US Battery "finishing" charge recommendation
Please check out these USBattery manufacturer recommendations for 2 and 3 stage chargers. http://www.wholesalesolar.com/pdf.folder/battery-folder/charging_instruction_2011_2.pdf Quite a bit diff...
Forum Discussion
Thanks for another valuable post Mex.
I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that this 31 battery, despite the well known and respectable brand name, is not going to do very well for much longer and that at some point I will be returning it and hoping for some prorated warranty service. If only the distributor sold any brand of flooded 12v DC battery which I'd trust, not just a marine battery with a new deep cycle sticker on it. I thought going with the USbattery, I was getting a top tier DC 12 battery, but so far I think I would have gotten better service from a wally world 31 for half the price.
I meant to take SG readings before even installing it, but never did until 2 weeks later. 2 weeks of mostly 30 to 45% discharges followed by mostly alternator and solar recharging, and the SG was disgustingly low, gray sulfate visible on the plates, and not being able to get the battery to take any significant current at that point had me wanting to return the battery then and there, but I flew to the other side of the country the next day for 3+ weeks.
At least moving it to the engine compartment will allow an easier swap when that time comes, and I can keep easier tabs on SG until that inevitable day.
I was unaware of the 3 hour SG Lag, though I should not have been.
The rewiring of my System has basically allowed me to easily attach the Schumacher while the battery is under no load. I thought the cycling of the compressor fridge might be mostly to blame for the Schumacher choosing such high voltages, but the last 3 times I let it go do its thing on an the battery which was electrically separated from all loads, the voltage still went Sky high.
I woke up this morning to see my battery monitor reading 48% so I switched all loads to the other battery and put the Schumacher on 25 amps. I disconnected it an hour ago, it was at 16 volts. Not sure the amps it was producing, but now it is taking 2.3 amps at 15.3v from the solar. I'll likely swap battery locations aftersundown tonight and take SG readings then.
One thing I'd love some input on Mex, is the loading of a battery while charging. Mainly the cycling of my danfoss powered compressor fridge.
I always assumed it would just take longer to fully charge the battery, but is it possible that this compressor fridge is responsible for eraly demise of previous batteries. While I know that a true 100% is not going to happen with solar on a nightly cycled application, it really seems that I am not achieving anywhere near the battery lifespan I should be. Most lives were cut short by underwatering, but performance had degraded significantly before that point.
I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that this 31 battery, despite the well known and respectable brand name, is not going to do very well for much longer and that at some point I will be returning it and hoping for some prorated warranty service. If only the distributor sold any brand of flooded 12v DC battery which I'd trust, not just a marine battery with a new deep cycle sticker on it. I thought going with the USbattery, I was getting a top tier DC 12 battery, but so far I think I would have gotten better service from a wally world 31 for half the price.
I meant to take SG readings before even installing it, but never did until 2 weeks later. 2 weeks of mostly 30 to 45% discharges followed by mostly alternator and solar recharging, and the SG was disgustingly low, gray sulfate visible on the plates, and not being able to get the battery to take any significant current at that point had me wanting to return the battery then and there, but I flew to the other side of the country the next day for 3+ weeks.
At least moving it to the engine compartment will allow an easier swap when that time comes, and I can keep easier tabs on SG until that inevitable day.
I was unaware of the 3 hour SG Lag, though I should not have been.
The rewiring of my System has basically allowed me to easily attach the Schumacher while the battery is under no load. I thought the cycling of the compressor fridge might be mostly to blame for the Schumacher choosing such high voltages, but the last 3 times I let it go do its thing on an the battery which was electrically separated from all loads, the voltage still went Sky high.
I woke up this morning to see my battery monitor reading 48% so I switched all loads to the other battery and put the Schumacher on 25 amps. I disconnected it an hour ago, it was at 16 volts. Not sure the amps it was producing, but now it is taking 2.3 amps at 15.3v from the solar. I'll likely swap battery locations aftersundown tonight and take SG readings then.
One thing I'd love some input on Mex, is the loading of a battery while charging. Mainly the cycling of my danfoss powered compressor fridge.
I always assumed it would just take longer to fully charge the battery, but is it possible that this compressor fridge is responsible for eraly demise of previous batteries. While I know that a true 100% is not going to happen with solar on a nightly cycled application, it really seems that I am not achieving anywhere near the battery lifespan I should be. Most lives were cut short by underwatering, but performance had degraded significantly before that point.
