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
While plugged into grid right now, the screwy 31 is still being cycled, right now it is 48 amp hours from full and reading 12.0 volts under a 4.7 amp load.
Been activating the Meanwell RSP-500-15 before bed sometimes, but setting it to only 13.4V. 41 amps tapers to 13amps about 2 minutes later and down to ~7 amps at an hour. When I awake in the morning, usually ~ 14 AH from full. I unplug the MW and let the solar take over where it does the 14.9ABSV, 15.3v finish.
One span of 4 days, I did not drive anywhere. The solar max voltage was reduced to 13.6v. The MW voltage was set to 13.6v, when monitor indicated 62 amp hours from full and let the MW hold 13.6v for 5 days
The fifth day, out came the hydrometer. 1.270 1.265 and 1.265
Cranked voltage upto 15.3v and an hour later 1.280.
cranked it upto 16V, 15 minutes later 1.285 on the 3 easy to access cells
5 days of 13.6v was not enough to max out SG on screwy 31. Monitor was reading 0 AH from full on day 2.
Performance of the screwy31 is dropping off. Have been even more electrically wasteful using laptop too much since I now have a power pedestal closer to my parking spot and can turn on MW anytime. Have been using a 55 watt old school( No timer) heating pad to keep a 5 gallon sunshower at 114 Degrees F for post surf rinse and nightly shower and this is too much to ask from screwy 31.
Could stop cycling the 31 entirely, but I want to cycle it till death, am not trying to get maximum time from it, but maximum amount of deep cycles. Am probably right around 350 cycles.
Am not sure what will replace it or exactly when or from where it will be obtained. Perhaps Group31 Trojan.
On an interesting note I will be helping a friend make an Auxiliary battery system to power a ridiculous automotive Stereo that has 5 external amplifiersand some ridiculous amount of speakers.
2 group 31 Northstar AGM batteries
1 Blue seas 500 Amp ACR
1 Adjustable voltage 100 amp PowerMax ordered from Randy at best converter
2 digital Ammeters/voltmeters, one to monitor powermax and alternator current into NS AGMs, 1 to monitor amperage consumed by stereo.
1 200 amp delco alternator
0 gauge cabling to be used throughout
6 hour spring wound intermatic timer controlling Powermax.
Many ANL fuses
Kind of fun spending other peoples money to build something like this.
After explaining why the adjustable voltage 100 amp PowerMax was the most desirable charging source for optimum health of these 2 high CCA pure lead AGM batteries
Stereo owner was like:
Why can't they just make an automatic charger that can provide 80+ amps to 14.7v then hold 14.7V for 4 hours and have built in temp compensation and adjustable float voltage. How hard can that be?
Why indeed.
Now if I can get him to actually look at charging current to learn how adjust the timer correctly or know when to manually lower it voltage to 13.6v. I've a feeling he will just enjoy cranking the timer back upto 6 hours, as more is always better in his mind.
Was thinking of getting one of those 500 amp e bay 38$ amp hour counters instead of a regular ammeter but that would just confuse him more.
Been activating the Meanwell RSP-500-15 before bed sometimes, but setting it to only 13.4V. 41 amps tapers to 13amps about 2 minutes later and down to ~7 amps at an hour. When I awake in the morning, usually ~ 14 AH from full. I unplug the MW and let the solar take over where it does the 14.9ABSV, 15.3v finish.
One span of 4 days, I did not drive anywhere. The solar max voltage was reduced to 13.6v. The MW voltage was set to 13.6v, when monitor indicated 62 amp hours from full and let the MW hold 13.6v for 5 days
The fifth day, out came the hydrometer. 1.270 1.265 and 1.265
Cranked voltage upto 15.3v and an hour later 1.280.
cranked it upto 16V, 15 minutes later 1.285 on the 3 easy to access cells
5 days of 13.6v was not enough to max out SG on screwy 31. Monitor was reading 0 AH from full on day 2.
Performance of the screwy31 is dropping off. Have been even more electrically wasteful using laptop too much since I now have a power pedestal closer to my parking spot and can turn on MW anytime. Have been using a 55 watt old school( No timer) heating pad to keep a 5 gallon sunshower at 114 Degrees F for post surf rinse and nightly shower and this is too much to ask from screwy 31.
Could stop cycling the 31 entirely, but I want to cycle it till death, am not trying to get maximum time from it, but maximum amount of deep cycles. Am probably right around 350 cycles.
Am not sure what will replace it or exactly when or from where it will be obtained. Perhaps Group31 Trojan.
On an interesting note I will be helping a friend make an Auxiliary battery system to power a ridiculous automotive Stereo that has 5 external amplifiersand some ridiculous amount of speakers.
2 group 31 Northstar AGM batteries
1 Blue seas 500 Amp ACR
1 Adjustable voltage 100 amp PowerMax ordered from Randy at best converter
2 digital Ammeters/voltmeters, one to monitor powermax and alternator current into NS AGMs, 1 to monitor amperage consumed by stereo.
1 200 amp delco alternator
0 gauge cabling to be used throughout
6 hour spring wound intermatic timer controlling Powermax.
Many ANL fuses
Kind of fun spending other peoples money to build something like this.
After explaining why the adjustable voltage 100 amp PowerMax was the most desirable charging source for optimum health of these 2 high CCA pure lead AGM batteries
Stereo owner was like:
Why can't they just make an automatic charger that can provide 80+ amps to 14.7v then hold 14.7V for 4 hours and have built in temp compensation and adjustable float voltage. How hard can that be?
Why indeed.
Now if I can get him to actually look at charging current to learn how adjust the timer correctly or know when to manually lower it voltage to 13.6v. I've a feeling he will just enjoy cranking the timer back upto 6 hours, as more is always better in his mind.
Was thinking of getting one of those 500 amp e bay 38$ amp hour counters instead of a regular ammeter but that would just confuse him more.
