Classic 150 100% SOC - Bulk charge remains running?

[Smitty77]

DGD and Resthome(John) - I first want to assure you that I will be monitoring to see how things go. And will adjust based upon what the monitoring reveals.

I had a good conversation with Lifeline today. Had help from one gent, who on the question about if i should adjust EA values based upon battery age, also went and asked another Lifeline gent for his input.

So for Lifeline, they recommend:

Battery Efficiency be set to 94%.

Ending Amps be set to 4A. (.5A per 100A)

I have set both of those values into play. And will now monitor to see how things behave:)!

Appreciated the help along the way on this...
Smitty

[ClassicCrazy]

DGD and Resthome(John) - I first want to assure you that I will be monitoring to see how things go. And will adjust based upon what the monitoring reveals.

I had a good conversation with Lifeline today. Had help from one gent, who on the question about if i should adjust EA values based upon battery age, also went and asked another Lifeline gent for his input.

So for Lifeline, they recommend:

Battery Efficiency be set to 94%.

Ending Amps be set to 4A. (.5A per 100A)

I have set both of those values into play. And will now monitor to see how things behave:)!

Appreciated the help along the way on this...
Smitty

What voltages did they recommend for Absorb and Float ?

Larry

[Resthome]

DGD and Resthome(John) - I first want to assure you that I will be monitoring to see how things go. And will adjust based upon what the monitoring reveals.

I had a good conversation with Lifeline today. Had help from one gent, who on the question about if i should adjust EA values based upon battery age, also went and asked another Lifeline gent for his input.

So for Lifeline, they recommend:

Battery Efficiency be set to 94%.

Ending Amps be set to 4A. (.5A per 100A)

I have set both of those values into play. And will now monitor to see how things behave:)!

Appreciated the help along the way on this...
Smitty

And what do you have the Absorb Time set at? It needs to be set out a ways so EA can be meet and not go to Float based on the Absorb Timer. It's an either or situation. And at first you want to see how long it will take to get down to that 4A.  Then you can reset Absorb Timer a little closer.

[Smitty77]

Absorb = 14.3
Float = 13.3

Absorb time = 2 1/2 hours

With having the higher EA values until yesterday, we were in Float by 10:30-11:00AM the last few days. (But again, unless I forced it lower by turning of shore power, we've been at 95%+ SOC each AM too.)

This wil leb the first day with EA set to 4A, so will see if this repeats today. If it does, then tonight I'll turn off shore power and we should be to mid 70's percent SOC range in the AM, and see how things go then.

Smitty

[ClassicCrazy]

They told you same thing I just looked up in their manual - which if you haven't seen it has a lot of good information in it .
http://lifelinebatteries.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/manual.pdf
I thought that float voltage seemed low but that is what they say .

Not sure how far you draw your batteries down each night but you probably want to add some time on that Absorb time if you take them down more than 75 percent or so . 

Larry

[Resthome]

Absorb = 14.3
Float = 13.3

Absorb time = 2 1/2 hours

With having the higher EA values until yesterday, we were in Float by 10:30-11:00AM the last few days. (But again, unless I forced it lower by turning of shore power, we've been at 95%+ SOC each AM too.)

This wil leb the first day with EA set to 4A, so will see if this repeats today. If it does, then tonight I'll turn off shore power and we should be to mid 70's percent SOC range in the AM, and see how things go then.

Smitty

You need to increase the Absorb Time to some where around 4-5hrs. Otherwise you will go to Float based on the timer not EA. Then observe how long it takes to go to float and watch the WBjr Amps on the LA

[Smitty77]

Thanks Larry and John,

Larry - When boon docking, we are usually at the 75% + or - 5% in the AM. I oversized the battery bank based upon our energy audits, to live on the top 25% of the capacity, with the hope of extending battery life, and having plenty of reserves.

John - The last couple of days, we've been going to Float/Resting with much less then the set Absorb timespan. Wanted to see what happens now that I've set EA down to 4A. Suspect it will be Absorb timespan, as you say, but want to see. Will up that timespan out once I see what happens the next couple of days.

Also note that after the MidNite has done it's thing, I do turn back on the Magnum MS2812 charger, and within 5 minutes it too is in Float mode.

As I have not yet obtained a full grasp of all of the nuisances of battery management, I'm going thru a process that I think I understand. (And learn along the way, where my understanding was wrong.)

And I do have the PDF of the Lifeline info saved. It was rather obvious when they said yesterday '.5 per 100AH's'. I was looking for the term 'Ending Amp' - and they do not specifically say that... But reading the sentences, yep, it is Ending Amp:)!)

Enjoying the process, and thanks again for the input. Spending many hours the last few days reading older posts here, and elsewhere.

Best,
Smitty

[ClassicCrazy]

You will probably want to set your Magnum charger up the same way as the Classic - the best you can with the settings they have available. It could act a bit differently if it doesn't have temperature compensation and ending amps . Maybe set the Magnum lower voltages so it will do the bulk charging when the batteries are real low and then shut off , and that way it will let the Classic finish everything off. I guess that is an option to consider.

What temperature compensation did they say to use ?

Larry

[Smitty77]

Hi Larry - Told him I had temp compensation set at the default 1%. He said that would be fine....

On the Magnum. Magnum and MidNite Classic150/WhzBngJr do have some similar settings - but also others that are different. They are set as close as I could match them on values, I do have Battery Efficiency set to Auto on the Magnum. No Ending Amps, but temperature compensation is set the same as the MidNite.

We'll be driving today, so the 200A alternator will do most of the days charging. But have another 7 days at the same place, and will be continued to monitor and adjust.

Best,
Smitty

[Vic]

Hi Larry - Told him I had temp compensation set at the default 1%. He said that would be fine....

Hi Smitty,

I am NOT Larry,   but will say,   that there are two battery temperature settings in Classic CCs,   when using the WBjr.   One is the change in battery Capacity verses battery temperature  --  the percentage that you mentioned (probably),

AND the one that is very important when using  Sealed batteries  --  the number of millivolts of compensation per Cell per degree C temperature change with battery temperature.   IMO,   this was probably what Larry was referring to.

For many/most  AGM batteries this value is --3,  or --4 mV/Cell/C.   And often,  this compensation needs to have Limits applied,  in the Temp Compensation page in the Charge menu.

Just my opinion.   Good Luck,   Vic

[Smitty77]

Vic - Very much appreciate making sure I understood. I probably did not:)!

I will need to some homework on this, and see:

-What I have the values set to now
-And what Lifeline recommends these values should be

Many thanks, and best to you, and all,
Smitty