Instructor: John Samphill
What is a battery? It's stored chemical energy that's released in electric form. It requires "replacement".
Two types of batteries:
1. Starting batteries -- requires lots of energy for a short period of time. Charge it, keep water in it, and avoid corrosion, and you'll get full life from them. "Cold cranking amps" -- turn your engine in any weather condition. Hot weather dishcarges them faster. And the hotter it is the faster they'll recharge. Thin plates are the storage parts. They react w/the sulphuric acid. Hydrometer measures -- higher it floats, more sulphuric acid. It's still the best instrument to find out if battery is charged.
2. House batteries --
Sitting battereis: Sulphuric acid is heavier than water. So water is on top -- can be a big problem in big batteries. If the liquid is "stratified". The more discharged the battery, the more stratification will occur.
How do you "refresh" house batteries? Answer is "equalization". This is a "planned overcharge". The Heart inverter will recharge it to 85-90% of full charge. Equalization charges at a high voltage -- 15-16.2 V -- so it puts lots of pressure on plates which reverses sulphation. Equalizing should only be done when water is topped off; and caps should be left on during equalization. Equalization s/be done every 60-90 days. Equalize batteried fully charged -- best before storing.
Golf cart batteries: The best wet deep cycle batteries out there. But need more of them and more maintenance. They're 6 volts, so need two to get 12 volts. Issue is needs more connections, some loss in that, plus more chance of corrosion. But need to add water more often, and equalize more often. AGM is 2-3 times more expensive. More suited for float charge
AGM (glass mat batteries) should never be equalized (Heart's claims to the contrary).. Both gel cell and glass mat are completely sealed. Problem is overcharging causes leakage, so they can't be charged at more than around 14.2 volts. Charge slower and longer. AGM works better on smaller batteries than larager batteries. [Note: As of this writing GNB did not make a D8 version of AGMs, though a competitor did] AGM is next generation up from gel cell batteries.
Filling the batteries. Electrolyite should be 1/8 inch below barrel. Overfilling invites corrosion. If you do overfill a cell, hose it off immediately. Note: You don't need distilled water -- you can use any water you can drink.
Top label no longer says "Les Schwab". It will now be "Champion" label. Should make battery more available in more locations.
Voltmeter -- tells voltage, but gives false reading if batteries just used. Need to take "surface charge" off.
Amp hours: Generator recharges at around 30 amps. 2 8D batteries have 480 AH 12.65 V full 12.25 V is 50% state of charge. 1200 gravity on hydrometer.