Battery Equalization Tips

[MEXICOWANDERER]

BATTERY EQUALIZATION

Remember those wheeled gas station battery chargers? The customer brought in a battery to be charged, the attendant connected the charger cables, set the machine on “High” Setting, twisted the on-off timer to as far as it would go (usually an hour) and then told the customer to “Come back after an hour”. The charger usually had an ammeter, but just as usually it was ignored. “Plug and Play The Early Days”.

Today's converters and chargers have pre-determined “charging limits” but those limits are programmed into a control board integrated circuit that ignores the battery just as badly as the gas station attendent ignored the wheeled battery charger's ammeter. Say hello to “Plug and Play 2014”. The integrated circuit programming is based on a premise of “Well, take your best guess”.

It does not work. The only advantage today's “Smart Chargers” have over a gas station charger is that they are less likely to overcharge the battery. Rather, because manufacturers are less likely to be sued over an undercharged battery that failed prematurely, 99% of smart battery chargers tend to undercharge their batteries. This is supposed to be an improvement.

RV battery usage (and life-span) can be likened to the difference between a Manhattan taxi cab versus the proverbial “Little Old Lady's Sedan” that only got driven to church on Sundays. The taxi sees constant “heavy-duty” service, requires more often and more meticulous servicing, and even with the best of care does not stand a whim of a chance to last as many years as the Little Old Lady's sedan.

Such is the difference between an RV battery that goes boondocking frequently and for prolonged periods, versus a battery that endures merely periodic Infrequent weekend usage, or spends a majority of it's time connected to a power pedestal.

What would you think of a Little Old Lady that marches up to the cab driver, puts her hands on her hips and declares “Well! My car has served me perfectly for nine years! It's just like new. You're doing something wrong if “your car” lasts only five years, and leaks oil. Your car is constantly in the garage getting fixed!”

The point of argument is absurd. An argument of “my battery lasted longer than your battery, and did not require the attention you gave yours” is subject to the same rules.

ELECTRICITY IS A BY-PRODUCT

Most consumers think of a battery as “electricity”. This is an error. A battery is chemical laboratory and electricity is a mere by-product.

MANAGING A BATTERY PROPERLY IS A HASSLE
Seventy years ago, about ninety nine percent of what is know about battery management was learned and proper battery management practices adopted by the US Navy. The more than one-hundred fleet submarines and thousands upon thousands of battery cells demanded a steep learning curve or people perished. Submarines simply did not return to the US and get frequent battery replacements because battery cell replacement was a true hassle. You are aware of the requirement to never mix a new battery with an old battery. How would you like to deal with this issue when it involves dozens and dozens of batteries?

There are shortcuts, and battery management “tricks” that reduce the time and effort spent maintaining a battery. The rewards are increased battery capacity throughout its lifespan, and an impressive increase in lifespan.

THE DESPISED HYDROMETER

People who rant and rave about hassles involved with hydrometer use, almost without fail do not know how to use a hydrometer with regard to their battery.

POINT!
Every battery with more than one cell has “The Weakest Cell” This cell is the first to deplete the acid density and the last to recharge (restore specific gravity – return to 1.275 full charge). This is the “whipping boy” for hydrometer testing. Once a battery has been tested with the hydrometer, and the weakest cell detected and its position noted, this is the cell you return-to first with the hydrometer. If this cell is “normal” fully charged or depleted, the remaining cells will read a higher specific gravity in that battery. Find that lowest reading cell and exploit it. Equalization is performed when standard charging does not drive the sulfate off of the battery plates and back into solution. When you assume your battery is fully charged, but the whipping boy says via the hydrometer “But not me!” you have a problem. You need to fix it. Your recharging protocol needs to be adjusted. Whatever it takes. One constantly weaker cell amongst two or seventeen other cells that tend to always read similar to each other, the majority (but always higher) is a sign of a bad cell – a bad battery. You cannot whip the entire work-force to enforce correct conduct by one employee. Too bad the bad boy is part of a team, a battery, thus the “team”, the battery, is doomed. Everything is progressive – a cell that is a “little” wayward can be tolerated. A real delinquent however can affect the lifespan of all other cells and must be culled from the herd.

Thus, checking a battery usually involves only one cell.

Do yourself a favor and dig through your unneeded clothing and find -anything- that is made of wool. Wool is immune to battery acid. I got a large wool sweater from a Salvation Army store for a dollar and cut off the arms and made a great “tarp” from the remains.

