Charging the Lifelines questions

Lifeline spells out what they like to see in equipment and maintenance. They are an engineer oriented company. Their military battery mil-spec manuals are similar. It isn't that Concorde batteries are diffetent - it"s other AGM OEMs are less rigid and precise in their maintenance recommendations. Look through the threads and I covered this in exhaustive detail. You can treat a Fullriver or an Exide or a Deka according to Concorde recommendations and the battery will live longer when on a float maintenance and MUCH MUCH longer if cycled and not underpoweted when being recharged. Not being correctly recharged is the big killer with any AGM battery. Stop. Think. Is 13.3 volts a correct float voltage at 15F ? Of course not. And THAT is a big-time killer of ALL AGM batteries. This is why hou will NOT find a set voltage batterh tender on my premisis. Weather temperature trends change slowly enough to allow manual volrage adjustments. If you want automatic that is correct it will have a remote thermistor temp probe and a volt per C taper that agrees with the LIFELINE curve which is the correct curve for any and all AGM batteries.

Jim,

The Megawatt might not reach 15.5v, I think there are reports of it only achieving 15.3v. One would need to get a voltage booster and add this inline.

I have a megawatt rsp-500-15 adjustable voltage power supply, which will go as high as 19.23v and will bulk charge at 40 amps. I removed the tiny voltage potentiometer, wired on a 10 turn potentiometer, and put a wattmeter whose leads were changed to 8awg, on the 8awg output leads.

I freaking love this level of control.

Meanwell makes a rsp-750-15 which should be good for 60 amps.

The Lifeline I've been playing with is just so impressive. The handle design, the output terminals, their potting, the performance greatly exceeding my expectations, and the fact that it just gobbles up as much recharging current as I could provide without batting an eye or heating excessively.

I wouldn't want one as my mainly solar battery as it would be tickled to death, but when charged by a well wired alternator or high amp capable charger, I wouldn't want anything else.

It is the Top Dog AGM, no doubt in my mind.

Mex

I'm going through them and absorbing as much as I can. It starts taking after I read it a few times. The whole concept in my system is to cycle the batteries as little as possible and that along with proper care will keep them going longer...I hope.

I shot the terminals with a IR temp gun I got off of ebay for $15. They were close to 90 so I dropped the absorb a few 10's of a volt on the last 8-D and the float on the Eco-W too. The over charge had to burn off on that 8-D and the amps on the Eco-W read 0.0 for the rest of the day.

Now to figure out how to get the controller to agree with Lifeline and life will be good.

Mex,

Good input. I'd really like chargers that meet the Lifeline specs. I'm doubtful that either of mine do. My Magnum voltages don't match the Lifeline spec. The MPPT 60 voltages can be set nothing on the temp comp.

The Lifeline temp specs are not linear but possibly close enough that a linear interperolation is close enough???

But is it a big deal for me? The objective was to get the damn expensive AGMs charged without running the gen all day. So as they say "close enough for government work."

I would really like to get something I don't need to rewire. My eyesight and electronics, just not a good mix. However, as always I will find a way if it is what is needed.

I do remember asking if my system was too wimpy for AGM's not long ago.

Well good luck on the existing wiring. I was thrilled with the 8.5V to my awning motor due to the Monaco and CareLess use of 14 and 16 ga wiring. And don't get me started on the Magnum.

As I said, I will do what I need to. For what these batteries would cost to replace new, I'll do what it takes to make them last as long as possible.

This is what the MS manual says about temp comp.

All charging settings are based on 25°C (77°F). If the battery temperature varies by 5°C, the charging setting will change by 0.15 Volts for a 12 Volt battery. This is a substantial change in the charging of the battery, and the use of the Remote Temperature Sensor (RTS) is recommended to adjust charging to the actual battery temperature.
The need for temperature compensation depends on the temperature variations, battery type, how the system is used, and other factors. If the battery appears to be gassing too much or not charging enough, the RTS can be added at any time after the system has been installed.

It would be my luck to spend the money for a feature and have it be useless.

I tweak my float voltage around (5) times a year. It helps to keep in mind these gizmos are batyeries not atom bombs or single malt scotch.

Test when new.

Going from guaranteed full float which means a 13.6 volt setting hot the battery with 14.4 volts
Note the amperage amplitude and length of decay time to one half of one percent value of amp hour total. If spike goes to twenty amps and lasts longer than half a minute to decay to 3-amps batteries are being undercharged. This is a simple-enough to understand and do, diagnostic.

I have 300 AH Lifelines and most of the time they charge up on 15-17 A of solar max. Most of the time they're discharged less than 50% often much less.

Using the existing equipment (if possible) what do you recommend to give them a fast charge when heavily discharged? If I know they're down to 50% should I fire up everything? The 14.4 volt PD 4645 converter (prob realistically 35 amps), the Ford engine, and the solar simultaneously? How often should this regimen be done? As probably you would guess, I'd rather just let the solar quietly go about it's business unless I had to do otherwise.

The Lifeline manual implies any reasonable charge rate is OK as long as they get to 100% SOC. The exception is if you consistently cycle below 50%. I posted the basic information above.