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meerlaan

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  1. meerlaan
    @nicknorman ok I can just about follow what your saying, i am not sure I follow why the victron would go into float early (before reaching 1% tail current) but I see that I can set them up to be the same voltage so it wouldnt make a different, I might have to ask you some more questions when I get my cable So only managed about 2 hours eq charge, I feel I may need to redo with a slightly higher voltage but here are my results : Battery 1 [Front] 1.270 [Middle] 1.270 [Rear] 1.270 Battery 2 [Front] 1.280 [Middle] 1.280 [Rear] 1.280 Battery 3 [Front] 1.275 [Middle] 1.265 [Rear] 1.270 Battery 4 [Front] 1.270 [Middle] 1.275 [Rear] 1.265 Battery 5 [Front] 1.270 [Middle] 1.275 [Rear] 1.265 Battery 6 [Front] 1.280 [Middle] 1.275 [Rear] 1.280 Readings are still a little all over the place, I did as advised and mixed the batter water a bit and filled tester a few times before taking a reading and then took 2 or 3 to check for consistency. They definately seem better!!
  2. meerlaan
    Great thanks @Tony Brooks Sorry I meant to say 'charged voltage' - the charged voltage parameter should always be slightly below the end of charge voltage of the charger (usually 0.2v -0.3v below the 'float' voltage of the charger)
  3. meerlaan
    its now reading 15.6v and 10a
  4. meerlaan
    Thanks, @nicknorman Think I need to bite the bullet and just buy the cable no point being tight there not cheap batteries!! I have finally managed to get my multiplus into eq mode took quite a bit of fiddling with the switches, (off and on again) So for sure the batteries are as charged as they are going to be, the float mode went on twice, i switched off victron and let it go through the stages again. I will do a couple of hours and text the SG, One thing I didnt understand (well another 1 thing) my BMV read 100% before my tail current was 1% even though I made a point of setting this perhaps I have my charge voltage wrong ? ( 13.2v ) Also, is it essential I have all 12v stuff turned off while running eq charge ?? I am currently writting this in candle light The reading on my BMV currently is 15.33v and 12.3a so I am concerened the voltage is not high enough to eq, perhaps I should wait for the cable?? Thanks Martin
  5. meerlaan
    Thanks for all your responses !! @Ditch Crawler yes I am liveaboard and continuous cruiser so batteries constantly in use! Specially with the miserable wather and dark days Can anyone give me a link to a reliable SG tester please? I thought I had gone for a good choice but happy to get another one as really dont want to screw my batteries up! @smileypete what does ISTR mean?? Is my voltage too low then?? I tried to keep notes of my volatge at various stages and mine seemed to be at 14.59v for most of the absorbption phase, wonder how I increase this!! Do I need a cable for my multiplus?? @mross yes think I was a bit shakey at the beginning, it was a little tricky down in my engine room. Think I may have been stiring a little more and more vigorous getting the acid in after the intial tentative ones, wasnt sure if this was right but seemed to give more reliable results, as you noticed So my plan is to charge batteries back up to float mode today on a cruise and then stick my victorn into eq mode, think it switched of every hour so I plan on resetting this 2 or 3 times and checking my SG with the reader I currently have and see if I can get the results to improve. Anyone know if my victorn will eq at 16v or I need to set this up? :/ I guess when it switches into this mode I can check the v on my BMV..? Feel like things might be making a little sense, thanks again for everyones help and adice. Martin
  6. meerlaan
    So it took me a little longer to have enough time on the boat to charge the batteries for long enough to do a SG test. Today I charged my batteries for about 9 hours using my genny, my victron mulitplus didnt go into float until about 8.5 hours, ( I happened to be watching my BMV when it did) the amps where reading 4.8a (ish it was still jumping around a little) and 14.59v, it switched to float mode and this dropped to 2.07a and fluctuated to 2.33a the voltage dropped to 13.92v and crept up to 14.24v and then rested at 13.96v with the current at 3.06a. I reset my BMV and set the tail current to 1%, I noticed my charge voltage is 13.2v is this correct ?? Just before batteries were in float mode, amps where