I decided to run an experiment and see how the voltage changes after it is fully charged. I've subsequently bought a battery tender to charge the car while it is parked. In fact, during the initial trip, the auto stop/start will not kick on like I always thought it did in the past, which I assume must be the result of the car detecting low voltage in the battery. I jumped it without any issues, but ever since, after a week of not driving, it seems to have a little trouble starting back up. Near as I remember, we had no issues until the past winter when I think we may have unintentionally left it in the garage for a month or so. Around twice a year, it is also our vacation vehicle so then it goes on long trips that might total 1000 miles or more over two weeks. Normally, we use it maybe once a week for short trips, say, 5 to 30 miles. The usage pattern for the vehicle is a bit unusual. We have a 2020 Subaru Forester bought just before the pandemic started that is experiencing some problems with the battery keeping charge. Sealed VRLA (motorcycles) : 13.5 to 13.6VĪs long that you keep in mind that the HB are not designed to recharge a severly discharged battery but only to maintain it, they are really good units.Looking for some advice on what might be going on. I have "adjusted" my HB float chargers to the following charging/float voltage for each type of battery: Gel type battery such as the optima require slightly higer voltage.Īll that to say that as long that the charging and float voltage do not exceed those numbers, there is no chance to overcharge, boil or sulfate the battery. ( the voltage range is due ambient charging temperature) That why voltage regulator on a vehicle is usually set at about 14.5 Vįor float charging, with not time limitation, the max number is between 13.5 to 13.62V With so many vehicles with different types and size of batteries on 24/7 float chargers, I did a lot of research to find out what is the best charging and float voltage for each type.įor a regular lead flooded battery, the maximum voltage, not to exceed 48 hours is between 2.35 to 2.45 per cell or 13.8 to 14.7 V. They are float charger, no trickle, meaning that once the battery reach about 13.2 to 13.5V (depending on the model) the voltage will not go higher and the amps will taper off to keep the battery fully charged without over-charging. The size of the wires from the electronic control to the alligator clips is small because the amperage is very low ( about 1/2 amp) so, no need for bigger ones. The 2nd version used a fixed value resistor for the same purpose ( about 13.5) and the latest version has a lower maximum voltage of about 13.2V which is not high enought for optima type battery than require about 13.5 to 13.8V.Īs Steve was mentionning, it's a pretty simple technology and I have changed the resistor on some of them to have a max voltage of 13.6V. The all look the same but my oldest ones have a rehostat (spel) inside than you can adjust to change the voltage. I have about 20 of them in 24/7 use for at least the last 10 years or so on a bunch a differenty vehicles, from my GTS to my bikes, tractor, jaguar, trailer, trucks, generators, etc, with no problem save for a couple that went bad ( not charging anymore) after 7/8 years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |