Question For AGM Battery Owners...
Are there folks out there who have decided they do not like AGM batteries and believe their AGM battery purchase was a mistake, and should have purchased standard flooded lead acid batteries instead? ...
Forum Discussion
"Or, have the lads with the propeller beanies decided to warp bulk and absorbsion into Buzz Words? "
Yes they have. eg, Iota with an IQ4 drops to 14.2v for an eight hour time after doing Bulk to 14.8. It then drops to 13.6 and stays there. They say their Absorption voltage is 14.2. PowerMax does a similar thing except drops straight to 13.6 instead of 14.2 for the Absorption Stage.
Supposedly, they have been told by RV makers to use this "gentle" charging profile because the RV makers think that is what their customers want.
If you don't want that gentle profile because you are not on shore power and want to keep your generator time down, there are several other charger options.
I chose the VEC1093DBD portable charger to solve that and also the PowerMax with the external adjustable voltage. Many inverter/chargers also have adjustable charging profiles to choose if desired. Another choice is the "gizmo" approach.
The WFCO converter has Absorption and Bulk at the same higher voltage 14.4 if you can get it to do Bulk. The PD with Charge Wizard does that with its voltages ok, but it tapers the amps somewhat during Bulk so it takes a bit longer to do a recharge than it should, but it is a reasonable compromise for many folks.
Battery specs have changed in the last few years with increased voltages listed for Vabs. Eg Trojan went from 14.6 to 14.8. This leaves many standard chargers and converters behind that only go to 14.4, which is another "issue" the Rv industry has not addressed very well.
Yes they have. eg, Iota with an IQ4 drops to 14.2v for an eight hour time after doing Bulk to 14.8. It then drops to 13.6 and stays there. They say their Absorption voltage is 14.2. PowerMax does a similar thing except drops straight to 13.6 instead of 14.2 for the Absorption Stage.
Supposedly, they have been told by RV makers to use this "gentle" charging profile because the RV makers think that is what their customers want.
If you don't want that gentle profile because you are not on shore power and want to keep your generator time down, there are several other charger options.
I chose the VEC1093DBD portable charger to solve that and also the PowerMax with the external adjustable voltage. Many inverter/chargers also have adjustable charging profiles to choose if desired. Another choice is the "gizmo" approach.
The WFCO converter has Absorption and Bulk at the same higher voltage 14.4 if you can get it to do Bulk. The PD with Charge Wizard does that with its voltages ok, but it tapers the amps somewhat during Bulk so it takes a bit longer to do a recharge than it should, but it is a reasonable compromise for many folks.
Battery specs have changed in the last few years with increased voltages listed for Vabs. Eg Trojan went from 14.6 to 14.8. This leaves many standard chargers and converters behind that only go to 14.4, which is another "issue" the Rv industry has not addressed very well.
