First time to 50% SOC

smkettner wrote:
When you first connected the IOTA I assume the battery was near full charge. IOTA will hold the max voltage for about 15 minutes before it cancels boost mode and settles into absorbtion at 14.2 according to the specs.

When the battery is low, especially a large battery, the IOTA will remain in boost mode for an extended period until the max voltage is reached. This can easily take 3 to 5+ hours depending on discharge and capacity. With 364 Ah to replace and 55 amps you just will not get there in 30 minutes. All converters and chargers work this way. For faster charging you will need more amps. But since you are not really running the generator to charge, the added amps to reduce time is unnecessary. The slower charge is actually better as long as you have the time.

Assuming you plug in at home I would wait a couple weeks before you check specific gravity and decide to recondition with the portable.

Thank you for the explanation smk. Good to know my observations were incorrect. I am plugging in at home and definitely not in a hurry to charge there. And from what I understand, slow charging is better. BTW, finishing charge in this case would be the proper term but I'm using the EQ feature of the BD to do it as it requires some 15+V to perform that. I normally use the manual charger but didn't have time to babysit it and I didn't want the batts to sit a week at low SG. It actually took that 8 hrs for the SG to "catch up". When I stopped the 2nd EQ, SG was at 1.265-1.275. BFL describes this as "SG lag". I wonder if it has to do with the amount of amps used on the finishing charge as I don't remember any lag with the manual charger (it uses 8 amps vs 4 on the BD).

Good to see those L16 finally earning their keep.

It was actually a little exciting to see them get some use.

full_mosey wrote:


364/3 = 121/day. That is about my daily draw from a 189AH bank. With 300W solar, I get about 90AH/day back at a net loss of 30AH/day. 3days x 30AH = 50%SOC. I do steal some AH from my 68AH starting battery with the 7-pin cable.

You're a heavy user too! After that last trip, I just might get two 230W panels instead of one (thanks KJINTF!).

I don't sell solar, but I am sold on it. :)

LOL! Can I use that in my sig when I get some solar? :)