AGM Battery questions...

[Steve Spence]

And what type of maintenance would you impose upon a Concorde agm house
battery?

Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org

Contributing Editor
http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[George Ghio]

Serious question, George. I am considering getting a battery or two
for my pop-up camper with an eye at using them with an inverter for
emergency power. I've thought about AGM batteries and placing them
inside the camper. Or conventional flooded batteries, which would be
mounted on the trailer tongue.

What type of battery would you recommend?

What maintenance is necessary for AGM batteries?

In a camper the use of AGM batteries is a good one.

Do not charge with more than 14.1 volts. If high temps are encountered
use less voltage in line with manufacturers specs.

Well part of AGM maintenance is of course the charge voltage. Keep the
terminals clean and tight. Batteries should be kept within the temp
range stated by the manufacturer. They should also be checked for
physical damage and security. Vibration on the road can unscrew anything.

George

 

[Gìmmìe Bob]

I thought one of the big points with AGM cells was the vibration resistance
that others do not have.
This looks like a feature you would want here.

 

[Windsun]

And what type of maintenance would you impose upon a Concorde agm house
battery?

Polish the terminals??

 

[George Ghio]

I thought one of the big points with AGM cells was the vibration resistance
that others do not have.
This looks like a feature you would want here.

The connections where the cable joins the battery.

The device that keeps the battery in place.

George

 

[Gìmmìe Bob]

I cannot associate your response with what I posted but I thought it was the
internal AGM between the plates that stabilized the whole cell that was the
big feature with them.

 

[George Ghio]

Serious question, George. I am considering getting a battery or two
for my pop-up camper with an eye at using them with an inverter for
emergency power. [snip]

In a camper the use of AGM batteries is a good one.

Do not charge with more than 14.1 volts. If high temps are encountered
use less voltage in line with manufacturers specs.

Well part of AGM maintenance is of course the charge voltage. Keep the
terminals clean and tight. Batteries should be kept within the temp
range stated by the manufacturer. They should also be checked for
physical damage and security. Vibration on the road can unscrew

anything.

Thank you for that reply. What kind of charger would be appropriate?
I have cheap auto battery chargers, I think one is a switchable 6 amp /
2 amp unit, the other is a 1 amp unit. These are dumb chargers.

There are Solar regulators that will control the charge from a 'Dumb"
charger. Several are adjustable for output voltage. Not $30. But then
there is the advantage that the same reg will work if switched to to a
solar panel. The point being that the battery should not exceed the
manufacturers specs for voltage input.

I have the impression that if I try to save money on the charger, I'll
be buying more batteries soon.

Hold on to that thought.

In the camper, there are long periods (months) of no use. And this is
alt.solar.photovoltaic. I see inexpensive ($30 US) "Battery Saver"
solar panels with a 1.8 watt rating. Once the battery is fully
charged, can I hook that up and forget it during periods of inactivity,
assuming there are no draws on the battery?

If the panels output is more than the maximum allowed for the battery it
could cause damage. Once an AGM vents then hydrogen and oxygen (water)
is lost and you can not put it back. 17 volts at 1.8A is still 17 volts.
Read the spec sheet.

On the other hand good AGM batteries do have a low self discharge rate.

One thing that has always worked for me is to email the tech dept of the
battery manufacturer. Save the reply. It can be the difference between a
successful warantey claim and rejection.

More precise advice will require more precise information.

Battery, charger, panel.

George

 

[George Ghio]

Ah the top poster.

Yes up to a point. That point may well be reached when the battery is
bouncing off the walls of its enclosure.

Things also stop working well when the connections become loose.

George

 

[Steve Spence]

I wonder how often George thinks he would have to do that? When I
installed mine, I made sure the terminals and cables were bright and
tight. In a mobile vibration prone setting, I'd even consider positive
locking connections of some sort so that they can't work their way
loose. I haven't seen this kind of issue in an RV.

Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org

Contributing Editor
http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[wmbjk]

Polish the terminals??

Here are a bunch of AGM "maintenance" items. http://tinyurl.com/5evpx
The smallest ones might fit. ;-)

Wayne

 

[m II]

It has been stated that flooded cell batteries are not good for solar
because of the maintenance current required to maintain them.

Stated by WHO? Care to provide an URL? As far as I know, these are the longest
lasting and most cost effective type to use.






mike

 

[George Ghio]

Just to clarify, it's not 1.8A. It's 1.8 *watts*, which at 17 volts is
just over 0.1 amp. This panel is not to charge the battery but to
maintain an already charged battery.

Let's assume an AGM rated at about 50 Amp Hours. A quick google shows
that the Concorde Sun Xtender PVX-490T is about that capacity.

Yes.

Well lets see. A guy had a house, 200Ah of batteries with two 36watt
"self-regulating" panels. Everything worked fine , he did not have a
regulator because the panels were self regulating.

He went to visit friends for a week. When he returned home he found that
the self-regulating panels didn't.

Now because he had lead acid batteries on a shelf under the roof of the
house (close to the panels on the roof) and all his entertainment on
shelves below the batteries (short wire runs again) when he returned
home he found that the batteries had boiled over, TV, stereo, video were
all some what worse for wear.

Self-regulating panels arn't

If a battery floats at 14.1 volts and you give it 15 - 16 volts it will
continue to charge.

Now your 1.8 Watts (undisclosed voltage) poses an interesting question.
I wouldn't do this with an AGM battery with out confermation from the
batteries manufacturer.

What is the panels voltage?

George

 

[Gìmmìe Bob]

Hopefully his AGM battery is larger than a AA NiCad that could absorb this
charge current forever.

He already stated the current for 1.8W rating.

(God I hate bottom posting. Why can't people stop going against the design
of their browsers?)

 

[George Ghio]

Hopefully his AGM battery is larger than a AA NiCad that could absorb this
charge current forever.

He already stated the current for 1.8W rating.

(God I hate bottom posting. Why can't people stop going against the design
of their browsers?)

This group has bottom posted for ever.

The question is about over voltage.

 

[Gìmmìe Bob]

Hopefully his AGM battery is larger than a AA NiCad that could absorb this
charge current forever.

He already stated the current for 1.8W rating.

 

[Windsun]

1/10th of an amp is not going to hurt that size battery.

 

[Landline]

Bottom posting is for bottom dwelling scum suckers, catfish and lawyers.

 

[George Ghio]

Bottom posting is for bottom dwelling scum suckers, catfish and lawyers.

Maybe, but this group has bottom posted for as long as I have posted
here.

I post to a number of groups. Some top post, some bottom post.

Me, I like top posting, but this group bottom posts. Suggest you get
over it or go elsewhere.

 

[Gìmmìe Bob]

Losing battle George. You can only perpetuate old wives tales for so long.

 

[Steve Spence]

No, this "group" doesn't bottom post. Some posters bottom post, some top
post. some inline post. You haven't been around that long .......

some get bent over how others post. life is too short. post whatever way
makes you happy.


Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org