AGM vs Traction

[Cloudinspector]

12 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Forgive me for saying so but 'appear o be performing well' is a bit arbitrary and woolly. Could you quantify that please?

Specifically, how many "AH used" does the BMV600 report when the Smartgauge is reporting 50% SoC? This will be very helpful as it allows readers to get a grip on how well your well-looked-after batteries are really doing after their nine satisfactory years.

Many thanks if you can do this.

I'm not the most knowledgeable person to ask about electrical issues. I based my assumption on the fact that each morning the SoC is generally the same and the length of time the generator is needed to recharge them is again the same.

I'll keep my eye on the values you asked during the next few days and report back.

 

 

 

 

[Cloudinspector]

13 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Forgive me for saying so but 'appear o be performing well' is a bit arbitrary and woolly. Could you quantify that please?

Specifically, how many "AH used" does the BMV600 report when the Smartgauge is reporting 50% SoC? This will be very helpful as it allows readers to get a grip on how well your well-looked-after batteries are really doing after their nine satisfactory years.

Many thanks if you can do this.

Edit to add:

I'm especially curioous as my four month old Trojanoids are goosed now, having been looked after in exactly the same manner you describe, using much the same monitoring equipment. Do you always go down to 50% before your re-charge? How many days is that?

 

 

No I don't always discharge down to 50%. Generally we recharge each morning then again early evening.

We have a 240v fridge and a diesel fired heritage range which provides cooking, heating and hot water.  The range is on a timer just the same as a domestic heating system so this along with the 240v fridge means that the inverter needs to be on 24/7. 

Over time I've found that if we recharge every evening to 90% or above by morning, post breakfast/washing up/morning ablutions /heating on/hot water etc the batteries are down to about 60-70%. Over the past 3 years I've found these figures to be fairly consistent with seasonal variations. We usually try and give the batteries a full float charge once a fortnight usually after cruising.

However there are occasions when the batteries have discharged to 40-50% when we've had weeekends away for example. On these occasions I usually give them a good 8 hr recharge up to and beyond the charger switching to float.

[MtB]

Ok many thanks for the detail. very helpful! 

Differs vastly from my own charging regime. My batteries take a week to get down to 50%, then I've been charging back to 100% according to the Smartgauge each weekend.

However, I'm beginning to wonder if I was sold a set of sulphated batteries in the first place. When I first installed them I was delighted with their performance as they lasted a week before getting down to 50% (whereas my killed cheapos lasted two days). However they STILL last a week despite the SG/BMV demonstrating they only have half the capacity written on the tin. 

Edited February 26, 2017 by Mike the Boilerman

[Cloudinspector]

9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Ok many thanks for the detail. very helpful! 

Differs vastly from my own charging regime. My batteries take a week to get down to 50%, then I've been charging back to 100% according to the Smartgauge each weekend.

However, I'm beginning to wonder if I was sold a set of sulphated batteries in the first place. When I first installed them I was delighted with their performance as they lasted a week before getting down to 50% (whereas my killed cheapos lasted two days). However they STILL last a week despite the SG/BMV demonstrating they only have half the capacity written on the tin. 

If you've got some time to waste this may be worth a read. I found it quite informative even though some of it goes over the top of my head.

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Book-EN-EnergyUnlimited.pdf

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Cloudinspector said:

If you've got some time to waste this may be worth a read. I found it quite informative even though some of it goes over the top of my head.

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Book-EN-EnergyUnlimited.pdf

 

Excellent document, thank you. I've just spent an hour reading it and only got as far as Page 22!

[Guest]

Mike were probably not too far from you, you probably know we have AGMS by now, if you want to have a look/chat about them when you're passing feel free to do so.