A couple of friends of mine have had deep cycle batteries bulge & destroyed as a result of being connected to a 240V multi-stage charger for a long period (2 months or more).One has had to replace his bank of four batteries twice, even tho the caravan maker recommended keeping them on the 240V charger when parked for long periods.Has anyone else experienced this?
It appears that it would be better to only plug into 240v say, once a month, for short periods, E.g. until the batteries are fully charged.
All comments greatly appreciated.
Whenarewethere said
02:56 PM Apr 1, 2022
I use a Victron smart charger. When the voltage drops below a certain level (can also be adjusted) it then goes through the charge cycle & stops charging, which doesn't go very long or many amps either.
The charger only needs 3 stages but it needs to be smart enough to turn off.
dabbler said
03:19 PM Apr 1, 2022
There are chargers and there are chargers. My NOCO is smart enough to detect a battery's state and kill all charging functions when necessary. It then checks every 24 hrs roughly and determines whether the battery state has changed sufficiently to recommence charging. It's a small 7amp unit used "just in case", it wasn't cheap at $200-230 but it certainly wasn't the most expensive unit on the market. While I rarely leave it unmonitored, I would trust it to self monitor.
PeterInSa said
04:46 PM Apr 1, 2022
I leave our 2 deep cycle batteries in the caravan on the 240vac van charger with the extension lead on a timer, extension lead is powered up for checks/charges for 30 mins at 3 am every night
Jaahn said
05:43 PM Apr 1, 2022
Hi Anton
Your friend has a crap charger and should replace it now before he destroys the next set of batteries. As dabbler said there are chargers and chargers. That one is crap. What does multi stage mean ? who knows ?? could mean anything !
To maintain lead acid batteries they should be charged fully then the voltage should drop to a lower float figure like 13.2 and just hold that forever so the battery is maintained without gassing and driving off the water and cooking them. This only requires a good three step charger. Any more steps than that is just BS. IMHO.
My normal solar panel controller and panels are on all the time and it goes to float after charging fully and does not go higher unless some power is used. It sits there for months. Or you can use a small solar panel to do a similar low voltage float without cooking the batteries.
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Friday 1st of April 2022 05:56:11 PM
Peter_n_Margaret said
05:55 PM Apr 1, 2022
Get a decent charger.
Our AGMs are permanently on charge via solar. We don't have a 240v charger. Why would we need one?
Cheers,
Peter
Dougwe said
06:01 PM Apr 1, 2022
I am on 240v most of the time lately but have the 240v charger OFF and let the Solar panels do their thing.
In a couple of weeks I will have a 12v Fridge/Freezer set as a Freezer out side under cover so intend on having 240v charger OFF during the day and ON over night. Of course if it is really overcast and miserable weather I will leave 240v charger on during the day as well.
Keep Safe out there everyone.
Aus-Kiwi said
09:29 AM Apr 2, 2022
Sign of overcharging !!
Cupie said
10:12 AM Apr 2, 2022
Jaahn wrote:
Hi Anton
Your friend has a crap charger and should replace it now before he destroys the next set of batteries. As dabbler said there are chargers and chargers. That one is crap. What does multi stage mean ? who knows ?? could mean anything !
To maintain lead acid batteries they should be charged fully then the voltage should drop to a lower float figure like 13.2 and just hold that forever so the battery is maintained without gassing and driving off the water and cooking them. This only requires a good three step charger. Any more steps than that is just BS. IMHO.
My normal solar panel controller and panels are on all the time and it goes to float after charging fully and does not go higher unless some power is used. It sits there for months. Or you can use a small solar panel to do a similar low voltage float without cooking the batteries.
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Friday 1st of April 2022 05:56:11 PM
Agree 100%
BAZZA44 said
05:47 PM Apr 2, 2022
My van has been parked since March last year and batteries have been on charge using an Enerdrive charger. No problem. As said there are charges and charges.
Barry
Phlipper said
10:21 AM Apr 3, 2022
In between outings I have simply been using 2 small trickle charge solar panels of 5 watt for both boat and van for a few years now. Batteries always full, and seem to last for years and always ready to go.
Loki said
09:01 AM Apr 4, 2022
Thanks for your reply, he trusted the manufacturer's advice as he is not all that experienced with electrics, he bought a new charger with the latest set of batteries and will only turn it on long enough to charge the batteries once a month. A hard way to learn as well as expensive!
Happy trails, Anton
valiant81 said
09:28 AM Apr 4, 2022
Hi all; I two have replace the sect - 111 charger in my Jayco pop top caravan as i found it useless at charging my batteries ( 2 x 220 Ah agm ) I replaced it with a Victron 12 Volt 30 Amp smart charger. This and a mppt solar controller and current bridge . The best thing and now my setup is 100% reliable. Batteries are always at 100 % capacity. The other thing is that both the charger and the solar controller, and current bridge are bluetoothed to my phone. No more multimeters, just look at the information on the phone.
A couple of friends of mine have had deep cycle batteries bulge & destroyed as a result of being connected to a 240V multi-stage charger for a long period (2 months or more). One has had to replace his bank of four batteries twice, even tho the caravan maker recommended keeping them on the 240V charger when parked for long periods. Has anyone else experienced this?
It appears that it would be better to only plug into 240v say, once a month, for short periods, E.g. until the batteries are fully charged.
All comments greatly appreciated.
I use a Victron smart charger. When the voltage drops below a certain level (can also be adjusted) it then goes through the charge cycle & stops charging, which doesn't go very long or many amps either.
The charger only needs 3 stages but it needs to be smart enough to turn off.
Hi Anton
Your friend has a crap charger and should replace it now before he destroys the next set of batteries. As dabbler said there are chargers and chargers. That one is crap. What does multi stage mean ? who knows ?? could mean anything !
To maintain lead acid batteries they should be charged fully then the voltage should drop to a lower float figure like 13.2 and just hold that forever so the battery is maintained without gassing and driving off the water and cooking them. This only requires a good three step charger. Any more steps than that is just BS. IMHO.
My normal solar panel controller and panels are on all the time and it goes to float after charging fully and does not go higher unless some power is used. It sits there for months. Or you can use a small solar panel to do a similar low voltage float without cooking the batteries.
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Friday 1st of April 2022 05:56:11 PM
Our AGMs are permanently on charge via solar. We don't have a 240v charger. Why would we need one?
Cheers,
Peter
In a couple of weeks I will have a 12v Fridge/Freezer set as a Freezer out side under cover so intend on having 240v charger OFF during the day and ON over night. Of course if it is really overcast and miserable weather I will leave 240v charger on during the day as well.
Keep Safe out there everyone.
Agree 100%
Barry
Thanks for your reply, he trusted the manufacturer's advice as he is not all that experienced with electrics, he bought a new charger with the latest set of batteries and will only turn it on long enough to charge the batteries once a month. A hard way to learn as well as expensive!
Happy trails, Anton