probably down to 5.89a I did a SG test for all my batteries. I took three readings of each just to be sure, results are: (All in chronological order of when I took readings) Battery 1 [Front] 1.185 (first reading) , 1.255 , 1.255 [Middle] 1.245 , 1.250 , 1.250 [Rear] 1.255 , 1.255 , 1.270 Battery 2 [Front] 1.245 , 1.270 , 1.270 [Middle] 1.240 , 1.260 , 1.255 [Rear] 1.275 , 1.275 , 1.260 Battery 3 [Front] 1.260 , 1.255 , 1.255 [Middle] 1.245 , 1.250 , 1.245 [Rear] 1.260 , 1.250 , 1.255 Battery 4 [Front] 1.255 , 1.255 , 1.255 [Middle] 1.255 , 1.265 , 1.260 [Rear] 1.245 , 1.255 , 1.245 Battery 5 [Front] 1.250 , 1.250 , 1.250 [Middle] 1.250 , 1.260 , 1.260 [Rear] 1.245 , 1.245 , 1.250 Battery 6 [Front] 1.260 , 1.260 , 1.260 [Middle] 1.250 , 1.255 , 1.255 [Rear] 1.255 , 1.265 , 1.260 Anyone make any sense of these ?? Hoping to do an eq charge at the weekend and retest, any idea how long I should do this for ?? Thanks for all your help, Hopefully these results dont show my batteries to be ruined :/
  7. meerlaan
    Great thanks @nicknorman just thought best to check, thanks thanks for explaining the 13v Will post results up later.
  8. meerlaan
    Thanks for all your reponses!! My hydrometer has arrived and I am planning to check my batteries later today, I am currently giving them a good charge with my genny and keeping an eye on my amps, hoping to get them to rest for 30mins of so before checking my batteries with my hydrometer, is it safe to do direclty after charging for a few hours or should I wait a bit?? do I squirt the acid from the hydrometer back into the battery? do I need to clean before each cell of each batter ?? Thanks for any tips On another note after charging my batteries for 3 or so hours on tuesday I then left them for about 6 hours or so with everything off and when I came back first thing I did was check the voltage on my BMV it read 13.00v which dosnt make sense as I didnt manage to get tail current down to below 20amps before I went out and 13.00v is above 100% what am I missing. Thanks
  9. meerlaan
    haha, I think you understand the situation correctly @Sea Dog I think I am beginning to understand that my trusting my battery monitor has been a massive mistake and hopefully my batteries are still in reasonable condition. after three hours of so charging the charging current is now 20amps I am surprised once a week is not enough as I have a reasonable amount of solar, but am learning lots this week
  10. meerlaan
    thanks mross that is very helpful
  11. meerlaan
    @Sea Dog Thanks for your response I think I basically understood / understand the bulk - absorption - float stages but am prepared for my understanding to be wrong! I thought float charge was a lower amp charge given when the batteries had almost reached 100%. So I am confused why currently they have been charging for a few hours with my monitor saying 100% but still in absorption stage my amps currently reading 36ish It is the generator that I am switching off, I have a portable honda job. I am using this to charge the batteries up once a week. Once I thought sufficient charging had been done I would turn off.
  12. meerlaan
    Yeah I have the manual I remember seeing the terminal I think when the front cover was off. @nicknorman Perhaps easier to see from these photos I am not sure what to look for. 8
  13. meerlaan
    @nicknorman great thanks for that I will change that when I reset my BMV after a proper eq charge, any idea why its reading 100% now ?? as even 4% should be 27amps (I think)
  14. meerlaan
    @mross The electrics were done recently by someone who seemed to do a very good job and checked all the cable sizes with me around so I would hope they are right Measuring at batteries and at input terminals makes sense to me but could you clarify where I should stick my red and black prongs! Thanks I wonder why my monitor is reading 100% and 50amps but its still in absorption on my mulitplus, I am sure it is usually on float when it reaches 100% and I turn it off. This make sense to anyone??
  15. meerlaan
    @system 4-50 I hope it will be ok, I have done my best to vent it as much as possible, it is a little hard to see but the plywood has holes that continue all the was down to the sides of the multiplus. @rusty69 Yeah, every weekend I try to give my batteries a 'good charge' and usually can hear when the genny quietens down I would check and if there reading 100% I would stop charging :/
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