Batteries How Low

[mrsmelly]

Hi All

 

I would just like to gather the opinions of others as to a safe point to discharge batteries to, I use mine 24/7 and try to recharge them when they get down to 12.4 volts I beleive at 12 volts they r classed as flat so is 12,4 a bit low or am I safe at that level.

 

Regards

 

Tim

[Pretty Funked Up]

eeeek so me waking up in the morning to see 9.7v on the panel isnt good then

[chris w]

Hi All

 

I would just like to gather the opinions of others as to a safe point to discharge batteries to, I use mine 24/7 and try to recharge them when they get down to 12.4 volts I beleive at 12 volts they r classed as flat so is 12,4 a bit low or am I safe at that level.

 

Regards

 

Tim

12.2v is approx 50% (assuming no loads on the batteries). It's safe to go down to this level but don't go lower than this or your batteries' life will be shortened.

 

The meter may read lower than this when you have various circuits switched on, so always switch off all circuits and wait an hour before reading the meter to judge the charge level.

 

Every 0.1v is approx 10% charge with 12.7v being full charge. so 12.4v represents about 70% etc. Since you are trying to judge 0.1v steps, if your meter has an accuracy worse than +/-0.5%, its reading is meaningless for this application (run the maths and you will see why).

 

Chris

Edited January 16, 2009 by chris w

[mrsmelly]

eeeek so me waking up in the morning to see 9.7v on the panel isnt good then

 

 

Ye Gods.........I take it u rely heavily on candles.................

 

12.2v is approx 50% (assuming no loads on the batteries). It's safe to go down to this level but don't go lower than this or your batteries' life will be shortened.

 

The meter may read lower than this when you have various circuits switched on, so always switch off all circuits and wait an hour before reading the meter to judge the charge level.

 

Every 0.1v is approx 10% charge with 12.7v being full charge. so 12.4v represents about 70% etc. Since you are trying to judge 0.1v steps, if your meter has an accuracy worse than +/-0.5%, its reading is meaningless for this application (run the maths and you will see why).

 

Chris

 

 

Cheers Chris for the info.