charging capacity for larger battey banks
when you guys go to these big telecom batteries, how much charging capacity are you putting behind them ?
Forum Discussion
I have a surplus Telecom AGM battery, rated 147 AH, weighs 105#.
Max charge rate I have ever seen it take is 21 amp/hr. It is big, it is long, it is heavy, and it has very, very thick plates, that are few and far between. It is an acid rich battery, the electrolyte inside has a SG of 1.300.
If you buy one of these cheap for your RV, don't expect it to put out a lot of amps quickly, like for starting a motor, if it won't recharge quickly either. Slow and steady is their nature. So is long life, rated 10 years life.
One caveat, charge them up fully, daily. Do NOT EVER let them sit discharged any longer than is necessary, certainly not long term, permanent damage will be incurred. They need to be charged up pronto.
Respect their design and nature, and they will treat you well, neglect them, and they'll be on the recycle heap of batteries a lot sooner rather than later.
It will be slow going every 7 to 10 days to get them fully charged again, taking .2 amps or less at 13.5-13.6V in my case, but it is critical you do so, especially before storing them away.
This Telecom battery is one of those quirky ones. Take notes, watch what it does when it charges and watch what it does when it stops charging too, while still on the charger... get a RC watt meter in line while charging, and you'll soon enough know exactly how fully charged it is.
Fully charged, and then left to sit 72 hours to lose the surface charge, my battery sees 12.92 to 12.94V in storage, completely disconnected. 1x a week, I turn on the MegaWatt at about 13.52V setting with a 10 turn pot rheostat, and when my RC Wattmeter says I have a charge rate of 0.13 amps per hour rate, I shut the charger off again.
Max charge rate I have ever seen it take is 21 amp/hr. It is big, it is long, it is heavy, and it has very, very thick plates, that are few and far between. It is an acid rich battery, the electrolyte inside has a SG of 1.300.
If you buy one of these cheap for your RV, don't expect it to put out a lot of amps quickly, like for starting a motor, if it won't recharge quickly either. Slow and steady is their nature. So is long life, rated 10 years life.
One caveat, charge them up fully, daily. Do NOT EVER let them sit discharged any longer than is necessary, certainly not long term, permanent damage will be incurred. They need to be charged up pronto.
Respect their design and nature, and they will treat you well, neglect them, and they'll be on the recycle heap of batteries a lot sooner rather than later.
It will be slow going every 7 to 10 days to get them fully charged again, taking .2 amps or less at 13.5-13.6V in my case, but it is critical you do so, especially before storing them away.
This Telecom battery is one of those quirky ones. Take notes, watch what it does when it charges and watch what it does when it stops charging too, while still on the charger... get a RC watt meter in line while charging, and you'll soon enough know exactly how fully charged it is.
Fully charged, and then left to sit 72 hours to lose the surface charge, my battery sees 12.92 to 12.94V in storage, completely disconnected. 1x a week, I turn on the MegaWatt at about 13.52V setting with a 10 turn pot rheostat, and when my RC Wattmeter says I have a charge rate of 0.13 amps per hour rate, I shut the charger off again.
