Battery bank upgrade.

[Blue~Go]

Well okay, but.... with $500+ in batteries, I would check out the manufacturer's recommended setting, and see if the charger can match them. You may get lucky, and the "AGM" setting is good, but you may not (ka-ching). For the Lifelines, very few "AGM" blanket settings put the float at the right voltage.

Then there is temperature compensation. You can see in the chart above (well, the figures anyway) that as the temperatures get colder, the same batteries want more (sometimes much more) voltage. Not giving them that is the same as using completely wrong settings. If the charger defaults to, say, 77º and the batteries are at 50º (outside compartment) then the settings might as well be completely wrong (even if they were dead on for 77º). So, does your charger have temperature compensation?

I realize I'm probably suggesting you spend more money, but the thing is that a charging system is just that... a system. And it's only as strong/safe/efficient as its weakest link.

I don't know if you remember or read Glenn's "To Simplify" blog. In his early years, when he had a Falcon and then a Chinook Concourse, he was going through batteries a lot more often than you would want to at the price of AGM's. After he learned more about the system as a whole, he improved it (ultimately in his new/different rig) so now it is balanced, and he doesn't go through batteries like Chiclets any more. Again, maybe no big if you have cheap Wal-Mart batteries (although still a hassle) but now you have good batteries. You want them to last!

Also the safety factor of good overcurrent protection (this has nothing to do with charging) is important when you have something along the lines of 10,000 potential amps to set free if a wire chafes through. A couple of flooded cell group 27's don't bank that kind of power in a problem situation.

If you'd rather leave things as-is, I'll back off. I don't mean to come on too strong, but... I've seen a lot of failures and issues due to the nature of having one strong link in a system that also has weak links. OTOH, I don't have a need to convince anyone who is happy with their system (I mean, that's the main thing, right?). If you are interested, I'd be happy to discuss more.

[Manitou]

They seem ok wth it.. So I'm more or less ok with it. That said.. How would I install a temp compensation sensor? How would it talk to my charger if they don't offer one?

[Manitou]

http://www.bestconverter.com/Parallax-P ... c_104.html
Seems to be about 1 volt difference for the most part (I'm not going into negative temps or over 100)
Also read that the pd doesn't seem to offer that feature. It's still a vast improv,net over the single strange these came with.. So I'm happy with this. I'd rather spend money in a solar project someday or better yet, a surf trip (I.e. Actually using the rig for its purpose) than worry too much about the best possible upgrade. I'm upgrading elements that seem obviously lacking.. Like when my a/c kept dieting, I replaced it.

[Blue~Go]

About temperature compensation: It's something that is a feature of a given charger. With a charger that offers it (sometimes it's an option/upgrade), you simply take a very small wire (usually provided) from the charger to one of the battery terminals, or sometimes just to the side case of the battery. It's just to tell the charger what temperature the batteries are at, since the recommended charging voltages vary a lot at different temperatures. Without it, the charger typically charges at the default of 77º, which works fine as long as your batteries are also at 77º. With it, the charger adjusts the voltages to the temperature (you can see an idea of the differences in an earlier post).

At any rate, it sounds like you are happy with the system and not looking to change it now.

(If anyone else reading would like to discuss it further, I'm happy to do so - either in this thread or another one.)

PS: Is there a way to make it so we can upload .pdf documents? There have been a few times I could not upload something (such as the roof document, or the battery chart) because it's a .pdf. I tried taking a screen shot and making them .jpgs, but they got so blurry as to be useless.

[Manitou]

Sure, all document types of attachments should be allowed now.

[Blue~Go]

Fantastic, thanks!

I'll see if I can put the roof drawings in the "loose cabinets" thread, just for a test (even though the problem is already solved).

[Manitou]

Just a little follow up for this upgrade. Haven't heard that pesky low voltage disconnect alarm since

Loving this upgrade.

[kyidletime]

I recently relocated my house battery on my 95 Concourse. The reason that I relocated it was because the original location was under the hood and I couldn't find a deep cycle battery that would fit in the battery tray. I relocated the battery to the outside compartment on the driver's side, just behind the water heater compartment. My project included installing new 2 awg wire from my newly installed
Blue Sea 7622 Charging Relay, and new 6 awg wire to my recently installed Progressive Dynamics Power PD-4645 Converter/Charger.
It was quite a bit of work, but I know that I have a lot better charging system now. Thanks go to my friend Blue Go and a few other members for all of the good advise throughout my project.

I have attached a few pictures to illustrate the finished project and one of my rig.

Alan

[Blue~Go]

That looks great! I have a question though: At one point you were talking about putting in on a little shelf type thingie at the forward end of the compartment... I think? (For general info: I believe that compartment is a bit different on a 95 - and that the door doesn't extend forward to below the water heater (which is where the battery area is on the '97 to at least 2004 versions). So I'm thinking the little shelf was below the water heater but in the "un-doored" area.

Here is a photo of a '96 that (just barely) shows how the door is - yours is like this, right?

Did that just prove to be too cumbersome? (I can well imagine!)

One good thing about this way is that it looks like you could expand to two Group 31's if you ever wanted to.

Also, this is the first time I've seen the outside of your rig. Very pretty! It looks a lot like mine but with slightly more greenish stripes (mine are blue).

[kyidletime]

I wanted to salvage as much storage space as I could. Besides, the forward area wasn't large enough to accommodate the battery, and as you said, I have room to add batteries if I want.

I have another question though. How can I tell if my solar panel is putting out anything? The Solar Energy System Indicator doesn't indicate that it's charging, although I do have the rig plugged in to my house and the battery appears to be fully charged.