EQUALIZATION

Equalization is a term. It is an incredibly specific protocol that involves a precise formula and brooks no deviation from the formula. I'll say it in somewhat ruder terms, either you use the formula as specified or you are playing with the battery, not equalizing it. Equalization, the formula was created many decades ago by professionals and the formula was used on US Fleet submarines, religiously.

Like many other protocols in today's world, the term 'Equalization” is misused, even abused. Marketing hype, and BS Artists have turned the term into a buzzword. A joke. Too bad the joke is on the consumer. “Press This Button To Equalize” is now meaningless. “Press This Button When The Charger Integrated Control Circuit Fails To Properly Recharge Your Battery” is the correct way to label such a system. Notice above, the word “When” is not the word “If”.

A group 24 battery needs a -constant- FOUR AMPERES of current for equalization.

Group 27, 5-7 amperes.

Golf Car, 11 amperes

Group 29, 6-8 amperes

Scrubber battery, (1275) 7-9 amperes

L-16, 18-20 amperes

This constant amperage should not vary too much out of line. As an example, starting with a fully charged Golf Car battery, a starting surge above 15-amperes should not be tolerated. Back off the charge rate. The formula is officially 5% but personally I tolerate four to six percent of total ampere hour capacity of the battery. A standard transformer charger in conjunction with a VARIAC, can yield an exact 5% ampere charge rate and periodic tweaking of the dial on the VARIAC can control amperage to within the percentage limits of the equalization. My personal, monster 2-volt cells demand one hundred twenty amperes constant, to equalize. This was a challenge.

Start out with a battery as fully charged as you can get it.

Apply amperage as specified in the list, above. Amperage, not voltage is key.

Maintain that level of amperage until one of two things occur.

The lowest cell reverts to original density
8.0 volts is reached on a 3 cell battery or 16.0 volts arrives on a 6 cell battery.

Just for your information, every -tenth- of a volt less than 2.666 volts per cell increases the time needed to remove plate sulfation by a factor of 1.3 (call it by percentage. 130%).

Use common sense when checking the “Whipping Boy” cell with the hydrometer. If the cell is sluggish to respond, check adjacent cells. If they have reverted to 1.275 density but the whipping boy refuses, then the battery is bad. One low cell when other cells seem to have equal but higher density, is a cause for suspicion by itself. I like to think of it as “If a cell cannot walk and chew gum at the same time – to the recycler it goes”.

BATTERIES SHOULD NOT NEED TO BE EQUALIZED OFTEN!

Top Charging (My own personal terminology), should be employed in regular battery service. This means to charge an otherwise “full” 12-volt battery from it's regular float voltage to 15.0 volts at the same 5% rate as listed above, but the amperage control need not be as strict or precise. 15.0 volts is a heck of a lot easier and faster to reach than 16.0 volts. I top charge my batteries once a week...

And have reduced the need for formal equalization by 800% !

Eight times as long between equalizations. Top charging is magic. It also stirs electrolyte, and in practice is not as “hard” on battery plates as is a full equalization.

MANY BATTERY BRANDS ARE INFERIOR

Let's face it. Too many brands of batteries will develop inequality in acid density between cells – at the drop of a hat, even when nearly brand new. They rapidly get worse. This can confound a consumer to no end. Choose your brand of battery wisely. Hundreds of positive reviews are the best recommendation in my opinion.

AND DO NOT FALL FOR UNINFORMED OPINIONS

An individual can purchase an inferior battery, or mistreat a good battery and yet believe with utter conviction that the battery is in an excellent state of condition. How is this possible? It is possible by not utilizing the battery's capacity to the point where weakness or inadequacy does not makes it's ugly appearance. The battery is not monitored, not checked, and under-used. Because it does not mis-perform, for the owner it is a wonderful device. The owner may be an individual with “strong convictions”. They'll spend hours, days, and months, trying to convince others that battery maintenance is a snap, their battery has lasted ten years (or even longer) with plug and play charging, and they did nothing more than add a little distilled water now and then. Why did they not notice the battery was weak or got weaker? They do not use it heavily. The battery always lives and relaxes in deep-clover. A lawnmower battery would work for the individual. But strong opinion can have a powerful voice. One of the toughest tasks around is to show a strong-opinionated individual that his belief is without foundation. Misinformation pressed upon willing ears, can do a lot of damage.

