trying to understand battery capacity terminology

cruxarche

Observer
Wow! Thanks everybody for your input. I now realize that the rate at which I am learning is being exceeded by expansion of the volume of concepts I need to learn.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
That's probably because you are getting lots of details without a framework or fuller knowledge of the technical vocabulary.
Try to learn the general concepts and operational guidelines, first. Then you have some organization when folks give details.
here go read this home power bank primer, there's a lot of parallel concepts with vehicle-borne power systems.
https://www.homepower.com/basic-battery-concepts
 
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cruxarche

Observer
very informative. Thanks for all the references. I just picked up a new charger and now I may actually use it correctly...
 

cruxarche

Observer
My 12v battery ended up being a little iffy, so I went ahead and purchased two 6v GC2 deep cell batteries. After reviewing their charging profile it looks like my charger is a good match for the batteries. The batteries are black box (no label) trojans sold by my local battery shop. Rated 200 Ah so that should work! I am now intrigued with the idea of battery monitors...
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
A battery left only to float will eventually begin to 'sulfate' and capacity will drop with time.
Don't need to worry people. A battery sulfates when allowed to be at less than 100% state of charge. Making sure to never leave a battery partially charged for long times and doing periodic recovery recharges will greatly reduce sulfation.

Getting a good 3- or 4-stage charger and using it on your batteries even just once a month significantly improves their lifespan even without resorting to state of the art carbon enhanced and HRPSoC types. The charging system in vehicles is terrible, you're doing a disservice if you rely upon it solely. They chronically undercharge batteries.

You have to think about it but it's also not difficult or expensive to prevent it.
 
Hi all,

Thread redirection:

What are the safe options to charge a free standing (not in vehicle) deep cycle battery using a truck's 12V electrical system?

Thanks,

Alan
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
What are the safe options to charge a free standing (not in vehicle) deep cycle battery using a truck's 12V electrical system?
Is this a battery that is left to power something that you visit periodically or a house battery on a camper or trailer? In any case I think the term you're looking to use for search is a battery-to-battery or DC-to-DC charger. Just curious what you expect and the length of time the free standing battery will be connected to the vehicle charging system.

Sterling as an example makes various chargers that will do a controlled charge from a battery or other source. It's sort of a variation on a solar controller/battery charger.

https://sterling-power.com/collections/battery-to-battery-chargers

How you use it determines what you need. If it's something like a trailer battery then you only need something smallish, say a 20A charger that can work for a few hours while you drive. If it's something where you don't want to sit for hours then a 120A charger with an idling truck might be less than half an hour to take a 100A-hr dead battery back to practically full.

To really condition a battery you need to run all 3 steps, bulk, absorption and a long float that will take several hours with ideally a 4th de-sulfation voltage in the profile. Simply bringing a battery from 50% to ~99% in bulk and absorption and not bothering with conditioning wouldn't take that long. But most of the same effect in that case can be achieved with jumper cables and high idle.
 
Thanks for the info Dave!

-Alan


Is this a battery that is left to power something that you visit periodically or a house battery on a camper or trailer? In any case I think the term you're looking to use for search is a battery-to-battery or DC-to-DC charger. Just curious what you expect and the length of time the free standing battery will be connected to the vehicle charging system.

Sterling as an example makes various chargers that will do a controlled charge from a battery or other source. It's sort of a variation on a solar controller/battery charger.

https://sterling-power.com/collections/battery-to-battery-chargers

How you use it determines what you need. If it's something like a trailer battery then you only need something smallish, say a 20A charger that can work for a few hours while you drive. If it's something where you don't want to sit for hours then a 120A charger with an idling truck might be less than half an hour to take a 100A-hr dead battery back to practically full.

To really condition a battery you need to run all 3 steps, bulk, absorption and a long float that will take several hours with ideally a 4th de-sulfation voltage in the profile. Simply bringing a battery from 50% to ~99% in bulk and absorption and not bothering with conditioning wouldn't take that long. But most of the same effect in that case can be achieved with jumper cables and high idle.
 

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