Best practice for desulfation battery bank

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

My info came from their applications engineer after regular tech support could not answer my questions. Admittedly that conversation was perhaps 1.5 years ago. IIRC the engineers name was Rick or Rich. My question to him was can the unit modulate it's output current and does I'd do any form of voltage regulation for a proper absorption cycle.

What I posted is what I was told and I kept quite good notes... One can only hope they have updated their charge process. Perhaps Phantom can observe the behavior on his and see what it actually does?

Seems to get to 14.x pretty quick (maybe its the charging voltage and not the battery voltage.. It seems to run well after it hits 14.x ) but it is anecdotal as I really have no idea. It doesn't run often.. but when it does..it just seems to run a long time

The updater from efoy is en-route from Germany as I type. One hopes that they make the charging program better!

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

The SmartGauge is a nice piece of kit but it will not tell you what your power demand (A and Ah over time). It will only tell you State of Charge as in % full.

true but its better than what I have and gives a better indication of the state of charge from what I understand

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

And it will cost more than a set of new batteries for the OP.

and not nearly as expensive as the fuel cell was!!

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

http://www.amazon.com/Watts-Meter-An.../dp/B001B6N2WK

I have used one of those to get real data on fridge consumption, solar panel output, etc.

does this show instantaneous use or will it show how much power you used over a given amount of time (say a day). With the variable speed compressor controller.. instantaneous readings would be next to useless

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by phantomracer

does this show instantaneous use or will it show how much power you used over a given amount of time (say a day). With the variable speed compressor controller.. instantaneous readings would be next to useless

Sure; it will show both instantaneous amps and cumulative amps-hour. You could install one next to the fridge and another next to the fuel cell.

Sent from my GT-I9192 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by phantomracer

Seems to get to 14.x pretty quick (maybe its the charging voltage and not the battery voltage.. It seems to run well after it hits 14.x ) but it is anecdotal as I really have no idea. It doesn't run often.. but when it does..it just seems to run a long time

The updater from efoy is en-route from Germany as I type. One hopes that they make the charging program better!

I do not know why you refer to "charging" voltage" and "battery voltage" as two voltages that could be materially different at a given point in time. If the charge controller is sensing voltage through the same wire that carries the charging current then that wire should be fat enough to keep drop below 0.1A at full charging current. You should measure voltage with a multimeter ACROSS THE BATTERY TERMINALS and compare that with the voltage shown by the fancy display.

[a64pilot]

The "watts up" meters are excellent, I use one cave diving on my scooter, it tells me exactly how much current I have drawn from the battery, and can tell you exactly how much current it took to fully re-charge the battery.
You don't want your scooter dieing on you a mile back in a cave, that's a long swim out.

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

I do not know why you refer to "charging" voltage" and "battery voltage" as two voltages that could be materially different at a given point in time. If the charge controller is sensing voltage through the same wire that carries the charging current then that wire should be fat enough to keep drop below 0.1A at full charging current. You should measure voltage with a multimeter ACROSS THE BATTERY TERMINALS and compare that with the voltage shown by the fancy display.

unsure if what I see on the volt meter on the panel is what is being pumped out of the efoy or what the charge is at the battery..

the efoy has a separate sensing wire and a separate charging wire..

[sailorboy1]

during use they are the same

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by svlamorocha

Maine Sail
I understand and agree with everything you say, except that SOME of the EFOY literature Attachment 105827 says that the thing has a proper 2-stage regulator that maintains the absorption voltage, as opposed to an on-off logic. See text below that describes an absorption period of "up to 3 hours".

5.4
Automatic Operation
Automatic operation will begin the moment that you connect the unit to a battery. The unit will monitor battery voltage by itself.
The fuel cell switches on automatically if the battery voltage falls below 12.3 V. The battery is then charged until the deactivation threshold, 14.2 V, is reached. Note: To guarantee optimal battery maintenance, it is important that the charge current is not stopped abruptly when the deactivation threshold is reached. For this reason, the EFOY continues to charge for up to 3 h after the deactivation threshold set is reached (by default, 14.2 Volt is preset). The recharging period depends on the battery voltage and the electricity consumption.
The device goes through a cold start phase of about 20 minutes before reaching its full rated output. In normal operation the current generation is interrupted briefly a few times a second.

I just stopped at my boat and was able to download a current Efoy manual and it does look like some changes have been made for the better.

They have now added a min current threshold for turn off in addition to the 14.2V meaning if it is putting out full current it won't switch off at 14.2V and will continue running until 14.2V and minimum current have been met.... So the newer ones should continue to run for 180 minutes on a large bank. Up the absorption voltage and the turn on voltage and it should work pretty well once the software is updated...

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

during use they are the same

Unless there is voltage drop in the system wiring, which there very often is...

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I just stopped at my boat and was able to download a current Efoy manual and it does look like some changes have been made for the better.

They have now added a min current threshold for turn off in addition to the 14.2V meaning if it is putting out full current it won't switch off at 14.2V and will continue running until 14.2V and minimum current have been met.... So the newer ones should continue to run for 180 minutes on a large bank. Up the absorption voltage and the turn on voltage and it should work pretty well once the software is updated...

thats good to hear.. unsure how new what I have in my unit is.. but will have the latest soon enough. It doesn't just shut off when it gets to 14.2... runs a while..always thought there was something wrong .. but that explains it. The new program has to be better (I hope!)

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

Unless there is voltage drop in the system wiring, which there very often is...

true just as one has to be a little higher to transfer current, but I thought we were being practical and not hair splitting

[phantomracer]

Just a followup to this thread (I know everyone has been waiting!!!!)

went to the boat yesteday, to check the battery.. Boat hasnt run since sunday, so this is all efoy charging.

The fridge was at about 40 degrees (have it set for 39), so I know it has not run in a bit, and the efoy was not running (in standby).

Boat was 80degrees F. Battery was 12.9v at the terminals (and at the efoy display)
Checked the SG with a Easyred hydrometer (checked each twice for redundancy)..here are the results:

Batt1 (6v), starting at the cell closest to +
1 - 1265
2 - 1265
3 - 1265
Batt2 (6v), starting at the cell closest to +
4 - 1275 - 1300 (between the 2 marks)
5 - 1275 - 1300 (between the 2 marks)
6 - 1275

Not sure if this is good, bad, indifferent.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by phantomracer

Just a followup to this thread (I know everyone has been waiting!!!!)

went to the boat yesteday, to check the battery.. Boat hasnt run since sunday, so this is all efoy charging.

The fridge was at about 40 degrees (have it set for 39), so I know it has not run in a bit, and the efoy was not running (in standby).

Boat was 80degrees F. Battery was 12.9v at the terminals (and at the efoy display)
Checked the SG with a Easyred hydrometer (checked each twice for redundancy)..here are the results:

Batt1 (6v), starting at the cell closest to +
1 - 1265
2 - 1265
3 - 1265
Batt2 (6v), starting at the cell closest to +
4 - 1275 - 1300 (between the 2 marks)
5 - 1275 - 1300 (between the 2 marks)
6 - 1275

Not sure if this is good, bad, indifferent.

Those SG values are good, assuming that the batteries are fully topped up (I refer to the level of electrolite). Is that the case?