Lead purity in AGMs

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Another very nice article. Thanks Jim.

BTW for my first 48 hours of semi full time, my solar panels provided enough energy to fully recharge the battery banks.

Great way to start out. Full batteries give you that warm fuzzy feeling. :)

In the article they mentioned that a few AGMs have a low enough self discharge that normal corrosion of the positive plates (and the voltage it generates) entirely offsets self discharge. I had never heard of that. Mine will drop .09v-.10v in a month which seems great, but that's a far cry from 0. You could send 0 discharge batteries to retailers who know nothing about monthly freshening charges and still get consumers almost factory fresh batteries.

Pure lead is more expensive though (and not even desirable in flooded batteries), so there is the rub.

I will say that given the delicate balances required to make a really long life AGM, I see why Mex is so interested in the quality of a maker's manufacturing process and materials.

Jim

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Valve regulated Lead Acid (VRLA)
batteries are commonly further classified as:
Absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery
Gel battery ("gel cell")
An absorbed glass mat battery has the electrolyte absorbed in a fiber-glass mat separator. A gel cell has the electrolyte mixed with silica dust to form an immobilized gel.
While these batteries are often colloquially called sealed lead–acid batteries, they always include a safety pressure relief valve. As opposed to vented (also called flooded) batteries, a VRLA cannot spill its electrolyte if it is inverted. Because AGM VRLA batteries use much less electrolyte (battery acid) than traditional lead–acid batteries, they are sometimes called an "acid-starved" design.

Hi,

Another very nice article. Thanks Jim.

BTW for my first 48 hours of semi full time, my solar panels provided enough energy to fully recharge the battery banks.