Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 15:20:11 -0700
Reply-To: Jeffrey Vickers <jeff@VICKERSDESIGN.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeffrey Vickers <jeff@VICKERSDESIGN.COM>
Subject: Re: Battery Woes/Choice
In-Reply-To: <484DA145.70102@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Thanks Squirrel and Keith. I guess the charts are close enough for my
purposes. I'll do a backup check with a hydrometer at full charge and
50% to see if the charts and hydrometer agree.
Jeff
On Jun 9, 2008, at 2:31 PM, Mike Elliott wrote:
> Hi Jeffrey -- you can sorta determine depth of discharge based on
> voltage, or you can get a more accurate handle on it by checking the
> specific gravity of the electrolyte with a hydrometer.
>
> The wiki has some possibly useful stuff, at
>
> http://vanagonwiki.net/index.php/Aux_Battery#Determining_Battery_State_of_Charge
>
> and from there you'll find links to other possibly useful sites
> which write about how to determine battery state of charge.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 6/9/2008 10:32 AM Jeffrey Vickers wrote:
>
>> Speaking of not draining your battery past a certain point---how do
>> you determine what that point is? I recently charged up my batteries
>> and after a few hours, they both settled down to 12.75. Now that I
>> know the fully charged voltage, how do I determine the fully
>> discharged voltage so that I can find the voltage number that
>> represents 50 - 80% of discharge? I've seen a few charts but the
>> numbers don't match my numbers...
>> Jeff / San Anselmo
>> On Jun 9, 2008, at 9:58 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>>> Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 07:38:27 EDT
>>> From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
>>> Subject: Re: Battery Woes/Choice
>>>
>>> In a message dated 08/06/2008 1:31:31 P.M. Central Standard Time,
>>> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
>>>
>>> The less a battery is drained/discharged the longer it will last.
>>> Strictly
>>> speaking, flooded batteries are not designed for repeated deep
>>> discharges,
>>> so when used in this manner, they fail prematurely. Frank was
>>> acutely aware
>>> of this fact, so chose to buy from a place that had a great
>>> warranty
>>> service, as did I.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> You do know that there is a good way to extend the life of the
>>> standard
>>> automotive starting flooded cell battery ? Koolatron and others
>>> sell a limiter
>>> that will shut off the drain on a battery once it reaches critical
>>> levels
>>> preset by the manufacturer of the gadget. I forget all the details
>>> of it but I
>>> got mine from Kootatron and it was made for their fridges to keep
>>> owners from
>>> wrecking the batteries in their vehicles. See the Koolatron website
>>> for
>>> details.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Frank Condelli
>
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