It is up to individual battery owners to separate fact from fiction. But I'll share a secret with you:

“I listen to someone describe symptoms of a battery problem. As I listen and form opinions, I may arrive at a tentative “conclusion” as to what is going on. Then the battery owner could say “I took a hydrometer reading and this is what I found”. It is not unlikely my tentative conclusion could be wrong – the appearance of hard data could make my conclusion catch fire and go up in smoke. My conclusion after all, has its basis in guesswork”.

Don't be misled by guesswork.

[ken_white]

NinerBikes wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
BATTERY EQUALIZATION

Remember those wheeled gas station battery chargers? The customer brought in a battery to be charged, the attendant connected the charger cables, set the machine on “High” Setting, twisted the on-off timer to as far as it would go (usually an hour) and then told the customer to “Come back after an hour”. The charger usually had an ammeter, but just as usually it was ignored. “Plug and Play The Early Days”.

Today's converters and chargers have pre-determined “charging limits” but those limits are programmed into a control board integrated circuit that ignores the battery just as badly as the gas station attendent ignored the wheeled battery charger's ammeter. Say hello to “Plug and Play 2014”. The integrated circuit programming is based on a premise of “Well, take your best guess”.

It does not work. The only advantage today's “Smart Chargers” have over a gas station charger is that they are less likely to overcharge the battery. Rather, because manufacturers are less likely to be sued over an undercharged battery that failed prematurely, 99% of smart battery chargers tend to undercharge their batteries. This is supposed to be an improvement.

RV battery usage (and life-span) can be likened to the difference between a Manhattan taxi cab versus the proverbial “Little Old Lady's Sedan” that only got driven to church on Sundays. The taxi sees constant “heavy-duty” service, requires more often and more meticulous servicing, and even with the best of care does not stand a whim of a chance to last as many years as the Little Old Lady's sedan.

Such is the difference between an RV battery that goes boondocking frequently and for prolonged periods, versus a battery that endures merely periodic Infrequent weekend usage, or spends a majority of it's time connected to a power pedestal.

What would you think of a Little Old Lady that marches up to the cab driver, puts her hands on her hips and declares “Well! My car has served me perfectly for nine years! It's just like new. You're doing something wrong if “your car” lasts only five years, and leaks oil. Your car is constantly in the garage getting fixed!”

The point of argument is absurd. An argument of “my battery lasted longer than your battery, and did not require the attention you gave yours” is subject to the same rules.

ELECTRICITY IS A BY-PRODUCT

Most consumers think of a battery as “electricity”. This is an error. A battery is chemical laboratory and electricity is a mere by-product.

MANAGING A BATTERY PROPERLY IS A HASSLE
Seventy years ago, about ninety nine percent of what is know about battery management was learned and proper battery management practices adopted by the US Navy. The more than one-hundred fleet submarines and thousands upon thousands of battery cells demanded a steep learning curve or people perished. Submarines simply did not return to the US and get frequent battery replacements because battery cell replacement was a true hassle. You are aware of the requirement to never mix a new battery with an old battery. How would you like to deal with this issue when it involves dozens and dozens of batteries?

There are shortcuts, and battery management “tricks” that reduce the time and effort spent maintaining a battery. The rewards are increased battery capacity throughout its lifespan, and an impressive increase in lifespan.

THE DESPISED HYDROMETER

People who rant and rave about hassles involved with hydrometer use, almost without fail do not know how to use a hydrometer with regard to their battery.

POINT!
Every battery with more than one cell has “The Weakest Cell” This cell is the first to deplete the acid density and the last to recharge (restore specific gravity – return to 1.275 full charge). This is the “whipping boy” for hydrometer testing. Once a battery has been tested with the hydrometer, and the weakest cell detected and its position noted, this is the cell you return-to first with the hydrometer. If this cell is “normal” fully charged or depleted, the remaining cells will read a higher specific gravity in that battery. Find that lowest reading cell and exploit it. Equalization is performed when standard charging does not drive the sulfate off of the battery plates and back into solution. When you assume your battery is fully charged, but the whipping boy says via the hydrometer “But not me!” you have a problem. You need to fix it. Your recharging protocol needs to be adjusted. Whatever it takes. One constantly weaker cell amongst two or seventeen other cells that tend to always read similar to each other, the majority (but always higher) is a sign of a bad cell – a bad battery. You cannot whip the entire work-force to enforce correct conduct by one employee. Too bad the bad boy is part of a team, a battery, thus the “team”, the battery, is doomed. Everything is progressive – a cell that is a “little” wayward can be tolerated. A real delinquent however can affect the lifespan of all other cells and must be culled from the herd.

Thus, checking a battery usually involves only one cell.

