My Screwy 31

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The goal is to minimize activity while maintaining fully charged state. Not 99% nor 101%.

Then to mix electrolyte. But mixing electrolyte correctly requires an adjustable time mechanism. Car jar batteries will mix electrolyte faster than GC batteries, and much faster than 15" jar batteries.

When a temperature corrected ACCURATE hydrometer reading indicates all cells have reverted 100% the maintenance amperage will be a mere few milliamps, of course this is a range. At -40C float maintenance can be as much as an ampere per 100 amp hour capacity depending on battery chemistry.

Calcium/calcium microwave tower battery banks have such sophisticated battery chargers. A multi-thousand amp hour battery bank justifies the cost of a sophisticated charger. A tower can sit for years without the batteries being called upon to do their duty. As I understand it the newer technology allows the tower to communicate the status (VA) of it's battery bank charger.

But common sense has to dictate to the user whether or not a sophisticated maintenance float charger is warranted. Batteries that sit six-months untended definitely qualify. But a rig that sees perhaps 15-20 days a month use would be challenging to qualify. The ratio of valid electro-chemical activity to invalid electro-chemical activity (kWh) would be absurdly unequal.