Portable battery charger

Vulcan Rider wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:

A digital device doesn't determine when your batteries are 100% state of charge. Battery chemistry, in particular, Specific gravity, cell by cell does.

Well I guess that means that you will never be using any AGM batteries.....because according to that you will never be able to tell if they are fully charged or not.

P.S. There is a no-load cell voltage that corresponds to each specific gravity value. And when you add them up, you come up with a no load voltage value for the whole battery when it is fully charged.

Don't believe that's accurate enough for YOU ?? Fine....for you.

Others find it more than accurate enough and applicable to all battery types. The values are slightly different for different types though.

Trolling again, are we? :W

BFL, you don't do PM's.

Nothing to do with this thread! Just curious about the sig. What are the 120ah 6v batts? should read 240ah. need to change thanks for the reminder.

Rick,

I tell when my RV batteries are fully charged with what I consider is a full proof method. Several years ago I installed an ammeter in the main negative lead from the batteries. Whenever the charger is charging them and this meter finally indicates zero current flow - they're fully charged. A simple method that eliminates all the guesswork.

NinerBikes wrote:

A digital device doesn't determine when your batteries are 100% state of charge. Battery chemistry, in particular, Specific gravity, cell by cell does.

Well I guess that means that you will never be using any AGM batteries.....because according to that you will never be able to tell if they are fully charged or not.

P.S. There is a no-load cell voltage that corresponds to each specific gravity value. And when you add them up, you come up with a no load voltage value for the whole battery when it is fully charged.

Don't believe that's accurate enough for YOU ?? Fine....for you.

Others find it more than accurate enough and applicable to all battery types. The values are slightly different for different types though.

I had a PD9245 with pendant remote wizard. Easy to put it in bulk mode at 14.4V to start charging a battery while dry camping. Not so easy to get my specific gravity above 1.265 on my Trojan T-1275, about 3/4 the capacity of a pair of GC-2's, the gold standard in batteries for dry camping/boodocking off the grid.


What the Trojan owners manual suggested was 14.8V, a few older manuals suggested 15.0V charging voltage at a c/10 rate.

The Progressive Dynamics wasn't going to get me there, daily, ever.

Enter the solution that worked for me, the Mega Watt. Adjustable bulk voltage range. It will always supply the amps, the only limitation is the battery chemistry, and battery temperature while recharging, which is always the limitation.

My Megawatt charges efficiently, to 85-90% SOC, when needed. The solar panel I can count on to top charge to at or near 100% even on a dark rainy day. That last 10 to 15% daily is what is very important to extending battery life, preventing sulfation building up, and avoiding having to do big frequent Equalization charge cycles. I consider daily top charging to be the equivalent of an ounce of prevention is worth pound of cure, in terms of preventing sulfation from ever even starting.

A battery that gets filled up to full, regularly, and stored at full, as much as is possible, is a battery that will live a long, long time.

Battery chemistry determines full, as done with reading specific gravity and dipping with a hydrometer, voltage gauges are nice, but not fool proof, they need correcting, things like items in use and surface charges can give false readings.

Wet Coast wrote:
you forgot the rhubarb leaves for tires..

Nothing to do with this thread! Just curious about the sig. What are the 120ah 6v batts?

you forgot the rhubarb leaves for tires..

You all are bumbling Nimrods.

My opinions are facts.

If you do not approach an issue the same way I do, you are a knuckle dragging drooler.

There is only one way to accomplish something. My way.

Plain and simple.

My batteries last 12 years and i get 44MPG, uphill and with a headwind.

Gotta love internet forums.

Every ones needs and expectations are different. Our grp 27 that has seen five seasons boondocking has been charged by a 2/12/70 auto charger with a deep cycle setting before and after a trip. 3 days before, 3 days after and a day a month in between. I put it on the trailer Friday for testing the fridge, Monday it was down to 12.45v.

With all of the camping and testing I didn't expect it to last this long the way people talk about marine batteries.

Now if the charging screws up that battery, it is fairly inexpensive to replace. Not so with the Lifelines that would cost close to two grand to replace. I can't set the auto charger to do what the manual calls for so I made sure I had a means of maintaining them. The cost of the Megawatt and effort required is minimal if it means I might get ten years out of the bank.

As always, no one is right or wrong as long as it works for them.

I've said it a hundred times, (read my lips) I don't know exactly what PD chargers do, but whatever they do, THEY DO IT RIGHT !
You ain't gonna find a charger any better, or that make batteries last any longer. But I only been playin w/ batteries for 60 years, and using PD wizards for 19 yrs, what the hell would I know.
But don't listen to me,....Listen to smketter, he the smartest one here by a long shot,.....and not on just batteries either !!

Just amazing how Mex is some kinda God you all worship,...get real !

smkettner wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
The wizard's hat is a cone. It has something written on it...

D
U
N
C
E

When I recharge a battery it is to 100% state of charge, not 76 or 82 or "almost 90"

The 'Wizard' attached to the Progressive Dynamics converter has frequently been known to have batteries last over ten years and still perform very well. The PD Wizard may not be perfect but it does not wear a cone hat either. If your battery is in desperate need of reconditioning or equalization it is more likely you do not have a Wizard... not because of the poor performance of the Wizard.

(If MEX is talking about some other device then my apologies.)