Do yourself a favor and dig through your unneeded clothing and find -anything- that is made of wool. Wool is immune to battery acid. I got a large wool sweater from a Salvation Army store for a dollar and cut off the arms and made a great “tarp” from the remains.

EQUALIZATION

Equalization is a term. It is an incredibly specific protocol that involves a precise formula and brooks no deviation from the formula. I'll say it in somewhat ruder terms, either you use the formula as specified or you are playing with the battery, not equalizing it. Equalization, the formula was created many decades ago by professionals and the formula was used on US Fleet submarines, religiously.

Like many other protocols in today's world, the term 'Equalization” is misused, even abused. Marketing hype, and BS Artists have turned the term into a buzzword. A joke. Too bad the joke is on the consumer. “Press This Button To Equalize” is now meaningless. “Press This Button When The Charger Integrated Control Circuit Fails To Properly Recharge Your Battery” is the correct way to label such a system. Notice above, the word “When” is not the word “If”.

A group 24 battery needs a -constant- FOUR AMPERES of current for equalization.

Group 27, 5-7 amperes.

Golf Car, 11 amperes

Group 29, 6-8 amperes

Scrubber battery, (1275) 7-9 amperes

L-16, 18-20 amperes

This constant amperage should not vary too much out of line. As an example, starting with a fully charged Golf Car battery, a starting surge above 15-amperes should not be tolerated. Back off the charge rate. The formula is officially 5% but personally I tolerate four to six percent of total ampere hour capacity of the battery. A standard transformer charger in conjunction with a VARIAC, can yield an exact 5% ampere charge rate and periodic tweaking of the dial on the VARIAC can control amperage to within the percentage limits of the equalization. My personal, monster 2-volt cells demand one hundred twenty amperes constant, to equalize. This was a challenge.

Start out with a battery as fully charged as you can get it.

Apply amperage as specified in the list, above. Amperage, not voltage is key.

Maintain that level of amperage until one of two things occur.

The lowest cell reverts to original density
8.0 volts is reached on a 3 cell battery or 16.0 volts arrives on a 6 cell battery.

Just for your information, every -tenth- of a volt less than 2.666 volts per cell increases the time needed to remove plate sulfation by a factor of 1.3 (call it by percentage. 130%).

Use common sense when checking the “Whipping Boy” cell with the hydrometer. If the cell is sluggish to respond, check adjacent cells. If they have reverted to 1.275 density but the whipping boy refuses, then the battery is bad. One low cell when other cells seem to have equal but higher density, is a cause for suspicion by itself. I like to think of it as “If a cell cannot walk and chew gum at the same time – to the recycler it goes”.

BATTERIES SHOULD NOT NEED TO BE EQUALIZED OFTEN!

Top Charging (My own personal terminology), should be employed in regular battery service. This means to charge an otherwise “full” 12-volt battery from it's regular float voltage to 15.0 volts at the same 5% rate as listed above, but the amperage control need not be as strict or precise. 15.0 volts is a heck of a lot easier and faster to reach than 16.0 volts. I top charge my batteries once a week...

And have reduced the need for formal equalization by 800% !

Eight times as long between equalizations. Top charging is magic. It also stirs electrolyte, and in practice is not as “hard” on battery plates as is a full equalization.

MANY BATTERY BRANDS ARE INFERIOR

Let's face it. Too many brands of batteries will develop inequality in acid density between cells – at the drop of a hat, even when nearly brand new. They rapidly get worse. This can confound a consumer to no end. Choose your brand of battery wisely. Hundreds of positive reviews are the best recommendation in my opinion.

AND DO NOT FALL FOR UNINFORMED OPINIONS

An individual can purchase an inferior battery, or mistreat a good battery and yet believe with utter conviction that the battery is in an excellent state of condition. How is this possible? It is possible by not utilizing the battery's capacity to the point where weakness or inadequacy does not makes it's ugly appearance. The battery is not monitored, not checked, and under-used. Because it does not mis-perform, for the owner it is a wonderful device. The owner may be an individual with “strong convictions”. They'll spend hours, days, and months, trying to convince others that battery maintenance is a snap, their battery has lasted ten years (or even longer) with plug and play charging, and they did nothing more than add a little distilled water now and then. Why did they not notice the battery was weak or got weaker? They do not use it heavily. The battery always lives and relaxes in deep-clover. A lawnmower battery would work for the individual. But strong opinion can have a powerful voice. One of the toughest tasks around is to show a strong-opinionated individual that his belief is without foundation. Misinformation pressed upon willing ears, can do a lot of damage.

