I've a few questions about the Heart inverter/charger. One of the manuals that I downloaded from this site-- states that if you have the remote panel (as I do above the entrance door), that the switch on the inverter itself should always be left off. True?
Second -- do I have to reconfigure any settings on the unit now that I have fitted all AGM batteries (chassis and House) -- (all gel-cells were in there before).
I did take a volt meter to check voltage at all of the batteries -- with the generator running and the boost switch on. It was 14.02 volts.
Thanks,
Michael
For the first question the answer is yes leave it turned off at the inverter and then your remote panel will control the inverter.
Second yes you will have to reset the charging voltage. Gel cells charge at a lower voltage setting than wet or glass mat batteries. Not sure exactly what the setting is for AGM's but I think it it much closer to wet cells.
Roland
That's a question that's been asked before. I recall Aubrey Lee (from FT) recommending the wet/flooded cell setting for AGMs. When I posed the question to the Xantrex folks in 2007 (when we switched from gel to AGM) and gave them the charging recommendations/spec sheet for our batteries, they said to use the Gel setting.
Our Xantrex Prosine 2.5 manual shows the following voltages (it doesn't have a "AGM" setting)
Absorption / Float Voltage (Volts)
Cold Warm Hot
Flooded 14.8 / 13.9 14.4 / 13.5 14.0 / 13.1
Gel 14.6 / 14.2 14.4 / 13.8 13.8 / 13.4
Cold, usually below 50 °F / 10 °C
Warm, usually 50–80 °F / 10–27 °C
Hot, usually above 80 °F / 27 °C
The Trojan 8D AGMs we have in our coach have the following charging voltage info from the datasheet
Daily Charge
14.1 – 14.7
Float
13.5
CHARGING TEMPERATURE COMPENSATION
.028 VPC for every 10°F (5.55°C) above or below 77°F (25°C) (add .028 VPC for every 10°F (5.55°C) below 77°F and subtract .028 VPC for every 10°C above 77°F).
For the first 5 years of these AGM batteries' life, we left the Prosine on "gel". While at the GV, when the question was asked of Aubrey again, we changed it to "flooded". We very rarely boondock or run off the inverter, so I have no useful observations on what, if any, difference it's made/making.
Michelle
My Xantrex 2.5 also has no AGM setting so I set it at wet. The solar charging is custom set by AMSOLAR for AGM and most of the year they are charged by solar. I will see what that setting is in the morning and post if anyone is interested.
John
Just found this interesting graphic from The West Advisor: Battery Charging (http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WestAdvisorView?langId=-1&storeId=11151&catalogId=10001&page=Battery-Charging#.ULBAM4YYpQ0)
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.westmarine.com%2Fwm-img%2Fwestadvisor%2Farticles%2FBattery-Chargers-2.jpg&hash=2965cd22b544bc1b1cfba479b3abd785" rel="cached" data-hash="2965cd22b544bc1b1cfba479b3abd785" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://content.westmarine.com/wm-img/westadvisor/articles/Battery-Chargers-2.jpg)
Doesn't all this become irrelevent when the engine is running and alternator is force feeding a set voltage?
Best to get info from batt manufacurer
Here is the latest Lifeline AGM manual
Chuck,
Alternator charge goes through the .5v drop at the isolator, charging house batteries at about 14.1v. Adjustable voltage regulators can be installed in the alternator to permit fine tuning output voltage.
Chuck:
You didn't mention what kind of coach batteries you currently have installed but, I would set your engine alternator no higher than the float voltage of your batteries so as not to overcharge them when driving.
I have my engine alternator set at 13.5 measured at the coach batteries after the isolator as I am running gel batteries. I could have set it at 13.8 but erred on the safety side just in case. I have seen some coaches charging at over 14 volts and that would not be good for me to my way of thinking. My batteries get charged by solar everyday so mostly they have a perfect charging regimen.
Regards,
Chuck,
I just fitted all AGM's for both the chassis and house. I'll check into tweaking settings if necessary -- after talking to the place I bought all of them from.
Thanks for all the info. So much to learn...