13.0V Resting

Chomp, nibble, erode, dissolve...

"Mmmm I just l-o-v-e what 1.300 acid does to thin, high porosity flooded plates"

No magic twanger. Herb Tarlek engineering exacts a price.

Pure lead is one thing, lead antimony another, porous paste a third then let's make those plates paper-thin. Ooooooo zillions of plates to misalign. But think of the CCA this DEAP CICLE mother will have...

I am happy as a clam when my Telecom surplus DEKA 150ah AGM acid rich 1.300 SG battery sits for a couple of months completely disconnected, sitting at 12.88V to 12.86V, depending on temps in the garage. Thick, thick, thick plates, lucky to charge at much over 21 amps, supposed lifetime of 10 years, warrantied for 8 years.

I make sure, as soon as I get back from any trip, to immediately give it 14.4V for 3 to 4 hours, until the Amperage take rate gets down to 0.75 amps... that 1/2 of 1% charge rate that shows it's fully charged, for proper storage purposes. I fully intend to get that 10 years out of it, God willing.

Added a 150W polycrystal 8.33amp portable aimed solar panel and pwm adjustable charge controller set at 14.4V, and it gets near topped off adding 25-40 amps, daily, if the sun shines a bit. System is working fantastic so far. 6 days down at Quartzsite, and I never needed the Honda generator fired up to recharge. Sun went down around 6 pm, I aimed the panel 2x during the morning and that was it... get back at 7 to 8 pm, and Voltage in the battery would be sitting at 12.77 to 12.80 every night on the battery, with almost everything shut off except fridge and parasitic draw items. Most mornings saw 12.60 to 12.66V, depending on how much TV and how long I ran the heater at night before going to sleep.

The beauty of a solar panel is that during the day time, your parasitic loss is being covered by the solar panel at 14.4V, and drawing less amps than it would at 12.6 to 12.8V, so you only lose 14 to 16 hours of parasitic draw amperage in the winter time when dark, to be picked up by the solar panels, instead of 22 hours, with a generator and charger.

landyacht318 wrote:
Mex,

Full river batteries? or Forest river who made the RV and provided a flooded battery with a 13.0+ resting voltage.

I was under the impression that Full River AGM were well made, despite their COI

Landy, Thank you for pointing out my obvious error. WRONG! MISTAKE! CONFUSING ONE BRAND FOR ANOTHER! ERROR! My apologies to the good battery manufacturer. Forest River, Full River. Any more River brands lurking out there?

Mex wrote:
This is pure outright chicanery. My opinion of Full River has just fallen a few notches.

Mex .... what have Fullriver AGM batteries got to do with this discussion thread??

As I stated aways above, my Optima AGM battery sits month after month at a fully charged rest voltage of 13.0 volts to 13.1 volts. My deep cycle Fullriver AGM RV batteries do not have a rest voltage that high.

Lead acid chemistry (ies) do vary and do of course make a difference. I like a high rest voltage .... it makes me feel like I got more for my money when I have an AGM battery that rests that high. :C

Could the higher voltage be a function of temperature? I've seen the float voltage up to 13.9V with temperature compensation. I didn't check resting voltage however. Below freezing the voltage could be higher.

EsoxLucius wrote:
MEX, Calm down, they weren't Fullriver batteries.

If you can't overreact, spew cryptic responses, and not provide a rational person anything helpful, don't post.

Is the sun a bit hot down there?

X3 !

I see a resting voltage hour after hour of around 13.1 volts on my Group 31 90AH Optima yellow top battery after fully charging it. For what it's worth, this is an Optima AGM battery that is no longer available.

All my other AGM batteries have shown only the usual 12.7 - 12.8 resting volts after being fully charged. I have no idea how, or why, my Optima's AGM battery chemistry differs ... but it sure makes me feel good. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to have a "12 volt" battery that starts out delivering ~ 13 volts!

My Crown's rest at 13.0 I'd have to think everything is just fine and you have a 100% charge, not to worry.

MEX, Calm down, they weren't Fullriver batteries.

If you can't overreact, spew cryptic responses, and not provide a rational person anything helpful, don't post.

Is the sun a bit hot down there?

If this is less than optimal, what is the incentive for the battery manufacturer? How does it save them money?