It is up to individual battery owners to separate fact from fiction. But I'll share a secret with you:

“I listen to someone describe symptoms of a battery problem. As I listen and form opinions, I may arrive at a tentative “conclusion” as to what is going on. Then the battery owner could say “I took a hydrometer reading and this is what I found”. It is not unlikely my tentative conclusion could be wrong – the appearance of hard data could make my conclusion catch fire and go up in smoke. My conclusion after all, has its basis in guesswork”.

Don't be misled by guesswork.

This should be made a sticky...

I agree...

🙂

[NinerBikes]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
BATTERY EQUALIZATION

Remember those wheeled gas station battery chargers? The customer brought in a battery to be charged, the attendant connected the charger cables, set the machine on “High” Setting, twisted the on-off timer to as far as it would go (usually an hour) and then told the customer to “Come back after an hour”. The charger usually had an ammeter, but just as usually it was ignored. “Plug and Play The Early Days”.

Today's converters and chargers have pre-determined “charging limits” but those limits are programmed into a control board integrated circuit that ignores the battery just as badly as the gas station attendent ignored the wheeled battery charger's ammeter. Say hello to “Plug and Play 2014”. The integrated circuit programming is based on a premise of “Well, take your best guess”.

It does not work. The only advantage today's “Smart Chargers” have over a gas station charger is that they are less likely to overcharge the battery. Rather, because manufacturers are less likely to be sued over an undercharged battery that failed prematurely, 99% of smart battery chargers tend to undercharge their batteries. This is supposed to be an improvement.

RV battery usage (and life-span) can be likened to the difference between a Manhattan taxi cab versus the proverbial “Little Old Lady's Sedan” that only got driven to church on Sundays. The taxi sees constant “heavy-duty” service, requires more often and more meticulous servicing, and even with the best of care does not stand a whim of a chance to last as many years as the Little Old Lady's sedan.

Such is the difference between an RV battery that goes boondocking frequently and for prolonged periods, versus a battery that endures merely periodic Infrequent weekend usage, or spends a majority of it's time connected to a power pedestal.

What would you think of a Little Old Lady that marches up to the cab driver, puts her hands on her hips and declares “Well! My car has served me perfectly for nine years! It's just like new. You're doing something wrong if “your car” lasts only five years, and leaks oil. Your car is constantly in the garage getting fixed!”

The point of argument is absurd. An argument of “my battery lasted longer than your battery, and did not require the attention you gave yours” is subject to the same rules.

ELECTRICITY IS A BY-PRODUCT

Most consumers think of a battery as “electricity”. This is an error. A battery is chemical laboratory and electricity is a mere by-product.

MANAGING A BATTERY PROPERLY IS A HASSLE
Seventy years ago, about ninety nine percent of what is know about battery management was learned and proper battery management practices adopted by the US Navy. The more than one-hundred fleet submarines and thousands upon thousands of battery cells demanded a steep learning curve or people perished. Submarines simply did not return to the US and get frequent battery replacements because battery cell replacement was a true hassle. You are aware of the requirement to never mix a new battery with an old battery. How would you like to deal with this issue when it involves dozens and dozens of batteries?

There are shortcuts, and battery management “tricks” that reduce the time and effort spent maintaining a battery. The rewards are increased battery capacity throughout its lifespan, and an impressive increase in lifespan.

THE DESPISED HYDROMETER

People who rant and rave about hassles involved with hydrometer use, almost without fail do not know how to use a hydrometer with regard to their battery.

POINT!
Every battery with more than one cell has “The Weakest Cell” This cell is the first to deplete the acid density and the last to recharge (restore specific gravity – return to 1.275 full charge). This is the “whipping boy” for hydrometer testing. Once a battery has been tested with the hydrometer, and the weakest cell detected and its position noted, this is the cell you return-to first with the hydrometer. If this cell is “normal” fully charged or depleted, the remaining cells will read a higher specific gravity in that battery. Find that lowest reading cell and exploit it. Equalization is performed when standard charging does not drive the sulfate off of the battery plates and back into solution. When you assume your battery is fully charged, but the whipping boy says via the hydrometer “But not me!” you have a problem. You need to fix it. Your recharging protocol needs to be adjusted. Whatever it takes. One constantly weaker cell amongst two or seventeen other cells that tend to always read similar to each other, the majority (but always higher) is a sign of a bad cell – a bad battery. You cannot whip the entire work-force to enforce correct conduct by one employee. Too bad the bad boy is part of a team, a battery, thus the “team”, the battery, is doomed. Everything is progressive – a cell that is a “little” wayward can be tolerated. A real delinquent however can affect the lifespan of all other cells and must be culled from the herd.

