Confusion on battery charging
I am confused about the best practices for charging batteries. For 7 years I had 300 AH of Lifeline AGM batteries, 270 watts of solar and a simple charging system. My old camper has a 110 volt c...
Forum Discussion
"My solar charger was also single stage and set at 13.6 volts. I was told that 13.6 volts was too high for a float voltage and my have shortened with potential battery life."
If it was truly single stage, float-only, it wasn't a high float that shortened its life but, rather, a low voltage. Working battery needs 14.x Absorb stage.
"Float is 13.3 and absorption is 14.3. Absorption is set at 2 hours. Often I use very little from the batteries but the charging is still at 14.3. Any passing cloud will reset the absorption time so I often see the battery charging spending most of the day at 14.3. "
Set the Absorb time shorter on cloudy days - if it allows adjusting on the go. Or get a better charger. Controllers usually revert to Bulk and start the Absorb timer from the beginning when there is not enough light. (If they can bring it to Absorb again on that day). Better controllers would automatically shorten the Absorb time depending on battery state of charge. My controller terminates the Absorb when charging current drops low enough, this overrides the timer setting.
If it was truly single stage, float-only, it wasn't a high float that shortened its life but, rather, a low voltage. Working battery needs 14.x Absorb stage.
"Float is 13.3 and absorption is 14.3. Absorption is set at 2 hours. Often I use very little from the batteries but the charging is still at 14.3. Any passing cloud will reset the absorption time so I often see the battery charging spending most of the day at 14.3. "
Set the Absorb time shorter on cloudy days - if it allows adjusting on the go. Or get a better charger. Controllers usually revert to Bulk and start the Absorb timer from the beginning when there is not enough light. (If they can bring it to Absorb again on that day). Better controllers would automatically shorten the Absorb time depending on battery state of charge. My controller terminates the Absorb when charging current drops low enough, this overrides the timer setting.
