Is flooded equalization charge always timed?
I have (2) of the 6v interstate costco batteries. Would like to do an equalization charge on them. Using the Trojan users guide for directions.
Trojan is saying to equalize for 2-4 hours. But it also says to test specific gravity every hour and stop charging when the SG no longer rises.
Im using a charger designed more for the RC hobby. (icharger 308duo) It has a Pb mode, and i just figured out a way to trick it into charging at 16.17v by telling the charger its a 7cell 14 volt battery and adjust the volt per cell spec to 2.31v.
I seems to work. Within a couple minutes i noticed a smell and could hear the batteries boiling. Stopped and will move them outside before ever doing that again. Theyre currently in the garage with just a side door open.
The charger does have the option to stop charging when the charge current falls to a certain percentage of the set charge current.
I watched the charger and it went up to about 13amps and fell to around 9 within the first 3 minutes.
What is the correct procedure.
1. Start 16.2v constant voltage charge.
2. After 1 hour STOP the charge.....wait a couple minutes???....then test specific gravity? Trojan doesnt actually say to disconnect the charger before testing.
Or since the batteries are only 7 months old should i do a 1 hour equalization charge and call it good? (seems like a lot of people on here mention doing a 1 hour equalization charge once a month)
Or....can you stop equalizing when the charge current falls to a certain percentage of C20? Which might correlate to when the specific gravity stops rising.
Suppose i could test all that myself by recording charge current and testing SG. After a few times i might recognize a pattern. For example maybe specific gravity stops rising when the charger falls to 4amps on a 210ah battery. So end charge current could be set to 2 percent.
Whole reason for asking is to keep the hydrometer use to a minimum and to keep the equalization charge time to minimum.
Thanks for any advice!!
Trojan is saying to equalize for 2-4 hours. But it also says to test specific gravity every hour and stop charging when the SG no longer rises.
Im using a charger designed more for the RC hobby. (icharger 308duo) It has a Pb mode, and i just figured out a way to trick it into charging at 16.17v by telling the charger its a 7cell 14 volt battery and adjust the volt per cell spec to 2.31v.
I seems to work. Within a couple minutes i noticed a smell and could hear the batteries boiling. Stopped and will move them outside before ever doing that again. Theyre currently in the garage with just a side door open.
The charger does have the option to stop charging when the charge current falls to a certain percentage of the set charge current.
I watched the charger and it went up to about 13amps and fell to around 9 within the first 3 minutes.
What is the correct procedure.
1. Start 16.2v constant voltage charge.
2. After 1 hour STOP the charge.....wait a couple minutes???....then test specific gravity? Trojan doesnt actually say to disconnect the charger before testing.
Or since the batteries are only 7 months old should i do a 1 hour equalization charge and call it good? (seems like a lot of people on here mention doing a 1 hour equalization charge once a month)
Or....can you stop equalizing when the charge current falls to a certain percentage of C20? Which might correlate to when the specific gravity stops rising.
Suppose i could test all that myself by recording charge current and testing SG. After a few times i might recognize a pattern. For example maybe specific gravity stops rising when the charger falls to 4amps on a 210ah battery. So end charge current could be set to 2 percent.
Whole reason for asking is to keep the hydrometer use to a minimum and to keep the equalization charge time to minimum.
Thanks for any advice!!
