Battery Maintenance

 

Battery Maintenance

by rdpecken on Aug.12, 2014, under Ranch Maintenance

While waiting for the scrap lumber to burn down, I did battery maintenance.

First, I let the solar panels charge until the charger went into float mode (about 1:00 pm that day).

Then I checked that the water level was above the plates of the battery (it was in all cells). I had not filled the batteries since May, so I was concerned, but all was well.

I checked the initial voltage on each battery. They were all in the 6.53 – 6.55 range (I wrote them down, but didn’t capture the figures in the snapshot I took to bring back to town).

Next, I put the charger into equalize mode. I ran in that mode for about an hour, but for the last 15 minutes or so, it had clouded up, so wasn’t fully effective. I’ll have to run another equalize charge next time we come up.

Finally, I let the system go back into float mode, and measured the voltages and specific gravity for each cell. All were in the good range (1.265 is usually considered 100% charged).

Battery # After Equalization Float Voltage Cell 1 SG Cell 2 SG Cell 3 SG
1 6.55 1.265 1.265 1.265
2 6.54 1.265 1.265 1.265
3 6.56 1.265 1.265 1.265
4 6.56 1.265 1.265 1.265
5 6.52 1.265 1.260 1.260
6 6.56 1.260 1.265 1.265
7 6.56 1.260 1.265 1.260
8 6.53 1.260 1.260 1.260

 
Checking Specific Gravity

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