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myredracer
Explorer II
Aug 17, 2017

Couple of battery voltage & charging question

Have had an AGM battery (one) for a year now, not that being AGM necessarily matters. Never dry camp. Also bought a Progressive Dynamics converter/charger upgrade for it. Recently installed an LED voltmeter display to keep tabs on the battery.

Voltage normally floats correctly at 13.7. If I shut the charger off, the battery stays at 13.7 volts for a bit then starts to drop slightly. I believe this is normal? Haven't left it overnight to see what it levels off at but assume it should level off at about 12.7?

The only time the battery normally gets discharged is from using the tongue jack, putting the stab. jacks down and running the slide out and when I do the charger is correctly putting out 14.4 volts to charge the battery. Does the battery get discharged much and roughly how long does it take to get back to full charge? Does it help to plug back into shore power before operating the jacks and slide so the battery won't get discharged quite as much or does that help at all?

21 Replies

  • myredracer wrote:

    Voltage normally floats correctly at 13.7. If I shut the charger off, the battery stays at 13.7 volts for a bit then starts to drop slightly. I believe this is normal? Haven't left it overnight to see what it levels off at but assume it should level off at about 12.7?


    13.7 sounds a tad high for AGM - which typically prefer a lower float voltage than flooded batteries do. Does your charger have a switch to select flooded or agm? My Magnum charger floats my AGM at 13.3 - 13.5 depending on the temperature.

    It is normal for the voltage to remain at 13.x and then drop down into the high 12's after a while.


    myredracer wrote:
    The only time the battery normally gets discharged is from using the tongue jack, putting the stab. jacks down and running the slide out and when I do the charger is correctly putting out 14.4 volts to charge the battery. Does the battery get discharged much and roughly how long does it take to get back to full charge? Does it help to plug back into shore power before operating the jacks and slide so the battery won't get discharged quite as much or does that help at all?


    Sounds normal to me. Plug back in when convenient, doesn't have to be right away or while running the jacks or slides. You paid for that battery capacity, might as well use it now and then. It should take an hour or less to read "full" again. It won't stay at 14.4 very long and will likely drop to 13.x again but it will still be charging, just at a lower rate.

    The 14.4 sounds a little high for AGM, I think I see 14.2 from my Magnum - I would check your instruction manual for the charger and make sure it knows it's working with an AGM and not a flooded battery.

    AGM tolerate mild "abuse" very well, if there's no adjustment available don't sweat it then.