Charging a Battery Bank
I am planning on upgrading my batteries to 4 6v batteries wired in series and parallel to have a 12v system with plenty of Amp Hours. There is a ton of information on how to wire things up but nothing...
Forum Discussion
measuring unloaded voltage of a charger is not indicative of the max voltage it will allow when hooked to a battery.
Leave charger on until battery voltage climbs into mid 14's. Keep checking specific gravity accounting for the rise in electrolyte temperature.
If charger stops and flashes green light, Load batteries until voltage falls to 12.6v or below, then restart charge, then remove loads.
Lather rinse repeat until Specific gracity no longer rises or reaches 1.275+ on all cells. It might not ever do this unless voltage is allowed to go as high as 16.2v.
When that occurs ( 1.275+ SG) the battery will be indeed fully charged to its maximum remaining potential capacity, which is likely far different from the AS NEW capacity.
Massaging Sg back to the maximum is like a reset to 'as good as possible' for that battery at that level of condition. The battery should be easier and faster to fully recharge after the massage, but perhaps not.
Those of us who got sick of trying to outsmart the 'smart' 3, 4 or 22 stage chargers, find twisting a dial to a set voltage to be much easier than manipulating a smart charger with encantations and blood sacrifices to chango
Leave charger on until battery voltage climbs into mid 14's. Keep checking specific gravity accounting for the rise in electrolyte temperature.
If charger stops and flashes green light, Load batteries until voltage falls to 12.6v or below, then restart charge, then remove loads.
Lather rinse repeat until Specific gracity no longer rises or reaches 1.275+ on all cells. It might not ever do this unless voltage is allowed to go as high as 16.2v.
When that occurs ( 1.275+ SG) the battery will be indeed fully charged to its maximum remaining potential capacity, which is likely far different from the AS NEW capacity.
Massaging Sg back to the maximum is like a reset to 'as good as possible' for that battery at that level of condition. The battery should be easier and faster to fully recharge after the massage, but perhaps not.
Those of us who got sick of trying to outsmart the 'smart' 3, 4 or 22 stage chargers, find twisting a dial to a set voltage to be much easier than manipulating a smart charger with encantations and blood sacrifices to chango
