Battery Equalisation Questions?

I've just realised, most of my daily power consumption is running the monitors, laptop and TV to monitor the power consumption :ambivalence:
 
Venus1 said:
On the topic of boost charging to break up lead sulphate, would anyone care to give an opinion on "Megapulse"? I think it gives regular short term boosts..
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When I was in the industry we rated pulse charging as snake oil but you never know. No personal experience.
 
I noticed that in the video link on post #5 Trojan said to equalise every 30 days. This is new and so I checked their latest user manual.

Section 4.4.3 states:
"Trojan recommends equalizing every 30 days or when batteries have a low specific gravity reading after fully charging, below 1.235, or have a wide ranging specific gravity of >0.030 points between cells."

The older manual states:
"Trojan recommends equalizing only when batteries have low specific gravity, below 1.250 or wide ranging specific gravity, 0.030, after fully charging a battery."

I emailed Trojan tech. support to ask if newer T105s had more robust plates or if they now took the view that equal. charge every 30 days was a good thing for all T105s. I gave the age of my T105s (6 seasons), type of use (daily for 7 months each year), usage/charging and monitoring regime.

They replied that
"Every 30 day equalization is specifically for the user who doesn't monitor their specific gravity. Equalization is an over-charge which should be done on an occasional basis. Equalization should be performed on batteries once their SG after charging has dropped below 1.250 SG."

I replied that this was in line with my own understanding and I had never carried out an equal. charge as SG results did not show it to be needed yet.

However, the wording in their manual did mean that batteries should have an equal charge when:
EITHER 30 days since last equal. charge
OR S.G. <= 1.235 (old manual said 1.25 and so did tech. support)
OR S.G. diff. > 0.03.

Tech. support then said that this would be brought up at their next team meeting.

I intend to follow up after a 3-4 weeks to see what happens. Are tech. support and older manual correct? Or should I believe their director of QA on video plus new manual? :D
 
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Monthly equalisation used to be normal practise on stationary batteries yonks ago when they had thick plates, high antimony content (typically 10%, not even T105s have that much now) and very low float voltages, usually 2.05VPC.

I am extremely surprised to see it suggested nowadays and I would not do it pending Trojan's confirmation that that is what they really mean. I would expect it to shorten the life of a modern battery (unless it's in a heavy cycling situation). Overcharging is less damaging than undercharging but there are limits!

You will not find total unanimity between all battery manufacturers on all points. e.g. The Trojan video says never equalise charge any AGM battery - but at least one manufacturer specifically tells you to do it with their products.
 
Plevier said:
Monthly equalisation used to be normal practise on stationary batteries yonks ago when they had thick plates, high antimony content (typically 10%, not even T105s have that much now) and very low float voltages, usually 2.05VPC.

I am extremely surprised to see it suggested nowadays and I would not do it pending Trojan's confirmation that that is what they really mean. I would expect it to shorten the life of a modern battery (unless it's in a heavy cycling situation). Overcharging is less damaging than undercharging but there are limits!

You will not find total unanimity between all battery manufacturers on all points. e.g. The Trojan video says never equalise charge any AGM battery - but at least one manufacturer specifically tells you to do it with their products.
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Yes, I was very surprised to see it quoted in the video and the manual. I saw three likely explanations, new plate material/design, new research or a mistake. None seemed particularly likely so I queried it with their tech. people.

The initial answer was that it only applied to people who never monitored SG. Very odd as they'd be least likely to do equal. charge every month and perhaps less likely to even monitor electrolyte levels regularly.

Trojan's literature is normally pretty good wrt technical stuff. Perhaps this is an attempt to frighten people into at least trying to fully recharge their batteries :D:D instead of educating users on maintenance.
 
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I noticed with interest that my Tracer MPPT controller claims to perform an equalisation charge every 30 days. (for flooded or sealed, but not for gel). Catching it in the act may be difficult ..... it's not very aggressive though at just 14.6v/14.8v for 2hrs, compared to the usual absorption phase of 14.4v/14.6v (Sealed/Flooded).

(You can, if you want, create your own customised charging profile, including equalisation voltage and duration).
 
VMALLOWS said:
I noticed with interest that my Tracer MPPT controller claims to perform an equalisation charge every 30 days. (for flooded or sealed, but not for gel). Catching it in the act may be difficult ..... it's not very aggressive though at just 14.6v/14.8v for 2hrs, compared to the usual absorption phase of 14.4v/14.6v (Sealed/Flooded).

(You can, if you want, create your own customised charging profile, including equalisation voltage and duration).
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Sounds as we have the same MPPT controller. Not much use for me though as 14.8V is just the normal charging voltage for T105s, equal. is more like 16V and more than 2 hours. I can make alter the MPPT settings via laptop or remote display unit to get 16V as you mention. It would probably work on a sunny day if I started at 100% via generator or engine before equalising. Probably easier to just tweak the mains charger. Disconnecting kit would be the main issue but luckily haven't needed to do a proper equal. charge yet.
 
My domestic batteries were not performing after the winter despite being new the summer before.
One of the pair seemed to be less highly charged.
I disconnected the batteries and charged them individually using my small smart charger (from Aldi but similar to a Ctek charger) . The smart charger pulse charges and while it delivers low Amps it goes up to a higher voltage than my on board charger. .
This revived the weaker of the two batteries and they have performed well over the summer.
 
MartynG said:
My domestic batteries were not performing after the winter despite being new the summer before.
One of the pair seemed to be less highly charged.
I disconnected the batteries and charged them individually using my small smart charger (from Aldi but similar to a Ctek charger) . The smart charger pulse charges and while it delivers low Amps it goes up to a higher voltage than my on board charger. .
This revived the weaker of the two batteries and they have performed well over the summer.
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This is a different effect from what most people regard as 'equalisation'.
Or maybe the need for equalisation is compounded by having batteries in a parallel.

I've heard opinions to the effect that it's a very good idea to equalise each battery in a bank on its own rather than attempt to do several at once in parallel.

It kind of begs the question about how the cells in a battery get get un-equal so quickly, if the cell are all made the same and treated the same?
 
lw395 said:
Equalising AIUI, is ensuring that all cells in a battery are 100% charged, by carrying on charging despite the fact that the cells which are already fully charged are forced to gas.
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I am also starting to see battery chargers that have a reconditioning option using pulses which looks to be different from equalisation see http://www.blackanddecker12volt.com/bc25bd for example, does anyone have any further information or experience of reconditioning?
 
RichardS said:
Good Lord yes, Edward Woodward but as Callan. Much earlier but that's the series I watched. I never saw The Equalizer. :o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDdSWjpPJDg

Richard
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I'm far too young to remember Callan.












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