Positive Plate Loss Question
Mex says (ISTR) that if your battery gets charged up to baseline SG and you keep charging it at 14something, you will suffer positive plate loss. (You also lose "water" but that is no big deal--you just add water.)
How can you tell how much pos plate loss you get so you can decide how much is "too much?" We know how to do that with sulphation and capacity loss.
EG on solar now the nice days are here at last, the controller gets the batts to 14.8 before lunch and then drops to 14.4 (as set by me) for Float till dark. Sometime (not long, but not sure how long) after first dropping to 14.4, the SG is to baseline, and Trimetric is going positive for AH. After dark I reset the Trimetric--I suppose the extra AH went to heat loss.
If left like that (which was great in April-May) till battery usage brings it back down later in the day that means the batts now spend four or five hours in the afternoon when the batts losing positive plate every day for the next three months?
I could lower that Float voltage, but then have no idea if the SG would have time to top out like it does now. Then once battery usage cranks up in the evening, I want as many amps (to make AH with) as solar can still do before dark. That means I would be resetting the Float back to 14.4 (highest it can go to on this controller--it won't return to Bulk unless batt voltage drops below about 13.2) If the Float were at 13.5 then maybe the increased load in the late aft-evening would get it back to Bulk
Perhaps I should leave it at 14.4 till the Trimetric AHs go positive as the marker when to drop the Float voltage. (I don't want to use the hydrometer every day for this--ugh!) then drop the Float to 13.5 or whatever then put it back to 14.4 at suppertime? What if we are away swimming up at the lake for the afternoon or off to town?
Seems like a lot of bother, but OTOH I did not spend kazillions on a controller with lots of programmable settings.
So my question is-- will the pos plate loss be "too much" if I don't fiddle with the Float voltage every day, and how much is "too much," and how can you tell how much you are losing so you can make a decision anyway?
How can you tell how much pos plate loss you get so you can decide how much is "too much?" We know how to do that with sulphation and capacity loss.
EG on solar now the nice days are here at last, the controller gets the batts to 14.8 before lunch and then drops to 14.4 (as set by me) for Float till dark. Sometime (not long, but not sure how long) after first dropping to 14.4, the SG is to baseline, and Trimetric is going positive for AH. After dark I reset the Trimetric--I suppose the extra AH went to heat loss.
If left like that (which was great in April-May) till battery usage brings it back down later in the day that means the batts now spend four or five hours in the afternoon when the batts losing positive plate every day for the next three months?
I could lower that Float voltage, but then have no idea if the SG would have time to top out like it does now. Then once battery usage cranks up in the evening, I want as many amps (to make AH with) as solar can still do before dark. That means I would be resetting the Float back to 14.4 (highest it can go to on this controller--it won't return to Bulk unless batt voltage drops below about 13.2) If the Float were at 13.5 then maybe the increased load in the late aft-evening would get it back to Bulk
Perhaps I should leave it at 14.4 till the Trimetric AHs go positive as the marker when to drop the Float voltage. (I don't want to use the hydrometer every day for this--ugh!) then drop the Float to 13.5 or whatever then put it back to 14.4 at suppertime? What if we are away swimming up at the lake for the afternoon or off to town?
Seems like a lot of bother, but OTOH I did not spend kazillions on a controller with lots of programmable settings.
So my question is-- will the pos plate loss be "too much" if I don't fiddle with the Float voltage every day, and how much is "too much," and how can you tell how much you are losing so you can make a decision anyway?
