Smart gauge / smart bank

[Lesd]

I'm aware of how to force connect the relays on my smartbank (handy when you have a dying start battery) but is there a quick way to force the relays to disconnect ? When charging the relays are connected and my sulphated start battery is allowing the voltage to rise very quickly resulting in a short bulk charge. If I can force disconnect the relays Im hoping for a much longer bulk charge. Anyone any ideas if this is possible without getting in the engine hole and pulling connectors ?

 

Thanks

Les

[GUMPY]

I'm aware of how to force connect the relays on my smartbank (handy when you have a dying start battery) but is there a quick way to force the relays to disconnect ? When charging the relays are connected and my sulphated start battery is allowing the voltage to rise very quickly resulting in a short bulk charge. If I can force disconnect the relays Im hoping for a much longer bulk charge. Anyone any ideas if this is possible without getting in the engine hole and pulling connectors ?

Change the connect voltage within the software to something high that causes it only to switch on when the bulk is over and acceptance is starting such as 14.8

Have a look here

http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/diff_batts.html

you may be able to do something similar

Edited February 24, 2013 by idleness

[smileypete]

I'm aware of how to force connect the relays on my smartbank (handy when you have a dying start battery) but is there a quick way to force the relays to disconnect ? When charging the relays are connected and my sulphated start battery is allowing the voltage to rise very quickly resulting in a short bulk charge. If I can force disconnect the relays Im hoping for a much longer bulk charge. Anyone any ideas if this is possible without getting in the engine hole and pulling connectors ?

Would have thought if start batt and dom bank are connected they should rise at the same rate! If connected together the charge voltage rises quickly then the dom bank isn't accepting charge so readily. This could be because the dom bank is nearly charged, the charge source is large compared to the dom bank, the dom bank is sulphated, or a combination.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[Lesd]

Would have thought if start batt and dom bank are connected they should rise at the same rate! If connected together the charge voltage rises quickly then the dom bank isn't accepting charge so readily. This could be because the dom bank is nearly charged, the charge source is large compared to the dom bank, the dom bank is sulphated, or a combination.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

 

Hi Pete

So will a sulphated battery cause the combined bank's voltage to rise quicker or will the four good ones hold the sulphated battery's voltage down ? Maybe I need to run an equilisation charge. These are 3-4 month old Trojans so Im hoping they arent sulphated already !

Les

 

Change the connect voltage within the software to something high that causes it only to switch on when the bulk is over and acceptance is starting such as 14.8

Have a look here

http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/diff_batts.html

you may be able to do something similar

 

Thanks, need to get my head around that. The high voltage disconnect seems like a possible way. Now I've read Pete's response Im concerned Im barking up the wrong tree anyway !

[Sir Nibble]

I'm aware of how to force connect the relays on my smartbank (handy when you have a dying start battery) but is there a quick way to force the relays to disconnect ? When charging the relays are connected and my sulphated start battery is allowing the voltage to rise very quickly resulting in a short bulk charge. If I can force disconnect the relays Im hoping for a much longer bulk charge. Anyone any ideas if this is possible without getting in the engine hole and pulling connectors ?

 

Thanks

Les

This idea is based upon a misconception. Even presuming your start battery is badly sulphated disconnecting it from the charge system will not increase bulk charge time.

[smileypete]

Hi Pete

So will a sulphated battery cause the combined bank's voltage to rise quicker or will the four good ones hold the sulphated battery's voltage down ? Maybe I need to run an equilisation charge. These are 3-4 month old Trojans so Im hoping they arent sulphated already !

Only in so far as the sulphated batt itself isn't accepting current so easily, but won't affect how well the others are accepting current.

 

Maybe give the Trojans a full charge at 14.8V ideally with the current falling to 2% of bank capacity in Ah. Then remove caps and after waiting for explosive gases to clear check the SGs. If they're too low or all over the place then it sounds like it's time to equalise. But if certain batts are down relative to the others it might also be bad or unbalanced batt connections.

 

Have a look at the battery FAQ, all kinds of useful info including vital safety information:

 

http://www.batteryfaq.org

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[Lesd]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Im a bit worries about these new Trojans so have just done a couple of checks; the water levels in each cell is still fine (good covering of water over all of the plates). The SGs are quite varied though, ranging between 1.235 and 1.255. They vary individually and across the batteries (ie no cells in each battery are the same). This is with the smartguage reading 99% (I charged to 100% last night).

 

We're cruising tomorrow so the batts will be fully charged when we stop, if we have enough daylight I'll recheck the SGs and try to run an equilisation charge via the genny/Victron multi

 

Les