Good, 6V, flooded, deep cycle, charger

[theoldwizard1]

A friend of a friend is trying to set up camper for off grid living. He will have a battery bank made of 2 or 3 pairs of LARGE ^V flooded deep cycle batteries. Not sure what the are, but they are about twice as tall as a GC2.

To maximize life, he wants to occasionally remove a battery from the string and give it a good multi-cycle (3 stage) charging.

I have not found any 6V, deep cycle. multi-stage chargers.

[wa8yxm]

I am fond of saying that there are no six volt batteries in RV's. only 12 volt batteries that shipped in two pieces for ease of handling.

My recommedation is give above.. His plan is ok, but do them two at a time,

For this I will assume 8 6V batteries,, arrainged as 4 pair making 4 12 volt batteries, paralled to make on big 12 volt battery (yes you only have one battery.. Technically,, Forget I said this please)

Now take each pair, exactly as he described.. Or just do the whole thing at once

The Progressive Dynamics 9280 is a great box, or a 9180 with the optional wizard (built in on the 92--) I have one, works great.

[RJsfishin]

Quote:
To maximize life, he wants to occasionally remove a battery from the string and give it a good multi-cycle (3 stage) charging
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That is a ridiculous idea.
Does this mean that he doesn't even have a multi stage charger on the batteries now ?
And why pull just 1....or even 2, or why pull any ?? Why not connect a good 3 stage charger/converter to all of them and let it do what its designed to do.
You can charge 15+ volts w/o even a hint of hurting electronics, so connect it, forget it, and go camping.

[Tom_M1]

It sounds like your friend of a friend wants to do a routine maintenance procedure. Rather than a 3 stage charger he should do an equalizing charge. Trojan recommends 8.1 volts for 6 volt batteries. The best approach would be to use a power supply with adjustable voltage and current and a hydrometer. Trojan recommends charging at this voltage until the specific gravity of each cell stops rising. Make sure battery is fully charged and electrolyte is at proper levels before the start of equalization. Periodically check electrolyte level and make sure battery is not overheating. A battery will be giving off a lot of gas during this procedure, so make sure there is good ventilation and no flames or sparks near by.

Here' a link: Trojan battery maintenance

[MrWizard]

quick note
you charge by system voltage NOT single battery voltage

if the system is 12v then you charge the series pairs, NOT one 6v battery

if he is doing a 12v system, then its a 12v charger
if he does a 24v system, then a 24v charger

so if he uses 6v batteries, charge the 12v pair, or the 24v string

NOT one 6v

if using 12v jars parallel for a 12v system (i have 5)
you can charge only one or two externally IF needed, but again that IS system voltage
never charge only one battery of a series pair

golf cars and scrubbers and pallet lifts
all run multiple batteries 24v, 36v, 48v
there are NO single 6v chargers for big 6v batteries
because they are never used as only one 6v battery anywhere

[time2roll]

Probably L16 and would do great with PD9280-14.8 converter.

http://www.bestconverter.com/PD-9280C-148-80-Amp-RV-ConverterCharger