Digital Duo Charge?

[sailinglegend]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

...If you want to PM me I will be glad to share more information about Odyssey batteries with you ........

Many thanks for that, I will PM you later. Thanks also for the stand by current on the Balmar DuoCharge.

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

Suffice it to say that every Wal*Mart truck in the USA uses Odyssey batteries.........

The problem with posting on these forums is that you can't always give all the information to make it absolutely clear all the times. What Odyssey are saying that if you have a regulated supply then it musts have:"a regulated trickle charge voltage between 13.5V and 13.8V "

Their warranty covers car regulators separately.

There is still one issue that I didn't highlight properly and that is all this talk of overcharging - or over gassing - has no long term affect of flooded batteries which can be topped up. The problem is many cruisers resort to Marine or Leisure sealed batteries because that is all they can get easily when cruising. This is why I am suggesting we should do all we can to protect sealed batteries from gassing. That is why people went for the Balmar's DuoCharge - which my friend on the boat next door has - and he swears it drops down to a float voltage when the starter battery is charged! He is very lekky savvy. I have e-mailed my Balmar dealer to ask the question.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by sailinglegend

Many thanks for that, I will PM you later. Thanks also for the stand by current on the Balmar DuoCharge.


The problem with posting on these forums is that you can't always give all the information to make it absolutely clear all the times. What Odyssey are saying that if you have a regulated supply then it musts have:"a regulated trickle charge voltage between 13.5V and 13.8V "

Their warranty covers car regulators separately.

There is still one issue that I didn't highlight properly and that is all this talk of overcharging - or over gassing - has no long term affect of flooded batteries which can be topped up. The problem is many cruisers resort to Marine or Leisure sealed batteries because that is all they can get easily when cruising. This is why I am suggesting we should do all we can to protect sealed batteries from gassing.

My information does not just include wet cells. I have plenty of boats that use either BOTH or an ACR type relay or an Echo Charger for charging AGM batteries. I was actually on a customers boat yesterday that uses a combiner. I took a pic of the Odyssey PC1500 rated at 880 CCA still putting up more than that at four years old... The house bank, also Odyssey batteries, is putting up less than the CCA rating.... Despite being "overcharged" the start battery is still testing better than new and the house bank is testing at less than new because it is deeply cycled...

4 Year Old "Combined" Odyssey rated at 880CCA..

Thanks to this thread I discovered that the boat yard did not disconnect the start battery and it was slowly draining with a parasitic load.....

Originally Posted by sailinglegend

That is why people went for the Balmar's DuoCharge - which my friend on the boat next door has - and he swears it drops down to a float voltage when the starter battery is charged! He is very lekky savvy. I have e-mailed my Balmar dealer to ask the question.

That Duo Charger on my bench has now been running for over two days. The power supply is set to 14.6V (house bank) and the Duo is still putting out the same 14.10V - 14.17V that it was two days ago.... The start battery is now accepting just 0.3A of charge current at the 14.1V and is as full as it will get at this voltage.

As I have stated before the Duo follows another charges source into float..

Dec 7 2012 10:00 am


Dec 9 2012 8:45am



You can see from the photos above that if the house bank is in absorption, as I have left it with the power supply, the Duo will simply "limit" the voltage to a start battery to what you set it at. It however will not do an independent "float" until the house bank goes into float..

After roughly 48 hours the Duo is still not in float even with the start battery accepting just 0.3A of charge current or just 0.272% of "C"...

The Duo is at the same limiting voltage it was 48 hours ago and this is NOT a float voltage.......

[sailinglegend]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

............That Duo Charger on my bench has now been running for over two days. The power supply is set to 14.6V (house bank) and the Duo is still putting out the same 14.10V - 14.17V that it was two days ago.... The start battery is now accepting just 0.3A of charge current at the 14.1V and is as full as it will get at this voltage.

As I have stated before the Duo follows another charges source into float......

Again many many thanks for your post and current/voltage tests on the DuoCharge.

Balmar have also confirmed to me that they do not drop to a float voltage.

A Google search shows that this misunderstanding has been around for the last ten years on this and other Forums. I think the industry has a lot to answer for - especially EchoCharge for deliberating suggesting in their manual that:

"When it reaches 14.4/28.8 volts, the charge current will decrease, maintaining a float condition."

What's happened to your enthusiasm in the US of A for suing those who deliberately mislead?

[goboatingnow]

It does not make sense for an alternator controller to have a float voltage. A float voltage is useful for charge sources permanently connected/ powered up over extended periods
Dave