Typical amps and temperatue during equalizing

Bunkie314

Anyone have typical numbers for amps and battery temp for lifeline concord GPL-4D battery during conditioning? I think I have onebattery going south and wondering if I should remove it from the bank.

BB.

Re: Typical amps and temperatue during equalizing

I am not quite sure of your question... From the manual:

http://www.solar-electric.com/lib/wind-sun/techmanual.pdf

Storage: -55°C (-67°F) to 50°C (122°F).

Operating: -40°C (-40°F) to 71°C (160°F)

Note that batteries will age 2x faster for every 10C (18F) above 25C (77F)... And during charging you should really worry if the battery temperature goes much above 110-115F.

AGM are known for their ability to take high charging currents, but a good nominal charging current for a solar power installation is around 5% to 13% rate of charge (we use 20 Hour discharge capacity for our design rules. Use the 24 Hour capacity for the Concorde AGMs--They don't list 20 Hour rate).

And, in general, they have a very low self discharge rate.

AGM batteries do not have a way to (easily) measure their specific gravity--So that is out. You can measure the resting voltage (3+ hours of no charging/discharging) and see what that is... Should be >~12.7 volts if fully charged (at 77F).

Note that AGM batteries are very sensitive to high charging voltages and over charging. There is a catalyst (typically in the sealed battery cap) where Hydrogen gas and Oxygen is recombined. If over charging, the catalyst can over heat... And over time the catalyst slowly erodes--When the catalyst is gone, the battery is at end of life.

Thinks to watch for... Hearing gas leaving the battery vents (over charging, failed catalyst, battery sides expanding like a ballon). Looking closely at the positive post--If you see it "extruding" from the case, that is typically from positive plate corrosion (somewhat natural as batteries age/fail, can be make worse/faster if battery is over charged). Battery typically at end of life.

Concorde recommends a reconditioning charging at ~15.5 volts (very high for any battery, and probably death for typical AGM)--They say their batteries are "different". This thread tried the desulfating and got some positive results. Batteries did not take very much current at high charging voltage and battery temperature only rose by ~2F over ambient temperature:

http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?9876-Sulfated-Lifeline-Concorde-AGM-Batteries

-Bill