Charging the Lifelines questions
As you all know, anything more than clipping the auto charger onto a battery is well above my pay grade, so I have some questions. For the regular charge before the conditioning charge, the Lifelin...
Forum Discussion
Those figures I submitted are for a 50% discharged AGM ready to be recharged. For regular recharging at >50% remaining, just keep the voltage limited to 14.4
The weird and wacky fetish by an AGM to eat with a ladle or suffer becomes more sensitive the lower the charge status becomes. It is less sensitive at 80% but the ability to fulfill 14.4 volts is easier to achieve. Hmmm I should put this in clearer text...
When the charger is in BULK mode, trying it's little heart out but unable to raise voltage to 14.4 then the 50 amp minimum applies. Per battery. Weird capillary circulation. Yet another point about Lifeline, they use proprietary glass mat with much finer fibers than run-of-the-mill AGMs. The enhanced circulation is yet another reason why that battery can be charged at such a high rate. And for general message - no that does not affect charging or float voltages, only receptivity.
As far as conditioning is concerned, it is absolutely not de riguer to massage these critters with extremely high voltages. Period. The battery has to be PROVEN to have lost capacity before extremes are employed.***
At conditioning values, the AGM will vent. No question. Use a SIX HUNDRED WATT rated DROK DC to DC booster as found on Amazon. Set the voltage while booster is connected to the Megawatt. The booster must have a fan played across the heatsink to endure this power level.
I would ALWAYS first try using an amp hour meter, a Megawatt and timer to recover a sulfated AGM. Set the Mega on 15.0 volts, note the amperage and when amperage decreases to 1% or around 2.5 amperes, terminate the desulfation. Wait 24 hours and repeat. Note accumulated ampere hours. The second time around accumulated amp hours should be half or less than what was recorded in the first session.
I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how important it is to establish your own written baseline of amperes, amp hours, and voltage Trends & Tendencies when the battery is brand new. This baseline saves you from pulling your hair out trying to calcu-guess the state of the battery later on in it's life.
Even such mundane testing as fully charging the battery, waiting 48-hours and taking a standing at rest voltage reading has meaning. A battery impedance meter like Sold at Harbor Fright, is also a useful management tool. Take a new battery baseline reading. Then compare it to subsequent tests.
Now you see why I still am fond of flooded batteries, and a hydrometer. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
***The gentle renovation should be termed CONDITIONING
The hard core high voltage repair should be termed RECOVERY
The weird and wacky fetish by an AGM to eat with a ladle or suffer becomes more sensitive the lower the charge status becomes. It is less sensitive at 80% but the ability to fulfill 14.4 volts is easier to achieve. Hmmm I should put this in clearer text...
When the charger is in BULK mode, trying it's little heart out but unable to raise voltage to 14.4 then the 50 amp minimum applies. Per battery. Weird capillary circulation. Yet another point about Lifeline, they use proprietary glass mat with much finer fibers than run-of-the-mill AGMs. The enhanced circulation is yet another reason why that battery can be charged at such a high rate. And for general message - no that does not affect charging or float voltages, only receptivity.
As far as conditioning is concerned, it is absolutely not de riguer to massage these critters with extremely high voltages. Period. The battery has to be PROVEN to have lost capacity before extremes are employed.***
At conditioning values, the AGM will vent. No question. Use a SIX HUNDRED WATT rated DROK DC to DC booster as found on Amazon. Set the voltage while booster is connected to the Megawatt. The booster must have a fan played across the heatsink to endure this power level.
I would ALWAYS first try using an amp hour meter, a Megawatt and timer to recover a sulfated AGM. Set the Mega on 15.0 volts, note the amperage and when amperage decreases to 1% or around 2.5 amperes, terminate the desulfation. Wait 24 hours and repeat. Note accumulated ampere hours. The second time around accumulated amp hours should be half or less than what was recorded in the first session.
I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how important it is to establish your own written baseline of amperes, amp hours, and voltage Trends & Tendencies when the battery is brand new. This baseline saves you from pulling your hair out trying to calcu-guess the state of the battery later on in it's life.
Even such mundane testing as fully charging the battery, waiting 48-hours and taking a standing at rest voltage reading has meaning. A battery impedance meter like Sold at Harbor Fright, is also a useful management tool. Take a new battery baseline reading. Then compare it to subsequent tests.
Now you see why I still am fond of flooded batteries, and a hydrometer. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
***The gentle renovation should be termed CONDITIONING
The hard core high voltage repair should be termed RECOVERY