Thus, checking a battery usually involves only one cell.

Do yourself a favor and dig through your unneeded clothing and find -anything- that is made of wool. Wool is immune to battery acid. I got a large wool sweater from a Salvation Army store for a dollar and cut off the arms and made a great “tarp” from the remains.

EQUALIZATION

Equalization is a term. It is an incredibly specific protocol that involves a precise formula and brooks no deviation from the formula. I'll say it in somewhat ruder terms, either you use the formula as specified or you are playing with the battery, not equalizing it. Equalization, the formula was created many decades ago by professionals and the formula was used on US Fleet submarines, religiously.

Like many other protocols in today's world, the term 'Equalization” is misused, even abused. Marketing hype, and BS Artists have turned the term into a buzzword. A joke. Too bad the joke is on the consumer. “Press This Button To Equalize” is now meaningless. “Press This Button When The Charger Integrated Control Circuit Fails To Properly Recharge Your Battery” is the correct way to label such a system. Notice above, the word “When” is not the word “If”.

A group 24 battery needs a -constant- FOUR AMPERES of current for equalization.

Group 27, 5-7 amperes.

Golf Car, 11 amperes

Group 29, 6-8 amperes

Scrubber battery, (1275) 7-9 amperes

L-16, 18-20 amperes

This constant amperage should not vary too much out of line. As an example, starting with a fully charged Golf Car battery, a starting surge above 15-amperes should not be tolerated. Back off the charge rate. The formula is officially 5% but personally I tolerate four to six percent of total ampere hour capacity of the battery. A standard transformer charger in conjunction with a VARIAC, can yield an exact 5% ampere charge rate and periodic tweaking of the dial on the VARIAC can control amperage to within the percentage limits of the equalization. My personal, monster 2-volt cells demand one hundred twenty amperes constant, to equalize. This was a challenge.

Start out with a battery as fully charged as you can get it.

Apply amperage as specified in the list, above. Amperage, not voltage is key.

Maintain that level of amperage until one of two things occur.

The lowest cell reverts to original density
8.0 volts is reached on a 3 cell battery or 16.0 volts arrives on a 6 cell battery.

Just for your information, every -tenth- of a volt less than 2.666 volts per cell increases the time needed to remove plate sulfation by a factor of 1.3 (call it by percentage. 130%).

Use common sense when checking the “Whipping Boy” cell with the hydrometer. If the cell is sluggish to respond, check adjacent cells. If they have reverted to 1.275 density but the whipping boy refuses, then the battery is bad. One low cell when other cells seem to have equal but higher density, is a cause for suspicion by itself. I like to think of it as “If a cell cannot walk and chew gum at the same time – to the recycler it goes”.

BATTERIES SHOULD NOT NEED TO BE EQUALIZED OFTEN!

Top Charging (My own personal terminology), should be employed in regular battery service. This means to charge an otherwise “full” 12-volt battery from it's regular float voltage to 15.0 volts at the same 5% rate as listed above, but the amperage control need not be as strict or precise. 15.0 volts is a heck of a lot easier and faster to reach than 16.0 volts. I top charge my batteries once a week...

And have reduced the need for formal equalization by 800% !

Eight times as long between equalizations. Top charging is magic. It also stirs electrolyte, and in practice is not as “hard” on battery plates as is a full equalization.

MANY BATTERY BRANDS ARE INFERIOR

Let's face it. Too many brands of batteries will develop inequality in acid density between cells – at the drop of a hat, even when nearly brand new. They rapidly get worse. This can confound a consumer to no end. Choose your brand of battery wisely. Hundreds of positive reviews are the best recommendation in my opinion.

AND DO NOT FALL FOR UNINFORMED OPINIONS

An individual can purchase an inferior battery, or mistreat a good battery and yet believe with utter conviction that the battery is in an excellent state of condition. How is this possible? It is possible by not utilizing the battery's capacity to the point where weakness or inadequacy does not makes it's ugly appearance. The battery is not monitored, not checked, and under-used. Because it does not mis-perform, for the owner it is a wonderful device. The owner may be an individual with “strong convictions”. They'll spend hours, days, and months, trying to convince others that battery maintenance is a snap, their battery has lasted ten years (or even longer) with plug and play charging, and they did nothing more than add a little distilled water now and then. Why did they not notice the battery was weak or got weaker? They do not use it heavily. The battery always lives and relaxes in deep-clover. A lawnmower battery would work for the individual. But strong opinion can have a powerful voice. One of the toughest tasks around is to show a strong-opinionated individual that his belief is without foundation. Misinformation pressed upon willing ears, can do a lot of damage.

