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From: electricboats@yahoogroups.com [mailto:electricboats@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 10:08 PM
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Electric Boats] Re: Charging batteries in series?
Chris,
I think Mike will have something to say, but I want to comment also. It sounds like you are talking about charging so here goes.
The most important part of the lead acid battery charging process is a temperature compensated charging voltage. Charging the battery at the correct voltage for a particular battery internal temperature (not ambient temp) is paramount for battery life, but more importantly to prevent both battery damage AND thermal runaway which can cause serious failure issues. Temperature compensation for flooded cells is important as well to minimize gassing and loss of water.
My experience with flooded cells, specifically Trojan T105, was as a house bank at moderate currents. But if we are talking charging, and at typical currents (< or =.25 Capacity) I think the above will apply. Mine was a series/parallel circuit and I never saw imbalance between batteries more than about 10mV and always at the charged voltage which I set on the charger. I did not monitor the charge process closely as I had a high end charger (AmplePower) which I trusted. I kept a voltmeter for the battery stack in the instrument panel and periodically checked things with a digital voltmeter looking at individual batteries while operating the boat or during maintenance.
However with the above example I normally limited my discharges to 25% or so for cycle life. If you are discharging at higher currents and deeper discharges you will probably want additional monitoring of individual batteries and alarms. There are some very simple electronic circuits to make up an alarm, it does not have to be a complex or expensive device!
John
--
Flatwater Electronics
www.flatwaterfarm.com
"Neurosurgery for computer looms."
Posted by: "Rushd Ironandwood" <Rushd@ironandwood.org>
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