Forum Discussion
landyacht318
Apr 01, 2015Explorer
Naio, you have AGM house batteries If I remember correctly. Theses should not be brought upto these rather extreme equalization voltages.
Lifeline AGM has a 'conditioning' procedure, very similar to a flooded Equalization cycle, to attempt to restore capacity on Cranky Lifelines, but no other AGM manufacturer I know of says this is acceptable.
Lifeline has a very good technical manual worthy of a Read:
http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/manual.pdf
It is harder to know when an AGM is truly fully charged. I've been using the amperage it requires to hold Absorption voltage on my NorthStar group 27 AGM battery, at 14.7v. When it requires less than 0.4 amps to hold 14.7v, I consider it fully charged. However, if it was cycled more than 10% and not recharged at a high initial rate of at least 25 amps, I notice it cannot crank my engine with the same impressive gusto. Mostly it is used as an engine starting battery. So While I do not cycle my AGM battery often, when I do, I make sure I can employ my 41 amp Meanwell power supply, or am driving with engine rpms over 1200 for long enough so that my well cabled '130 amp' alternator can feed it as much juice as it wants to take.
MaineSail has a good read about AGMs as they apply to the boating world and some main points he brings up is that it is more important to return AGMs to 100% charged than it is flooded batteries, and that they require higher charge rates when deeply cycled:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=124973
Lifeline AGM has a 'conditioning' procedure, very similar to a flooded Equalization cycle, to attempt to restore capacity on Cranky Lifelines, but no other AGM manufacturer I know of says this is acceptable.
Lifeline has a very good technical manual worthy of a Read:
http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/manual.pdf
It is harder to know when an AGM is truly fully charged. I've been using the amperage it requires to hold Absorption voltage on my NorthStar group 27 AGM battery, at 14.7v. When it requires less than 0.4 amps to hold 14.7v, I consider it fully charged. However, if it was cycled more than 10% and not recharged at a high initial rate of at least 25 amps, I notice it cannot crank my engine with the same impressive gusto. Mostly it is used as an engine starting battery. So While I do not cycle my AGM battery often, when I do, I make sure I can employ my 41 amp Meanwell power supply, or am driving with engine rpms over 1200 for long enough so that my well cabled '130 amp' alternator can feed it as much juice as it wants to take.
MaineSail has a good read about AGMs as they apply to the boating world and some main points he brings up is that it is more important to return AGMs to 100% charged than it is flooded batteries, and that they require higher charge rates when deeply cycled:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=124973
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