T&T: Battery -charging regimen

[Steve Sipe]

Truelove39 at aol.com wrote:
> But a simple regulator (Balmar MC-612) evidently doesn't "know" the battery is 
>  full and has to go thru all the steps.
>  
> Regards,
>  
> John
>   
I just observed the same thing with my own system, & after studying the 
Balmar manual, my understanding is that the Link system monitors 
amperage and voltage to determine the state of charge of the battery 
based on the parameters you set on initial configuration. The Balmar 
(mine is 512) has no capability of seeing amperage, so it looks at 
voltage and plots voltage against time, the longer the voltage takes to 
reach a value set by the programming, the longer the regulator stays in 
the bulk/absorb mode. That would explain the difference in operation. I 
notice that my Freedom 30 will also quickly step through bulk & absorb 
if the battery is not significantly discharged.
 
I may be beyond my pay grade, but I would guess that as long as the 
batteries aren't heating or gassing, allowing the engine charger to do 
it's thing probably won't be terribly harmful. My Balmar regulator has 
battery & alternator temperature sensors, my batteries are in the engine 
room as most, and the temp sensors are effective in knocking down the 
charge rate when the engine room gets really warm. I added forced 
ventilation to my alternator and house battery box, it has been very 
helpful in improving the charging while underway. Without it, the 
charger will throttle back to 50% in short order. I have not observed 
that the batteries need water any more than every other month or so, not 
something I would consider excessive.

steve sipe
Solo 4303 "Maerin"
Belle Island, FL