Hi Jeff
Check out "procedure 2" on page 13:
"Charge the battery for 24 hours using a constant current charge that is 5% of the 20-hour capacity of the battery (5A for a 100Ah battery). The charger should be able to provide a driving voltage as high as 18.00V. Monitor the battery temperature; discontinue charging if the battery temperature rises by more than 20°C."
A termperature probe is a very good idea, but the battery warmer is unnecessary unless you are camping in near (or below) freezing temperatures. Batteries should not be heated during storage.
The open cell voltage is one data point, but its not sufficient info to make a diagnosis... and of couse there's no way to measure SG. As I mentioned previously, it is my opinion that given your low-current (& low voltage) charging sources, you will never get those batteries to 100% SOC. Continued use and storage in a discharged state will lead to reduced battery life.
As a point of reference; When camping by batteries get a daily charge to 14.7V until the current drops to .001C (300mA). The batteries now are 3 years old, I have done many hi-current discharges (with data logging) and I'm not able to measure any loss of capacity.
Keep us posted.
Cheers,
Mark
