Very Inexpensive Battery Maintenance Charger
1.0 ampere output. 13.8 volts regulated charge limit. This unit is good for 100 amp hours worth of batteries. IMO the voltage is a tad high for a high antimony RV battery with temps 60F or higher but ...
Forum Discussion
Thought I would add a bit to some of this which I believe is pertinent.
I monitor battery temperature with a probe on the battery post when on the road/boondocking/camping.
I have had FWC's for years and for the past 5+ lifeline AGM's.
My 9 year old converter is a 9260 Progressive Dynamics with the remote to select the mode to charge when needed.
Prior to Solar and a good controller that has temp compensation I always did the following if my batteries needed charging:
If my battery post temperature was 90deg+ I would switch my converter out of boost mode 14.4 and drop it to Absorb 13.6... Did this for both my FWC's and Lifelines.
According to all the tech documents for batteries I always felt that I was not stressing my batteries. And likewise, when my batteries were cold 60deg or less and the PD would not go into boost mode 14.4 I would use the remote to switch to boost.
During storage I let my PD do the work.... Both my FWC's and Lifeline
13.2 float and the 14.4 every 23hrs for 15 min....
My lifelines are now 5+ years old... I test them for capacity quite often... They still have the original capacity.... Resting voltage v/s ah removed... (all one can do with AGM's)
Periodic load checking 20/c discharge to 60% SOC (40%)
When off grid my solar takes care of my batteries now...
I sometimes see 14.9vdc when the batteries are cold and charging....
And barely 14 when hot. Temp compensated...
I have many friends that have had the same continuing results with Lifelines.... One had 7 + years on his lifelines....
Jim
I monitor battery temperature with a probe on the battery post when on the road/boondocking/camping.
I have had FWC's for years and for the past 5+ lifeline AGM's.
My 9 year old converter is a 9260 Progressive Dynamics with the remote to select the mode to charge when needed.
Prior to Solar and a good controller that has temp compensation I always did the following if my batteries needed charging:
If my battery post temperature was 90deg+ I would switch my converter out of boost mode 14.4 and drop it to Absorb 13.6... Did this for both my FWC's and Lifelines.
According to all the tech documents for batteries I always felt that I was not stressing my batteries. And likewise, when my batteries were cold 60deg or less and the PD would not go into boost mode 14.4 I would use the remote to switch to boost.
During storage I let my PD do the work.... Both my FWC's and Lifeline
13.2 float and the 14.4 every 23hrs for 15 min....
My lifelines are now 5+ years old... I test them for capacity quite often... They still have the original capacity.... Resting voltage v/s ah removed... (all one can do with AGM's)
Periodic load checking 20/c discharge to 60% SOC (40%)
When off grid my solar takes care of my batteries now...
I sometimes see 14.9vdc when the batteries are cold and charging....
And barely 14 when hot. Temp compensated...
I have many friends that have had the same continuing results with Lifelines.... One had 7 + years on his lifelines....
Jim
