Boiling Batteries

[TomC]

I realize there are some that have had bad luck with AGM batteries. I have 2-8D Lifeline batteries for house. My first set lasted 7 years (they have a 5 year warranty). I also have a Trace inverter/charger that has a 3 stage charger that I can set the voltage and amperage (AGM batteries can take about twice the charging amperage than wet batteries so charging is faster). In those 7 years I did zero to the batteries. They are sealed, can be mounted in any position (except upside down), and don't gas so terminal cleaning is not needed. You can't beat no maintenance in 7 years compared to wet batteries checking the water level monthly, checking the acid level, cleaning the terminals at least once a year, etc. Good Luck, TomC

[ol713]

is that big black thing in the video  a kettle ? that looks like a battery . it should never look like steam is coming out of it

this is what I use to see how full the batteries are ( just like a fuel gauge )  has worked great for years

http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/trimetrics.html

dave

             Hi;
                 I have never heard of Bogart engineering before today.  Never heard of a battery monitor
                 either.  I went to the link and got some knowledge.  I will be looking for one when I get
                 to quartzite in a few weeks.  There are many solar equipment people there.
                 Thanks for the info and this great board.
                                                          Merle.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Brought my Owner's Manual in today.  I have a Trace Engineering U2512 Series Inverter.  The guy who built this but put in the best of everything so I assume this is a good one. Need to do some reading today I suppose. 

[buswarrior]

Optional built in charger?

Or?

Write down ALL the settings in it before you mess with it, or you ruin the evidence!!!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[j.m.jackson]

Good lord Gary, I HOPE that's steam and not hydrogen gas..... Looks like your charger is just charging away at the bulk rate instead of throttling back. Check the manual and see how your inverter/charger is configured, and IF it's charging AS CONFIGURED.

[Fred Mc]

For those looking at battery monitoring you might want to look at this.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/balmar--smartgauge-battery-monitor--16030900

You get most of the same information  but a lot simpler setup. No shunts to install and a lot simpler to use.

[bobofthenorth]

       My continuing inability to understand how them little electrictrons run around and hold hands means that I have no earthly idea what the following on the Bogart website means:

"Requires one of two shunts: 500A/50mV shunt allows amp measurements from 0.1-over 400 Amps. 100A/100mV shunt allows amp measurements from 0.01- over 70 Amps"

        Does Bogart supply a "shunt" with this meter?  If not, where is the best place to get one at a good price?   Is a "shunt" an electrical component or device?  How does it work?  Why can't you just connect this meter to the battery?

        The electrico-iddnurint thanks you!

You have to pick which shunt you need depending on the size of your battery bank.  A shunt is just two connection points separated by an electrical connection with a very small but known resistance across that connection.  The meter reads the very small voltage drop across that known resistance and uses that to calculate amps in and out of your batteries.  It sounds simple but I'm sure its very complicated.  I've had several Bogart Trimetrics on the bus, boat and RV. I wouldn't consider trying to live on batteries without some kind of SOC meter - Bogart just happens to be the one I know but I'm sure the others work just fine too.  I did briefly own a Xantrex Link system but it made me so mad I did a buoyancy test on it and it failed so I wouldn't recommend one of them.

[niles500]

Gary, just for the heck of it, did you inspect every cable, connector, and surface of each connection in the parallel series to make sure you don't have a break in the chain - FWIW

[Van]

I seem to get only a year or two out of a set and at $270 each for 6 batteries, they get pretty expensive.  But I full-time so this eats them up a bit faster than those that are parked with a steady-state load on them most of the time. 

Could this be from all those Adult toys you have plugged in? jus a thought. 

[chessie4905]

Pull the ones that had dry cells, not just one of them. Then turn on inverter and see if it settles down. I just went through this in my coach. Didn't check often enough. One battery(of 4) had some dry cells, another had one slightly below top of plates. Topped them all off and hooked inverter back up to them. Next day, inverter was still charging 17 amps and the battery that had dry cells was pretty hot. Others were warm. Shut everything off. Replaced that damaged battery and after 1 day charge was complete and done. I checked frequently and amp charge kept dropping frequently till fully charged. I was using the pulse charger's on the batteries with a unit that moves from one battery to the next every 15 minutes. Works nice but even with this setup, battery water level needs to be checked every two or three months. I previously left battery get low on water. Unless you set a specific check schedule, whether you are using coach or not, a month can creep to several, especially when you are busy or are getting older and time definitely seems to go faster.
You might want to consider something like this for filling batteries. Put a shelf in battery compartment and just move hose from one cell to another. I use a discontinued Plews 1 gallon container with long 3/16 hose with pinch off shutoff to fill mine. Hang it on hook in Bay so I don't have to hold it. I think I'm going to go with this one though. Can just leave it on shelf unless I need to refill it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gallon+battery+filler&client=tablet-android-verizon&sa=X&biw=962&bih=601&noj=1&tbs=vw:l,ss:44&tbm=shop&srpd=1012587321428573276&prds=num:1,of:1,epd:1012587321428573276,paur:ClkAsKraX6qvKi_0kynroEBt6xjU5lP02sgo8qbO2l0eOj-fpJo1D1uHCHUttvymrN9-0_-RtZiTlkLjk1mq7UZCkdAg93Gpp0UEZqZfNEeQCEuJhVHPt8AlYhIZAFPVH708JRimHreVIVb4CU1UQMvgpmFH9Q&ved=0ahUKEwjZw4Gm06vYAhVFYt8KHYriAQQQgjYI4QQ

[Tony LEE]

Since your batteries are not boiling in the conventional sense, a temperature probe isn't going to help. The probe measures the battery temperature and adjusts the charging set points to compensate for temperature. Cold batteries need more volts to get them fully charged and less when it is hot.

My 4 off 12V 260Ah Fullriver AGMs are 11 years old and still going nicely.

[Oonrahnjay]

... My 4 off 12V 260Ah Fullriver AGMs are 11 years old and still going nicely.

      Nice.  I got 10 (one subsequently stolen from my storage space) AGMs that were takeouts from a cell tower.  I don't know their history but they test out very well.  They're rated about 80 Ah each so my entire bank of the nine will be about 75% the capacity of your Fullrivers.   I don't know if Fullrivers are available in the US but your experience is a great endorsement.  Do you use an inverter/charger?  If so, which brand and model?

[silversport]

I realize there are some that have had bad luck with AGM batteries. I have 2-8D Lifeline batteries for house. My first set lasted 7 years (they have a 5 year warranty). I also have a Trace inverter/charger that has a 3 stage charger that I can set the voltage and amperage (AGM batteries can take about twice the charging amperage than wet batteries so charging is faster). In those 7 years I did zero to the batteries. They are sealed, can be mounted in any position (except upside down), and don't gas so terminal cleaning is not needed. You can't beat no maintenance in 7 years compared to wet batteries checking the water level monthly, checking the acid level, cleaning the terminals at least once a year, etc. Good Luck, TomC

True True, My last AGM lasted 11 years, just last July replaced the 4 D's @ $2100.