MEGAWATT 60-AMP INTRODUCTION
To be available starting the last week in January. $110.00
Forum Discussion
jrnymn7 wrote:
Therefore, if floating is so important, it is contra-indicated to stop floating them at such times.
As far as I know, the purpose of properly done floating is to provide just the right amount of float voltage ("electrical field") so as to drive the electron transfers necessary to compensate for internal energy loss ("internal discharge") inside the battery. Since electro-chemical reactions are not "digital" (except at the discrete particle level) - but for all practical purposes happen "smoothly" via continuous processes - some amount of float is probably always necessary to replace the internal loss of energy that is always going on.
However, as you say, the rate of this internal discharge varies with temperature because electro-chemical reactions are temperature dependent and are also "driven" by the electrical fields that voltage establishes. With higher ambient temperatures (around the battery), a weaker electrical field (less voltage) is required ... with lower ambient temperatures (around the battery), a stronger electrical field (more voltage) is required.
What all this means is that, on hot days one should reduce battery float voltage the proper amount or you'll have too much of it and go beyond what's necessary to only compensate for internal discharge. You then risk boiling away the water in your batteries. In my case this is a no-no, since my batteries are AGM and boiled away water can never be replaced because it escapes via a one-way valve.
Since my batteries' float voltage is merely the ~13.8 volts from my RV's Parallax converter, I "kindof manually" control their float voltage versus high ambient temperatures by disconnecting them from the converter when it "kindof feels hot" outside. So far this by-guess and by-golly aproach has gotten over eight years of good performance from them.
Maybe I'm just lucky to have wound up with batteries that are easy to get along with ... or maybe my not obsessing over my batteries has charmed them into good behavior in spite of what I do. :h
