Solar and Lifeline
Hi y’all First thanks to all who have tried to help with this project I finally got my Renogy system up and running. 4 -100 watt panels on the roof. 30amp mppt controller, 2000w pure sine wave inve...
Forum Discussion
First of all Almot needs to take a look at the Lifeline manual.
Second of all using the cruising sailboat analogy is the epitome of relevance
Third of all, when you test a few hundred gel and AGM batteries, let me know. We should find similarities between hybrid and non hybrid types (of the 1990's) Sonnenchein paid if memory serves sixteen thousand dollars in 1989 to test a pallet (60) group 27 batteries.
There are tens of thousands of AGM batteries on the road today operating at or near 14.4 volts. Large J180 foot alternators (Like the Load Handler) do not react to temperature. Set the voltage and it's called in production lingo Flat Compensating.
They CAN NOT BOIL Only liquid batteries, the ones that spill acid when tipped over can LOSE WEIGHT when voltage exceeds 16 volts and that would only pop the vents on a 100+ degree day.
Some folks here think battery maintenance is like making a cake. 20ml of vanilla 1-1/32 pinch of salt. Then they try to micromanage up a perfected recipe of their own design. Leave it to the engineers.
Out of 100 maintenance failures of cycling AGM batteries over 90% are due to undercharging. OVER 90%. I'm the guy they paid to strip down batteries, split the plates and then autopsy them under power of a 10x loupe. I had a Canon camera specially set up with quartz lights to photograph plates and UV tubes and dye to capture damage of positive plates and grids. This is where the EPA forced me to build a special concrete pad with 200 liter spill trough. It was outside. I had to haul plates, jars, and electrolyte to Trojan Battery in Santa Fe Springs CA. Normally they coveted virgin lead, but disassembled they would not pay a cent.
Pnichols the EX650 is not was, the quietest small generator I have ever heard. It tended to clog the muffler at high altitude and it was wise maintenance to change high altitude operated mufflers every couple of years.
When I made a recommendation of getting a very small generator and a Megawatt set to 14.4 volts I was not blasting hot air. The generator RUNS OUT OF FUEL. No wrist watch alarm TV HiFi switch to remember. And the last time I checked generators come to a halt when out of fuel. And the Megawatt does not consume so much as two microamps quiescent because it's finals are MOSFETS. Does this make sense?
SHRED your home made recipe book. Remember the big charger I built ten years ago? Other than for days offline spent moving it has been connected and working. A few weeks total working when the power was off. And last August the 31 Lifeline was capacity tested to 98.5% of brand new. The BORG has been power tested to 95 amps powering a gang of 8 Trojan 8-D batteries for two weeks when the owner's charger died. A wheeled Sears Die Hard 80 amp unit.
The secret if there is a secret is to maintain the Lifeline on the low side of Concords's recommendation and perhaps once a month prong the voltage to 14.4 and see how much time it takes to revert back to .5 amp. if I don't like what I see I'll twang the float by a tenth. Winter's 40 degree temps are more picky about fine tuning than summer's near hundred degree temps.
I hope this helps
Second of all using the cruising sailboat analogy is the epitome of relevance
Third of all, when you test a few hundred gel and AGM batteries, let me know. We should find similarities between hybrid and non hybrid types (of the 1990's) Sonnenchein paid if memory serves sixteen thousand dollars in 1989 to test a pallet (60) group 27 batteries.
There are tens of thousands of AGM batteries on the road today operating at or near 14.4 volts. Large J180 foot alternators (Like the Load Handler) do not react to temperature. Set the voltage and it's called in production lingo Flat Compensating.
They CAN NOT BOIL Only liquid batteries, the ones that spill acid when tipped over can LOSE WEIGHT when voltage exceeds 16 volts and that would only pop the vents on a 100+ degree day.
Some folks here think battery maintenance is like making a cake. 20ml of vanilla 1-1/32 pinch of salt. Then they try to micromanage up a perfected recipe of their own design. Leave it to the engineers.
Out of 100 maintenance failures of cycling AGM batteries over 90% are due to undercharging. OVER 90%. I'm the guy they paid to strip down batteries, split the plates and then autopsy them under power of a 10x loupe. I had a Canon camera specially set up with quartz lights to photograph plates and UV tubes and dye to capture damage of positive plates and grids. This is where the EPA forced me to build a special concrete pad with 200 liter spill trough. It was outside. I had to haul plates, jars, and electrolyte to Trojan Battery in Santa Fe Springs CA. Normally they coveted virgin lead, but disassembled they would not pay a cent.
Pnichols the EX650 is not was, the quietest small generator I have ever heard. It tended to clog the muffler at high altitude and it was wise maintenance to change high altitude operated mufflers every couple of years.
When I made a recommendation of getting a very small generator and a Megawatt set to 14.4 volts I was not blasting hot air. The generator RUNS OUT OF FUEL. No wrist watch alarm TV HiFi switch to remember. And the last time I checked generators come to a halt when out of fuel. And the Megawatt does not consume so much as two microamps quiescent because it's finals are MOSFETS. Does this make sense?
SHRED your home made recipe book. Remember the big charger I built ten years ago? Other than for days offline spent moving it has been connected and working. A few weeks total working when the power was off. And last August the 31 Lifeline was capacity tested to 98.5% of brand new. The BORG has been power tested to 95 amps powering a gang of 8 Trojan 8-D batteries for two weeks when the owner's charger died. A wheeled Sears Die Hard 80 amp unit.
The secret if there is a secret is to maintain the Lifeline on the low side of Concords's recommendation and perhaps once a month prong the voltage to 14.4 and see how much time it takes to revert back to .5 amp. if I don't like what I see I'll twang the float by a tenth. Winter's 40 degree temps are more picky about fine tuning than summer's near hundred degree temps.
I hope this helps
