Mex's Flash?
Does "Flash charging" mean we (some of us anyway) are wrong to hate it when the PowerMax or Iota converters drop their voltages so soon for the absorption stage? In another thread Mex says, "A flas...
Forum Discussion
CHEMICAL REACTION
You will bring a discharged antimonial battery immediately to 14.8 volts AND IT WILL NOT BUBBLE. Not right away.
But you can take the same battery under the same conditions and apply a voltage LIMIT of 14.2 with LIMITED AMPERAGE and three days can pass and the battery will be actually gassing freely.
This is a battery generator charge issue. With power pole voltage time is not an issue. With solar it can become an Alice In Wonderland guesstimate which I will not touch with a twenty foot hotstick due to limitless permutation possibilities.
No calculation will arrive at the same conclusion as my advice. It is an electrochemical phenomenon that has to be observed by trial and error innumerable times.
Charging a battery formulae is every bit as intricate as Peukert's is for discharge. AMPLITUDE (voltage) and TIME. There are conclusions that can damage a battery. Other conclusions WILL NOT WORK. TIME SPENT AT VARIOUS VOLTAGE is the key. It cannot be done accurately with amp hour resolution but kWh is workable but too complicated except for nerds and it really is in the end, not necessary.
Some cherry pick phrases, and statements out of one of my battery charge rants and come back days later with a statement that is soooo out of context it makes me want to cry.
The instant absorbsion voltage limit recipe for charging is for GENERATOR CHARGING
BUT WAIT! THAT'S NOT ALL! THERE'S MORE
The recipe is specifically designed to reduce generator run time to a skeleton bare bones minutes.
But all of the components of the recipe must be followed without fail. A setup designed to produce instant vmax is not something that can be changed to "Well yup I'll crank 'er up and I figger three hours otter do it, then I'll come back and check for bubbling (in reality the aroma of Yellowstone National Park). A person has to pay attention, and follow advice. A SMART PERSON will realize this formula is REPEATABLE, so they check the TIME that has passed between initiation of vmax, 14.8 bubbles, and the amount of time that passes after voltage is reduced to second stage v/intermediate, and bubbling. It is REPEATABLE and PREDICTABLE. I can take a weak sister cell dip and spin the dial on the Intermatic timer, and the percentage of charge will be so close to full when I return, it freaks people out. Two stage vabs. The EXACT same protocol I have designed with BORG with.
Charging is something like deciding "Gee my car gets 12% better gas mileage at 55 than it does at 70 mph). But a three day trip turns into a four day drip and an extra hotel bill is involved. Save forty dollars on fuel and blow ninety bucks on the hotel. In this case it's fuel cost AND HASSLE versus battery life.
A GUESSTIMATE has arrived at a conclusion that a battery will live 85% of the life as a battery given manufacturer recommended 20% of amp hour vabs charge. Compare this to fuel cost. I have and I am NOT going to spend a HUNDRED DOLLARS PLUS in extra fuel to afford fifteen dollars worth of life to a battery. This does NOT COUNT the money spent and time lost to go buy more fuel or time spent and money lost to learn an early generator rebuild is going to cost hundreds perhaps a thousand dollars or more.
Charge Efficiency Ratio. Books to keep tabs of expenses. A run hour meter. And an intangible - how much does a person love to hear excessive generator use, in the case of lift and run away generators, the extra hours spent nursemaiding their safety?
When electrolysis occurs, it is a dead giveaway that excessive energy is being consumed in a battery. Some of it is a necessary abstract by-product. But when it reaches a certain point it becomes a waste, and excessive heat enters the picture. So vabs MUST BE MONITORED to make sure excessive bubbling does not occur. A Lawrence Welk Bubble Machine Bubble Counter isn't necessary. Common sense is. The 2nd stage is just as critical. When bubbling is light, the battery is telling the world, "I've had enough". Just like it did at the 14.8 volt 1st stage. Time to revert to float.
This is where a solar panel or two is par excellence. A 13.6 volt third stage for even as much as 6 hours would top the batteries off astonishingly full. So tah-dah, the generator charging should be done earlier in the day along with chores that demand 120vac appliances be used. This allows the solar to do it's chore which the fickle battery petulantly demands - that last 4% to 6% that electrochemistry resists with a jutting lower lip.