It is up to individual battery owners to separate fact from fiction. But I'll share a secret with you:

“I listen to someone describe symptoms of a battery problem. As I listen and form opinions, I may arrive at a tentative “conclusion” as to what is going on. Then the battery owner could say “I took a hydrometer reading and this is what I found”. It is not unlikely my tentative conclusion could be wrong – the appearance of hard data could make my conclusion catch fire and go up in smoke. My conclusion after all, has its basis in guesswork”.

Don't be misled by guesswork.

This should be made a sticky. Perhaps also a Readers Digest Condensed Version for those short of time to read and understand all that said.

Myself... I try to do my best to top charge daily on my scrubber battery, to 15.0V. So far, I've had very good results. That and the 3 most important, basic tools in the toolbox for a lead acid battery owner... A good glass tubed hydrometer (Freas #1), a digital volt meter, and a digital ampere meter. Don't leave home without them. They are the tools necessary to give your batteries a full physical checkup.

[KendallP]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Antimonial percentage is a crucial component to consider regarding potential stratification. Batteries change. 1960's .110" positive plate 5% antimony engine starting battery is now the components for a GC220 golf car battery!

Many cyclable car jar batteries are using <2% antimony today. Ah Jeez, "stirring"!

Once again the pajamas and squeeze-bulb nose crowd has plucked terminology out of the battery manufacturing dictionary and are spraying it around like liquid field fertilizer.

I just don't have the precise percentage handy, but in my most humble opinion Top Charging is like 100-times more important and it's done for a completely different reason. By chance it also stirs. Sorry 007, but in this case shaken versus stirred is inferior...

Great post!.......... I think.

I didn't understand a lick of it. 🙂

So does higher antimony make for more or less potential stratification?

If I guessed "more," would I get to move on to the bonus round Mr. Woolery?

[snapper388]

not only do I remember the wheeled gas station chargers I still have one. and a hydrometer. works great if you know how to use them and are careful. I also like to use a volt meter and an amp meter while charging.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Antimonial percentage is a crucial component to consider regarding potential stratification. Batteries change. 1960's .110" positive plate 5% antimony engine starting battery is now the components for a GC220 golf car battery!

Many cyclable car jar batteries are using <2% antimony today. Ah Jeez, "stirring"!

Once again the pajamas and squeeze-bulb nose crowd has plucked terminology out of the battery manufacturing dictionary and are spraying it around like liquid field fertilizer.

I just don't have the precise percentage handy, but in my most humble opinion Top Charging is like 100-times more important and it's done for a completely different reason. By chance it also stirs. Sorry 007, but in this case shaken versus stirred is inferior...

[mena661]

KendallP wrote:


Of course, thanks to Mex's help, I always pull the negative and top them before I put them to bed, but my experience has shown that the occasional destratification stir may not be necessary. YMMV, of course.

Could be. I sometimes forget that my setup is unique and most of what I do does not apply to others.

in YOUR case... with 12-story tall batteries... (who suggested you buy those, anyway? :)) stratification is probably much more likely to be an issue worth addressing.

Who was that clown? 😉 :B Well, now that I think about it more, Mex is talking about 15V top charge vs my 14.7V acid stirring. Different things (but does get the same results in my case). Hmmm. I retract my previous statement then.

So perhaps a float at 14.1V or so is even more ideal. Over time, that occasional bubble must be doing a little stirring. Yet I'm not exactly frying 'em with 17 Volts, here.

I actually got some accelerated water loss on my batts in the summer with 14.1V but the temps are much warmer than most here.

[KendallP]

mena661 wrote:
Thanks again Mex! BTW, guys that top charging works wonders. Something the IOTA converter is good at with its occasional 14.7V stirring. I have yet to equalize since.

Yet (thanks to a required cancellation of our last Labor Day trip) my 3 year old G27s sat on float at 13.5V by a Magnetek 6300 for 9 months straight. No stirring whatsoever.

Temp adjusted SG afterward in all 18 cells?

1.300

Of course, thanks to Mex's help, I always pull the negative and top them before I put them to bed, but my experience has shown that the occasional destratification stir may not be necessary. YMMV, of course.

