UPDATE:
hooked up the pm4b to shore power this morning. it charged in boost mode at about 14.6 volts for about 15 minutes. it started at 43 amps and dropped to 33 amps before it kicked down to 13.67 v and about 9 amps. 8 1/4 hours later it turned off when it reached 1.9 amps. surface charge was at 13.3 volts, and started dropping off almost immediately, as i expected. these are the same surface charge numbers i have gotten from the high voltage 40 ampers i've used.
at some point, about 45 minutes later, and at about 13.2v, it started charging at 13.17 volts and 0.3 - 0.4 amps, and has been doing so for the last hour and a half.
that's all i know for now. i will be checking it occasionally throughout the evening, and shut it down for the night. i will check the SG of each cell in the morning. the only load will be the fridge controls at 0.9 amps for about 8 hours. if there are any discrepancies, i will have to do an equalization charge.
(btw; if anyone's interested, canadian tire has a cat cbc25e 25 amp charger with manual equalization mode on sale, reg. $150 for $100. i will do some reading on it tonight and try to compare it to the vec...bd.)
knowing these batteries as i do, they never hold a surface charge over 13.3v for more than a few minutes, but hold strong at 12.78v for extended periods of time when no load is applied. i have no reason to expect that to change.
as for charge time: after 4 hours at 13.67v, charge current was down to 3.1 amps, which if my math is correct, is less than 1% of the ah capacity. i have never been able to get numbers even close to this using my higher voltage chargers... at best i would get readings of about 8 amps after 4 - 5 hours. could be a cable size issue? or just charger quality??? dunno. but i like what i see, so far.
ciao4now
