G'day everyone, I am seeking forum members advice on the best options for maintainence of century 100amp hour AGM that I have mounted in rear of 4wd.
While I am not touring the battery is not being fully charged and I would like to know the best way to maintain/preserve its lifespan; ie; remove it from its carry case, or leave insitu but with the manual isolator switch in the off postion? I have a smart charger for recharging when required.
Many thanks,
Ozi2

Just keep it on float ,around 13.8 volts should look after it . I just leave the sola on and it looks after them.. to easy.. good batterys AGMs just dont over charge them as 15 volts plus.....

BobnBev wrote:

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Just keep it on float ,around 13.8 volts should look after it . I just leave the sola on and it looks after them.. to easy.. good batterys AGMs
just dont over charge them as 15 volts plus.....

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G'day Bob and thanks for your reply. I have a Projecta 150amp charger installed and isolated from main, it charges the duel nicely and at the battery I have a second manual kill switch. Since returning from the big trip the battery hasnt been getting enough "deep"charge, even though the monitor shows full. When I charged the agm with the smart charger it took overnight to fully charge and I wondered am I shortening the life of the battery by leaving it insitu?
cheers,
ozi2

 

It's quite ok to leave a good quality smart charger "in situ". In fact doing so will if anything extend the life of the battery as the smart charger will work out how and when it should be charging the battery. AGMs are very good at holding their charge by the way. For a variety of technical reasons the dual battery system often does not fully charge the battery as you appear to have found out so the "smart" charger is also handy to "top up" the battery when appropriate. I have an aux battery installed in the Pajero with a 7 amp Ctek charger semi permanently installed that I occasionally plug in to top up the battery. When I'm away from home I hookup to a caravan park's ground power and this also powers a "Bushman" fridge, no need to change over leads and power supplies. (I do have a dual battery system installed)

jimricho wrote:

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It's quite ok to leave a good quality smart charger "in situ". In fact doing so will if anything extend the life of the battery as the smart charger will work out how and when it should be charging the battery. AGMs are very good at holding their charge by the way. For a variety of technical reasons the dual battery system often does not fully charge the battery as you appear to have found out so the "smart" charger is also handy to "top up" the battery when appropriate.

I have an aux battery installed in the Pajero with a 7 amp Ctek charger semi permanently installed that I occasionally plug in to top up the battery. When I'm away from home I hookup to a caravan park's ground power and this also powers a "Bushman" fridge, no need to change over leads and power supplies. (I do have a dual battery system installed)

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 G'day Jim and Bob, thanks very much for the input, I shall leave the battery in situ and top with smart charger from time to time.........certainly beats lifting all that weight in and out all the time.
Cheers,
Ozi

 

One of the main features of AGM batteries is their very low self discharge. It would be quite all right to leave a fully charged AGM (that has no load attached) standing for 3 to 6 months at a time and then topping it up. That will do it no harm. Cheers, Peter

I have an Optima "Red Top" agm in my van, yes a Red Top starting battery! but it is performing well as a deep cycle and is almost 9 years old. Since I've had it it's been a starting battery, a marine battery (flywheel coil charged) and now a deep cycle.

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:

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One of the main features of AGM batteries is their very low self discharge.
It would be quite all right to leave a fully charged AGM (that has no load attached) standing for 3 to 6 months at a time and then topping it up.
That will do it no harm.

Cheers,
Peter

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G'day Peter, along with fellow forum members I have found your advice most helpful. With AGM batteries being so expensive it's nice to know that I can leave it in the vehicle with no load attached as I would like to get as many years use as possible.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
cheers,
ozi2