absorption voltage needed to be higher, and held longer, much longer, and regular equalization charges of 16v were required basically every 15 deep cycles.
Compared to keeping the Screwy31 battery happy, the Northstar AGm is simple. but the screwy31 still lives on the floor of my Workshop, shallowly cycled and now seeing 2 hours of absorption every day via solar.
The AGM is easy in comparison to the screwy31. Bring it to absorption voltage, hold it until amps taper to 0.5%, and when voltage held for AH removed seems lower than it should, depleted it to 50% or below and give it as much amperage as I possibly can to Absorption voltage, and hold it as long as required for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity and 'It's back baby!'
I am likely approaching the 750 Deep cycle range over 51 months, and at least a hundred of those cycles are to well below 50%. I can tell the battery is degrading. It does not crank the engine quite as fast, and the voltage it holds during engine cranking is not as high, and recently it falls enough that my stereo shuts off during engine cranking, but by no means does it struggle to start my engine, even depleted 65 of its original 90Ah capacity, at least in Southern California's coastal mild temperatures.
However, overnight voltages will still quickly rebound to over 12.2v under a 0.6 amp load with 45Ah removed from it in 5 to 6 hours, well over the 4.5 amp average rate at which it earned its 90AH rating.. If I could not apply that 140 amp starter load watching a voltmeter, I would not be able to notice any degradation, other than the extended absorption times required.
It now takes much longer for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity, compared to when it had 200 deep cycles on it.
Guess what would happen if I could not get to and hold absorption voltage for as long as required? The battery would be recycled and I would have spent money I did not yet need to spend.
I'm probably going to get a 18AH high rate chinese AGM, just for the day that the single battery struggles to start my engine, sometime in the future, but I am not replacing this battery any time soon not until 6+ hours of absorption are required each and every recharge, or it shorts a cell, or behaves like Smittys batteries.
