Saturday, November 25, 2017

LifeLine AGM Battery packout

So the wet cell batteries the coach came with were leaking up a storm.. and my lack of timely maintenance to fluid levels killed them.

I ordered a pair of 8DL lifeline batteries (House) and a pair of Lifeline GPL-2400T batteries for the engine

I carefully cut a 3/4in ply sheet to fit the base of the battery box.

everything fits.. had to relocate the door bracket.. and then let the local RV shop do all the wiring (they have the nice lug crimpers)

Only thing they forgot was to switch the Trace Engineering Legend charger/ inverter to Sealed batteries

Lifeline says
The recommended method of charging  Lifeline® AGM  batteries is  to use a 3 stage charging
profile.  In the first stage, a constant current is applied until the voltage reaches a pre-set limit.
The first stage is often called the Bulk charging stage.
In the second stage, the voltage is held constant at the same pre-set limit until the charging
current tapers to a very low value, at which point the battery is fully charged. The second stage
is often called the Absorption charging stage. A voltage setting of 14.3 volts ± 0.1 volts (7.15 ±
0.05 volt for a 6 volt battery) should be used when the battery temperature is 77°F (25°C).  The
battery is  considered to be  fully charged when the current  drops below 0.5% of the battery’s
rated capacity (0.5A for a 100Ah battery). The absorption stage will typically last 2  – 4 hours
before the current reaches this level.
In the third stage, the charging voltage is reduced to a lower value that minimizes the amount of
overcharge, while maintaining the battery at 100% state of charge. This third stage is often
called the Float charging stage. A float voltage of 13.3 ± 0.1 volts (6.65 ± 0.05 volts for a 6 volt
battery) should be used when the battery temperature is 77°F (25°C). The charging voltages at
other temperatures can be determined from the following table:

Trace Legend Series 1
Sealed:  If you are installing sealed batteries, the jumper remains across this pair of pins.  This
selection sets the charge rate to 14.3 VDC in the Bulk stage and 13.6 VDC in the float stage.  For
vented batteries, remove the jumper across these pins to set the charge rate to 14.7 VDC  and
13.3 VDC  respectively

I've switched over the jumper... to sealed.. will monitor to verify

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