We have a portable "demo-off grid" system (24 Vdc, 120 Vac, 1kW-ac) and occasionally we end the day with a fairly deep discharge 11.6-11.7 V (80% DoD).
I like to get a deeply discharged battery back up to 100% capacity as soon as possible (as opposed to letting the 850 W PV / charge controller system charge it up over a several days) and I have a AC battery chargers with "20A', "10A" and "2A" bulk settings along with being able to choose, "wet", "gel" and "AGM" settings. Our battery of choice is a SunXtender AGM battery (PVX-2120L, 12V 253 amp-hr (C/120). My question: Starting with this battery at say 11.6 volts (open circuit), is it safe to begin the bulk charge at ~8% of its C/120 capacity (i.e. 20A), and let the charger go into absorption at 14.4 V (with temperature correction of course) and finish at 2A? How high could I safely start the bulk charge? Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President California Solar Engineering, Inc. 820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065 CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26 [email protected] Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885 _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
