Converting to Solar/AGM

Vic.Bc wrote:
So I'm holding off on a converter for now but have a question regarding isolators. As people have mentioned the alternator may not be the best way to charge the AGMs ...

AGMs are hybrid/dual purpose and can be charged with your automotive alternator. I use AGM as my starting battery. In fact, my first AGM was used in starting service for three years, and it is now being used in the trailer.

With your alternator, the isolator would allow charging power to pass to either bank without allowing either to drain the other.

Isolator

HTH;
John

So I'm holding off on a converter for now but have a question regarding isolators. As people have mentioned the alternator may not be the best way to charge the AGMs so do I just wire the starting battery so that's the only one that's charged by the alternator?

When I wire in my batteries this weekend to the solar/old convertor(which will be replaced soon) will the isolator be able to isolate only the house battery from the starter in regards to solar and shore power. So the house bank will be the only one being charged by solar/converter.?

I'm not really sure how the house bank is wired so the alternator charges it either, is that normal?

full_mosey wrote:

When you do decide to buy, find an order taker, not a salesman.

HTH;
John

I emailed every yacht store, etc in town and most places were pricing the L16s at $900-1000. One guy randomly called me today said he had a deal, turns out he brought in a whole wack awhile back(never said when) for some sides yacht and said he could do a street deal/clearance kind of thing for $870 for the last two they had left. He just needed to get rid of them.

Might have gotten lucky on this one. I told him I could pay cash.

Everyone is getting into really technical stuff and hopefully I'll be able to grasp it as I continue this journey. Being 24 years old and a fulltime RVer, albeit I work in an industry where the possibites of being filled up, propane filled and sewage drained is there sometimes the future looks bright.

I enjoy this online community already. There's something about that connection you make when another RVer drives past you and you acklowdlege each other's rigs.

Either way, the reason I chose 6volt was because of wallet and space. I will wait until it's set in stone but I may be picking up two lifeline L16Ts for just over $800 this weekend. Which gives me that 400aH I was looking for. It would be a magical thing.

Then it's off to a music festival where we will test the solar and the battery and see if I can boondock for 5 days.

So I guess the question is what else do I need to look into to keep this first trip a go? I won't have access to shore power and there is no exterior gennys allowed. So there's no need for a converter really, I'm thinking of at least getting an isolater installed with the battery.

Seeing I have a stereo system going in, I would say its 1800 watts RMS total can you install a buss bar on batteries wired in series?

Also seeing the batteries are in a cupboard, there's plastic trays to hold them down eh?

Page 13.

Trojan Users Guide

Here's the thread: Change in Trojan Users Guide

full_mosey wrote:

I thought deep cycle, like your wet Trojan L16s, required 'top charging' to reach full charge. What is the 'fully charged' spec?

Let's clarify some terms first. Top charging is a Mex term for occasional stirring of the acid. For my batts, it's 15 mins at 14.7V (77F/25C). Doing this fairly regularly nearly eliminates equalizing which is MUCH more destructive. I haven't needed to equalize since performing this. This is more important for my batts because they are tall (they stratify). I don't know if AGMs require this or not. It seems they would not or maybe not nearly as often. Finish charging to probably a better word for ensuring a full charge and has been adopted by some of us here. Can't remember if that's another Mex term or not. :) A finish charge is just bringing up battery specific gravity to "baseline" or full to keep it simple. Many manufacturers are now changing their charging specs to reflect what quite a number of us already figured out. Trojan shows a chart reflecting what appears to be a finish charge at the end of the charge cycle. On my batts, low 15's for two hours after the converter goes to float seems to do the trick. Now that I have the power supply, I expect that process to go faster (more amps at higher volts from the start...no charger voltage ramp up).

PS - I posted the chart in another thread. Let me see if I can find it.

Every discharge then recharge is a cycle
10% discharge would be a shallow Cycle
While 60~70% a Deep cycle
A battery will stand a lot more shallow cycles, than deep cycles
Both the number of cycles and the depth of discharge of those cycles plays into the battery service life

mena661 wrote:

full_mosey wrote:
There is one phenomenom that some of us AGMers notice/report, is that our AGMs reach a point where the accptance amps are zero.

A properly full charged wet cell will do the exact same thing. My batts are currently sitting at zero amps @ 13.1V using my adjustable voltage, 30 amp power supply as a float charger. Even at the Iota's 13.6V float there was 0 amps going in. No .01 or .2 amp drift either. Absolutely zero going in. Two different amp meters to 2 decimal places verified. Specific gravity at baseline too (100% full).

OK, but where is the citation/link from your battery manufacturer that tells us that your battery is 'fully charged'?

I thought deep cycle, like your wet Trojan L16s, required 'top charging' to reach full charge. What is the 'fully charged' spec?

HTH;
John

full_mosey wrote:
There is one phenomenom that some of us AGMers notice/report, is that our AGMs reach a point where the accptance amps are zero.

A properly full charged wet cell will do the exact same thing. My batts are currently sitting at zero amps @ 13.1V using my adjustable voltage, 30 amp power supply as a float charger. Even at the Iota's 13.6V float there was 0 amps going in. No .01 or .2 amp drift either. Absolutely zero going in. Two different amp meters to 2 decimal places verified. Specific gravity at baseline too (100% full).

full_mosey wrote:

I would like to see temp-comp v.s top charging related to battery life cycles.

X2

ken white wrote:


Same concept, different terminology, same application, same results - semantics...

EDIT: VRLA and Equaliziation

Thanks for that!

Although, I must point out that there is a big difference between bubbling/stirring and cell voltage balancing.

I see 'top charging' in a brand new light now.

I noticed there was no mention of temp-comp in the paper.

I do still place more trust in automatic temperature compensation during recharging over manual manipulation of Volts and Amps.

IMHO, the temp-comp also trumps multistage charging. Battery chemistry is directly related to temperature as we see in temperature coefficient tables.

Here's something to consider. Long bulk stage times means your charger is too small or your battery bank is too large. Give me a balanced system that gets at Absorption right away.

I would like to see temp-comp v.s top charging related to battery life cycles.

HTH;
John