You will bring a discharged antimonial battery immediately to 14.8 volts AND IT WILL NOT BUBBLE. Not right away.
But you can take the same battery under the same conditions and apply a voltage LIMIT of 14.2 with LIMITED AMPERAGE and three days can pass and the battery will be actually gassing freely.
This is a battery generator charge issue. With power pole voltage time is not an issue. With solar it can become an Alice In Wonderland guesstimate which I will not touch with a twenty foot hotstick due to limitless permutation possibilities.
No calculation will arrive at the same conclusion as my advice. It is an electrochemical phenomenon that has to be observed by trial and error innumerable times.
Charging a battery formulae is every bit as intricate as Peukert's is for discharge. AMPLITUDE (voltage) and TIME. There are conclusions that can damage a battery. Other conclusions WILL NOT WORK. TIME SPENT AT VARIOUS VOLTAGE is the key. It cannot be done accurately with amp hour resolution but kWh is workable but too complicated except for nerds and it really is in the end, not necessary.
Some cherry pick phrases, and statements out of one of my battery charge rants and come back days later with a statement that is soooo out of context it makes me want to cry.
The instant absorbsion voltage limit recipe for charging is for GENERATOR CHARGING
BUT WAIT! THAT'S NOT ALL! THERE'S MORE
The recipe is specifically designed to reduce generator run time to a skeleton bare bones minutes.
But all of the components of the recipe must be followed without fail. A setup designed to produce instant vmax is not something that can be changed to "Well yup I'll crank 'er up and I figger three hours otter do it, then I'll come back and check for bubbling (in reality the aroma of Yellowstone National Park). A person has to pay attention, and follow advice. A SMART PERSON will realize this formula is REPEATABLE, so they check the TIME that has passed between initiation of vmax, 14.8 bubbles, and the amount of time that passes after voltage is reduced to second stage v/intermediate, and bubbling. It is REPEATABLE and PREDICTABLE. I can take a weak sister cell dip and spin the dial on the Intermatic timer, and the percentage of charge will be so close to full when I return, it freaks people out. Two stage vabs. The EXACT same protocol I have designed with BORG with.
Charging is something like deciding "Gee my car gets 12% better gas mileage at 55 than it does at 70 mph). But a three day trip turns into a four day drip and an extra hotel bill is involved. Save forty dollars on fuel and blow ninety bucks on the hotel. In this case it's fuel cost AND HASSLE versus battery life.
A GUESSTIMATE has arrived at a conclusion that a battery will live 85% of the life as a battery given manufacturer recommended 20% of amp hour vabs charge. Compare this to fuel cost. I have and I am NOT going to spend a HUNDRED DOLLARS PLUS in extra fuel to afford fifteen dollars worth of life to a battery. This does NOT COUNT the money spent and time lost to go buy more fuel or time spent and money lost to learn an early generator rebuild is going to cost hundreds perhaps a thousand dollars or more.
Charge Efficiency Ratio. Books to keep tabs of expenses. A run hour meter. And an intangible - how much does a person love to hear excessive generator use, in the case of lift and run away generators, the extra hours spent nursemaiding their safety?
When electrolysis occurs, it is a dead giveaway that excessive energy is being consumed in a battery. Some of it is a necessary abstract by-product. But when it reaches a certain point it becomes a waste, and excessive heat enters the picture. So vabs MUST BE MONITORED to make sure excessive bubbling does not occur. A Lawrence Welk Bubble Machine Bubble Counter isn't necessary. Common sense is. The 2nd stage is just as critical. When bubbling is light, the battery is telling the world, "I've had enough". Just like it did at the 14.8 volt 1st stage. Time to revert to float.
This is where a solar panel or two is par excellence. A 13.6 volt third stage for even as much as 6 hours would top the batteries off astonishingly full. So tah-dah, the generator charging should be done earlier in the day along with chores that demand 120vac appliances be used. This allows the solar to do it's chore which the fickle battery petulantly demands - that last 4% to 6% that electrochemistry resists with a jutting lower lip.
