Ron
Moderator Emeritus
bsberry99 said:
Excellent choice Bob.
Batteries
- Thread starter bsberry99
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Excellent choice Bob.
Alaskansnowbirds
Site Team
bsberry99 said:
Look in the Yellow Pages for a solar store. Most states don't charge sales tax on "alternate energy" products. I bought mine from Northern Arizona Wind & Sun in Flagstaff. Saved 8.5%.
OP
OP
bsberry99
Member
I purchased the Lifeline 6 volts on Thursday. I have been running a test and so far it seems to be working. Here is the test, tell me what you think.
Every couple of hours I check the Refrigerator temp, outside temp, battery charge, AMPs being generated via the Solar panel and I open the fridge door for 10 seconds. I am parked in partial shade from 12 -2pm with the rest of the day getting good sun on the panel. So far I seen to be keeping the battery above 12 volts, which occurs in the am before the panel starts generating. In the early afternoon I am up to 12.80 volts or there abouts.
Now my next project is installing a charge wizard on my 9145A converter. Anyone have an opinion on these? I was reading where the converter can take 70 hours to charge a battery but with the wizard you can reach 90% in 2-3 hours with it taking about 11 hours to reach full charge using the boost mode. This seems to be a great benefit when using the Honda generator to charge the batteries on a cloudy day.
Thanks fore all your help,
Bob
Every couple of hours I check the Refrigerator temp, outside temp, battery charge, AMPs being generated via the Solar panel and I open the fridge door for 10 seconds. I am parked in partial shade from 12 -2pm with the rest of the day getting good sun on the panel. So far I seen to be keeping the battery above 12 volts, which occurs in the am before the panel starts generating. In the early afternoon I am up to 12.80 volts or there abouts.
Now my next project is installing a charge wizard on my 9145A converter. Anyone have an opinion on these? I was reading where the converter can take 70 hours to charge a battery but with the wizard you can reach 90% in 2-3 hours with it taking about 11 hours to reach full charge using the boost mode. This seems to be a great benefit when using the Honda generator to charge the batteries on a cloudy day.
Thanks fore all your help,
Bob
Ron
Moderator Emeritus
Make sure your charge wizard or what ever you use to charge the AGM batteries provide the proper charge for AGM batteries.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Excellent choice. Converts an great two stage charger to a great three stage charger.
The boost mode certainly helps but you get a high percentage of the charge in the first 2-3 hours either way.
The Lifeline battery is an good choice - they make a superb battery.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
Seconding what RON said.. When I got my motor home I did a lot of research into charger/converters. And the Progressive Dynamics Intella Power 91xx with charge wizard or 92xx (has the wizard built in) was, at the time, beyond a doubt one of the BEST (if not the best) charger for flooded wet cell batteries ever made. NOTE: Flooded wet cells. Not lifeline AGM's.
The thing that makes it so good is very good attention to detail and programming, very good for the batteries charge wize and the auto-equalize feature for preventing sulfication of the plates. My 9180 w/wizard I need to add water to my Work-a-holics every year or two, it's plugged in about 50 weeks a year. If you want to know where it is the other two weeks, check the forum home page. it is not in the picture. but it would have been if the photo had been shot a year later
HOWEVER: I could find no evidence of a charge wizard for AGM batteries (slightly different voltage and no auto=equalize mode, manual ok, auto not so good)
The thing that makes it so good is very good attention to detail and programming, very good for the batteries charge wize and the auto-equalize feature for preventing sulfication of the plates. My 9180 w/wizard I need to add water to my Work-a-holics every year or two, it's plugged in about 50 weeks a year. If you want to know where it is the other two weeks, check the forum home page. it is not in the picture. but it would have been if the photo had been shot a year later
HOWEVER: I could find no evidence of a charge wizard for AGM batteries (slightly different voltage and no auto=equalize mode, manual ok, auto not so good)
Tom
Administrator
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- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 51,896
John In Detroit said:
John, there are conflicting statements/reports on the need to equalize AGMs. Personally, I don't do it on my 8D AGMs. OTOH I also have 10 golf cart flooded wet cell batteries on my boat and 4 on my coach that get equalized periodically.
John From Detroit
Well-known member
I agree Tom, there is come discussion on that
From the research I've done it appears that one should equalize AGM's when it appears they need it
Flooded wet cells can take it more often to prevent issues but since an equalization charge is a controlled over charge, I'm a bit leary of over charging my AGM's too often.
From the research I've done it appears that one should equalize AGM's when it appears they need it
Flooded wet cells can take it more often to prevent issues but since an equalization charge is a controlled over charge, I'm a bit leary of over charging my AGM's too often.
Tom
Administrator
- Joined
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- Posts
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John In Detroit said:
John, with wet cells I usually know when equalization is needed. i.e. the batteries don't hold their charge as long. For the benefit of folks reading along, I hasten to add that, what this really means is that they have reduced capacity, for reasons explained in this article in our forum library. *
I haven't experienced this with AGMs and I don't really know if I will, or if there's some other indicator of needing equalization.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Progressive offers two different Smart Charge modules - one for flooded and the other for "gel". I haven't seen any specs that would illustrate what is different.
I don't equalize gels or AGMs and frankly don't worry much about the charge voltage difference either. It's a very minor difference, in my opinion.
The biggest difference in flooded and AGM battery charging profiles is the float for AGMs is about .2V lower than for flooded cells. I used to adjust the ambient temperature setting on my Heart to compensate before I got a new Link 1000 with the AGM profile. The difference in equalizing is AGMs are equalized at ~15V for a shorter period than flooded cells, which are done at ~16V for up to 8 hours. If I would ever equalize my AGMs, I wouldn't leave it on for more than 4 hours.
OP
OP
bsberry99
Member
As far as equalization, the Charge Wizard does it for 15 minutes every 21 hours. I am hoping this is not a problem on the AGM's. Comparing the sites, AGM's should be charged:
3 Stage Chargers
Bulk 14.2 - 14.4 volts
Acceptance 14.2 - 14.4 volts
Float 13.2 - 13.3 volts
The charge wizard charges at:
14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode)
13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode)
13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode)
These numbers seems to be within tolerance of each other.
In addition the Equalize mode is 14.4 volts for 15 minutes on a fully charged battery, while lifeline calls for 15.5 volts for 8 hourson a fully charged battery. So this should not create a problem of overcharging. Although I will not be able to Equalize with the Wizard, I think i can use the Solar Panel Controller if needed.(It has a Equalize mode)
Bob
3 Stage Chargers
Bulk 14.2 - 14.4 volts
Acceptance 14.2 - 14.4 volts
Float 13.2 - 13.3 volts
The charge wizard charges at:
14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode)
13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode)
13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode)
These numbers seems to be within tolerance of each other.
In addition the Equalize mode is 14.4 volts for 15 minutes on a fully charged battery, while lifeline calls for 15.5 volts for 8 hourson a fully charged battery. So this should not create a problem of overcharging. Although I will not be able to Equalize with the Wizard, I think i can use the Solar Panel Controller if needed.(It has a Equalize mode)
Bob
Actually, bulk mode is a constant current mode where the charger puts out its maximum rated charging current until the voltage rises to a predefined level, typically typically 14.4V for flooded or AGM cells. Then it goes into acceptance mode which is a constant voltage mode, typically 14.4V, until the charging current falls to a predefined level, typically 2% of the battery capacity. Then it goes into float mode where the voltage is dependent on the charging profile, flooded, AGM, or gel; ~13.5V for flooded and 13.2-13.3V for AGM. This is from the Heart inverter manual.
