Finally figured out a routine..batteries
I finally figured out a routine that gets my batteries back to 100% full everytime. Since I only charge at home, I do the following: 1. A week on the converter. IOTA 55A w/ IQ4. This gets them back...
Forum Discussion
What I do too (as posted numerous times :) )
Only snag is my Exide GC135s don't like the same routine as my Interstate GC2 XHDs. (I have a pair of each as a bank of four, treating them as though the same) even though they are different.
The Exides are 5% antimony, but the Interstates are some new magical thing they invented a couple of years ago when they stopped using US Battery U-2200s etc. "Pure Lead" in the ads, eg. (not likely!)
At first the Interstates took only one Equalize off the 1093, but the Exides took two in order to get back to baseline SG. Now I am on solar all summer and I find SG is staying up there without having to Equalize. Great.
EXCEPT--Whoa! The hydrometer sucked up some black stuff on the Exides recently. All clear on the Interstates. Mex says call the coroner if you see the black stuff in the hydrometer.
The hydrometer routine says to do four sucks each cell to get a proper reading. The black stuff only appears after the third suck.
My answer to this problem is to only do one suck on the Exides and all is clear. So there is nothing wrong with those one year old batteries!!!! :( They still perform up to full AH near as I can tell, but I will do a load test this fall when things calm down.
Anyway, it seems that this solar routine where you hit 14.6 every day and so forth may not suit all brands of 6v battery. The Interstate GC2 XHDs are loving it. The Exide GC135s--- not so much.
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Only snag is my Exide GC135s don't like the same routine as my Interstate GC2 XHDs. (I have a pair of each as a bank of four, treating them as though the same) even though they are different.
The Exides are 5% antimony, but the Interstates are some new magical thing they invented a couple of years ago when they stopped using US Battery U-2200s etc. "Pure Lead" in the ads, eg. (not likely!)
At first the Interstates took only one Equalize off the 1093, but the Exides took two in order to get back to baseline SG. Now I am on solar all summer and I find SG is staying up there without having to Equalize. Great.
EXCEPT--Whoa! The hydrometer sucked up some black stuff on the Exides recently. All clear on the Interstates. Mex says call the coroner if you see the black stuff in the hydrometer.
The hydrometer routine says to do four sucks each cell to get a proper reading. The black stuff only appears after the third suck.
My answer to this problem is to only do one suck on the Exides and all is clear. So there is nothing wrong with those one year old batteries!!!! :( They still perform up to full AH near as I can tell, but I will do a load test this fall when things calm down.
Anyway, it seems that this solar routine where you hit 14.6 every day and so forth may not suit all brands of 6v battery. The Interstate GC2 XHDs are loving it. The Exide GC135s--- not so much.
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