My Screwy 31
First off let me say I am not stressing over this. It's just a battery, it is only money, it is meeting my overnight needs, but it is displaying strange behavior, and I am curious as to why. So th...
Forum Discussion
A mid week dipping. More data, a few unexpected results.
I never did a 16v eq cycle since last post about 10 days ago. I've just been working the battery pretty hard, the last 3 nights cycling it to 45 to 55% SOC. 14.9 ABSv and 15.3F. Mostly seeing 15.3v for a few hours each day, but a few days where the fridge cycling and clouds kept bouncing voltage off the 14.9 Absv.
Early This morning, at about sunrise, it was saying 68 amp hours from full, 11.8v under a 2.3 amp load, when I turned all loads to my other battery, plugged in the Schumacher and set it to 12 amps. I left the solar connected to the 31 to add to the Schumacher current.
About 4.5 hours later it was at 15.5 volts, taking 5.5 schumacher amps. The solar was not contributing, being over my 15.3v float setpoint. I unplugged the Schumacher and then the Solar took over and 6.5 amps were required to hold 14.9 ABSV. After 2 hours it went into float requiring 4.2 amps to hold 15.3v.
These amp figures were much higher than I am used to seeing to hold these voltages. I think the Schumacher just rockets past the mid 14's basically skipping the common absorption stage, acting more like a manual constant current charger. I was not monitoring it during this stage.
After another hour or so, it was still taking over 3.5 amps to hold 15.3v.
The monitor was of no use, as soon as it hits float voltages, it reverts to 100% and 0 amp hours from full.
Being used to seeing 1.3 to 1.8 amps to hold 15.3v, and with the sun lowering, and with errands to run, I decided to give it about an hour of 16v. I reprogram the solar controller setpoints to 16v ABSV and float and 7.4 amps are required to bring the battery up there and hold it there, ~1.4 amps more than I've ever seen required to hold 16v.
After 15 minutes of 16v, the amps required to hold it dropped by only 0.2. My plan previous to this was to wait until it it took only 3.2 amps or so to hold 16v and call it good enough, and not bother checking SG and just get on with my errands, but not seeing the amps drop I bust out the Hydrometer and expect to see numbers well below 1.270. I assumed the lack of time held in the mid 14's was responsible for seeing the higher amp numbers I was seeing to hold my regular setpoints.
So I pop the one 3 gang cap, and the cells are bubbling way more vigorously than I have ever seen before. Practically like a seltzer water whose cap was recently removed.
Hydrometer reads 1.270, all three cells, and the thermometer says to add 18! Electrolyte nice and clean, not cloudy at all. The ambient temp was no where near that much hotter than previous readings, perhaps 4 to 5 degrees f at most higher than precious readings, low 80s maybee, but the battery certainly was. Touching the Hydrometer confirmed that the electrolyte was pretty dang warm. I forgot to bust out the IR gun and check the battery temp as I was a little alarmed at the bubbling.
I immediately ended the 16v eq cycle, reset the ABsv to 14.9 and float to 15.3, and the controller went into ABsv mode and was taking nearly 4 amps, soon after, the marine layer moved in and not enough sun was available to hold 14.9v.
The amps the battery was still taking lead me to believe the battery was not fully charged, but the SG said otherwise. The voltage it is holding now under discharge, lead me to believe the battery was not fully charged.
Not sure what to make of this data or behavior. The Schumacher recharge appears to have thrown a monkey wrench in my expectations and usual results, compared to a solely solar replenishment, a instant ~15% recharge rate vs a 4 hour slow ramp up to ~10% rate.
I never did a 16v eq cycle since last post about 10 days ago. I've just been working the battery pretty hard, the last 3 nights cycling it to 45 to 55% SOC. 14.9 ABSv and 15.3F. Mostly seeing 15.3v for a few hours each day, but a few days where the fridge cycling and clouds kept bouncing voltage off the 14.9 Absv.
Early This morning, at about sunrise, it was saying 68 amp hours from full, 11.8v under a 2.3 amp load, when I turned all loads to my other battery, plugged in the Schumacher and set it to 12 amps. I left the solar connected to the 31 to add to the Schumacher current.
About 4.5 hours later it was at 15.5 volts, taking 5.5 schumacher amps. The solar was not contributing, being over my 15.3v float setpoint. I unplugged the Schumacher and then the Solar took over and 6.5 amps were required to hold 14.9 ABSV. After 2 hours it went into float requiring 4.2 amps to hold 15.3v.
These amp figures were much higher than I am used to seeing to hold these voltages. I think the Schumacher just rockets past the mid 14's basically skipping the common absorption stage, acting more like a manual constant current charger. I was not monitoring it during this stage.
After another hour or so, it was still taking over 3.5 amps to hold 15.3v.
The monitor was of no use, as soon as it hits float voltages, it reverts to 100% and 0 amp hours from full.
Being used to seeing 1.3 to 1.8 amps to hold 15.3v, and with the sun lowering, and with errands to run, I decided to give it about an hour of 16v. I reprogram the solar controller setpoints to 16v ABSV and float and 7.4 amps are required to bring the battery up there and hold it there, ~1.4 amps more than I've ever seen required to hold 16v.
After 15 minutes of 16v, the amps required to hold it dropped by only 0.2. My plan previous to this was to wait until it it took only 3.2 amps or so to hold 16v and call it good enough, and not bother checking SG and just get on with my errands, but not seeing the amps drop I bust out the Hydrometer and expect to see numbers well below 1.270. I assumed the lack of time held in the mid 14's was responsible for seeing the higher amp numbers I was seeing to hold my regular setpoints.
So I pop the one 3 gang cap, and the cells are bubbling way more vigorously than I have ever seen before. Practically like a seltzer water whose cap was recently removed.
Hydrometer reads 1.270, all three cells, and the thermometer says to add 18! Electrolyte nice and clean, not cloudy at all. The ambient temp was no where near that much hotter than previous readings, perhaps 4 to 5 degrees f at most higher than precious readings, low 80s maybee, but the battery certainly was. Touching the Hydrometer confirmed that the electrolyte was pretty dang warm. I forgot to bust out the IR gun and check the battery temp as I was a little alarmed at the bubbling.
I immediately ended the 16v eq cycle, reset the ABsv to 14.9 and float to 15.3, and the controller went into ABsv mode and was taking nearly 4 amps, soon after, the marine layer moved in and not enough sun was available to hold 14.9v.
The amps the battery was still taking lead me to believe the battery was not fully charged, but the SG said otherwise. The voltage it is holding now under discharge, lead me to believe the battery was not fully charged.
Not sure what to make of this data or behavior. The Schumacher recharge appears to have thrown a monkey wrench in my expectations and usual results, compared to a solely solar replenishment, a instant ~15% recharge rate vs a 4 hour slow ramp up to ~10% rate.
