Community Forums

BillJinOR · 02-24-2017, 04:14 PM

Another thought would be to turn equalization off or on manual most inverter chargers and certainly many good solar controllers can do this. The solar should maintain the 3 level charge You can then chose when to equalize manually and when you do you might want to disconnect the house as many electronics may not play well with the voltage. All the battery manufacturers should specify the proper equalize voltage for their cells.

Mr_D · 02-24-2017, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Note that as the electrolyte (water) level gets lower, the battery heats up more under charge and boiling increases. It's a vicious cycle once it starts.

I can't imagine equalizing monthly, especially during winter storage, if the solar was in fact able to generate a equalizing cycle that often in the winter climates.

My last set of wet cell deep cycle batteries lasted 10 years and I never equalized them.

SkiSmuggs · 02-25-2017, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLGPE

One more thought: Sam's Club or Costco will have good batteries for about $85 each. The total AH rating is a little less, but the cost is a lot less. Unless you boondock a lot, the standard 6V wet cells will serve just as well.

If you don't have a solar controller, you need to get one; they are pretty cheap. Check Amazon.

HTH

Tom

I've looked at my local (70 minutes away) Costco and they don't carry GC2, nor can I order them online for pick up. Same with Walmart.
The only way to disable equalization would be to either change the volt setting down to the bulk setting or change the equalization time to zero. I hope my solar controller survived the ordeal. We had a warm spell and I noticed this morning that the snow has melted off the panels, so I pulled the hot wire coming from the panels as running without the battery can damage it.
Also, neither my original WFCO or replacement Power Max Boondocker had/have manual equalization.

SkiSmuggs · 02-27-2017, 05:41 AM

I got the batteries out. The long sides were bulging and gray/white junk (sulfate?) was floating in the cells. I will be checking the new ones monthly from now on.

Annieoakley · 03-03-2017, 07:55 AM

I'm a newby, Winnie Drop, gel battery, 6 yr life. When towing, do I leave the battery ON in order for the Battery to receive a charge? Same question while hooked to 30 amps. No info in paperwork.

SkiSmuggs · 03-04-2017, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annieoakley

I'm a newby, Winnie Drop, gel battery, 6 yr life. When towing, do I leave the battery ON in order for the Battery to receive a charge? Same question while hooked to 30 amps. No info in paperwork.

Yes, on except for periods of storage without electricity.

SkiSmuggs · 03-19-2017, 07:56 PM

I think I may have a clue as to why my Trojan batteries boiled out and froze. I just installed the new Trojans today and switched from the Battery Minder to my built-in charger/converter. When my solar charge controller became active, it had a date of Dec 5 which meant my batteries were down to about 10 volts by that date which was only about 6 weeks after I topped the water off.
I checked the batteries in my F350 diesel and they showed 12.1v so I connected a Battery Minder to each and put a volt meter in the dash. After 5 hours, I went out to check and the meter read 14.3 volts. That seems way too high for a maintenance charge (should be about 13.2) so I unplugged the Battery Minders, one of which was used for the Trojans. I suspect that BM lost its mind and took out the Trojans. Does this seem reasonable?

Scottybdivin · 03-19-2017, 08:50 PM

That seems pretty high for a battery minder. It's not capable of achieving bulk or absorb charge rates. I have one on my gate opener and it usually reads around 12.7.

Ray,IN · 03-19-2017, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsheetz

Equalizing monthly, especially while in storage, may well be the source of the water consumption.

I agree. US Battery explains how/why batteries lose water due to equalizing charge.
There are several things mentioned in the article that requires the operator to visit the batteries during the process. It is not a "set and forget" procedure.

Ray,IN · 03-19-2017, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkiSmuggs

I think I may have a clue as to why my Trojan batteries boiled out and froze. I just installed the new Trojans today and switched from the Battery Minder to my built-in charger/converter. When my solar charge controller became active, it had a date of Dec 5 which meant my batteries were down to about 10 volts by that date which was only about 6 weeks after I topped the water off.
I checked the batteries in my F350 diesel and they showed 12.1v so I connected a Battery Minder to each and put a volt meter in the dash. After 5 hours, I went out to check and the meter read 14.3 volts. That seems way too high for a maintenance charge (should be about 13.2) so I unplugged the Battery Minders, one of which was used for the Trojans. I suspect that BM lost its mind and took out the Trojans. Does this seem reasonable?

At 12.1 V your batteries are near 45% capacity. That puts them in the bulk-charge category. I suspect the battery minder was quite hot while the output was 14.3V (absorption stage), it was severely overworked due to draw from the batteries. I'm surprised it wasn't burned out.
The 12V side of life, by Mark Nemeth explains.

SkiSmuggs · 03-20-2017, 07:07 AM

I just checked the Battery Minder manual and was surprised to see it is a 2-stage charger with output of 14.4v until a battery is considered fully charged, then in drops to 13.4v for maintenance. I checked the truck this morning after the BMs were disconnected all night, and with temps in the upper 20s, it showed the batteries at 12.67 or fully charged. It could be that the BMs had not switched to maintenance after 5 hours and I may need to wait a little longer. I had no idea they had that much output. Also, the trouble shooting page says there may be a problem if the BM has not gone into maintenance mode within 72 hours.
I will try the Battery Minders on an old Subaru I plan to junk and monitor. I just want to see if the BM operates as it should, but am not going to risk brand new Trojans.