This Is Plan For My Own Battery CHARGER

BFL13 wrote:
Don't need any lessons in how to reduce gen time by using an higher charging rate--see my ugly graph how that works in real life. Meanwhile---

I still don't understand how you can equalize at a constant amps at a constant voltage like I think was claimed.

When the batts are full and you then do your overcharge, with my charger at constant 15.7v, the amps still taper. How the heck can you keep the amps at say 5 amps at 15.5 volts????

When Mex says "max acceptance rate" at whatever voltage they are held at, to me that means the max acceptance rate tapers as battery SOC rises. SOC rises even higher than 'so-called' "full" because you are doing an overcharge. Maybe all the extra goes off as heat so the amps stay the same? I have no idea. My charger when doing an "equalize" at constant 15.7 volts gets it done but amps taper down to nothing during that time.

Does this gizmo Mex is building not have the amps tapering? How can that happen?

The amps taper. That is controlled by the size of the battery bank. You can't give it amps that the basic chemical reaction won't take. It just won't flow the current. Any excess goes into off gassing and making hydrogen and oxygen out of water, plus some bonus sulfur smells that will eat up and corrode your copper electrical connections if poorly insulated. The blue/green stuff on you copper wire might be copper sulfate.

You only use the amps it takes to do the complete chemical reaction... to get what ever sulfur was on the plates, completely into H2SO4, or sulfuric acid, diluted in water. The more acid in the water, the denser the solution, the higher the specific gravity, up to a limit, of course. Beyond that, I assume you are roasting the plates.

I can't speak for equalizing... I don't have a booster on mine... I could adjust to a full 15.6V, but I leave mine at I think 14.99 to 15.04V, and shut down before the final whatever %, and let the solar panel handle the rest to get it to 100% @ 15V and with a max of 6.6 amps from my 120 watt solar panel. In the end, the solar panel will end up nursing it the last 3 to 5% of the top off charge, in my situation.

In Mex's case, shortened battery life is cheaper than gas. In my case, kind of a non issue, I have to get groceries every 5 -7 days in town anyways, buy another gallon or two of gas for the little Honda... and the Touareg TDI gets 33 to 35 MPG running around without the travel trailer. Maybe do laundry too while there. Today I ordered a 4 digit volt meter... it's going on the Mega Watt, so I can always see where I am at voltage wise on the adjustment. The adjustment on the pot with a phillips is kind of touchy and sensitive.