What I really think is going on is that... as Mex stated... our fancy converters don't really charge them to 100% as it is. So the occasional stir, be it... weekly or ever 21 hours... is probably just helping to actually, fully top them off; all while skirting any risk to the coach electronics. So it truly may be the best of all plug-n-play worlds for the 99% of us who prefer to simply turn the key and go RV-ing.

Now...

in YOUR case... with 12-story tall batteries... (who suggested you buy those, anyway? :)) stratification is probably much more likely to be an issue worth addressing.

For the rest of us... for simplicity's sake... I always tell people that... lead acid batteries like nothing more than they do a good and constant float charge.

Works for me!

Actually... that brings another thought to mind... And you may want to consider this as well, mene-dog.

The latest Harbor Freight floaters do their work at what we consider a higher than ideal voltage... especially for those with higher-antimony (golf cart) batteries.

Well... my boat battery and tractor battery have been plugged into those for over a year. Upon cell inspection I can see the occasional bubble. Yet no water loss. Mex had told me not to concern myself and he appears to have been correct... again.

So perhaps a float at 14.1V or so is even more ideal. Over time, that occasional bubble must be doing a little stirring. Yet I'm not exactly frying 'em with 17 Volts, here.

[Bend]

mena661 wrote:
From what I understand the fridge control board is limited to 15.4V so disconnect the batteries from the rig when doing any equalizing.

Once a year equalizing or daily/weekly overcharge/top charging will impact newer appliances as I described earlier especially for solar. Disconnecting all/most of them is a non-starter. Besides, the DW would throw a fit!

Love Westend’s idea to place a voltage regulator prior to the DC distro board. Now to find one: (~16v)DC-(~13v)DC, 25-30 amps.

[azrving]

x2 on what Westend said. I have a 48 volt pontoon boat with 4 group 27 's
(7 yr old) and I just checked it and its putting out 62.2 volts. Its doing what Mex says and its the reason they are still good and strong after all these years. It uses a Lester 48 v industrial charger and they are very common. Check your cart voltages.
Also thank you Menna661 for the links.

[westend]

kampinguru wrote:

mena661 wrote:

kampinguru wrote:
Thank you Mex. Very informative. I have a colf cart that came with its own charger. I have an RV with 2 12V deep cycle batteries AGM style. I have a Schumacher charger for the RV that does 40A. The club Car charger is automatic and I cannot change anything on it. How do I perform and equalization or top charge on my batteries? Everything seems to be automatic and will not allow me to set any voltage or amps.

Voltage adjustable manual power supply

Also, can be found HERE.

I can do my RV batteries with that but not my golf cart ones. I need a portable unit that can do both.

Have you measured what your automatic cart charger is doing? You may find that the automatic charger does charge at higher voltages. That has been my experience with cart chargers, they charge fast and hard. This is more common with the old school stand alone cart chargers rather than built ins but you can do your own measuring.

[kampinguru]

mena661 wrote:

kampinguru wrote:
Thank you Mex. Very informative. I have a colf cart that came with its own charger. I have an RV with 2 12V deep cycle batteries AGM style. I have a Schumacher charger for the RV that does 40A. The club Car charger is automatic and I cannot change anything on it. How do I perform and equalization or top charge on my batteries? Everything seems to be automatic and will not allow me to set any voltage or amps.

Voltage adjustable manual power supply

Also, can be found HERE.

I can do my RV batteries with that but not my golf cart ones. I need a portable unit that can do both.

[mena661]

kampinguru wrote:
Thank you Mex. Very informative. I have a colf cart that came with its own charger. I have an RV with 2 12V deep cycle batteries AGM style. I have a Schumacher charger for the RV that does 40A. The club Car charger is automatic and I cannot change anything on it. How do I perform and equalization or top charge on my batteries? Everything seems to be automatic and will not allow me to set any voltage or amps.

Voltage adjustable manual power supply

Also, can be found HERE.

[mena661]

From what I understand the fridge control board is limited to 15.4V so disconnect the batteries from the rig when doing any equalizing.

[kampinguru]

Thank you Mex. Very informative. I have a colf cart that came with its own charger. I have an RV with 2 12V deep cycle batteries AGM style. I have a Schumacher charger for the RV that does 40A. The club Car charger is automatic and I cannot change anything on it. How do I perform and equalization or top charge on my batteries? Everything seems to be automatic and will not allow me to set any voltage or amps.