12V Interstate Batteries to 2 Lifeline 6V AGM

[J-Dog]

Originally Posted by Kittycatcat

...so we're getting the Progressive charger with remote and sticking with old-time flooded batteries for now...

I noticed on your equipment list from a previous post there was no mention of a battery monitoring system. There are a couple of good choices out there, I wouldn't be without one now that I have installed one. You may want to keep that in mind.

[Kittycatcat]

Originally Posted by J-Dog

I noticed on your equipment list from a previous post there was no mention of a battery monitoring system. There are a couple of good choices out there, I wouldn't be without one now that I have installed one. You may want to keep that in mind.

We did add a battery monitoring kit to our order - Trimetric, based on Randy's (from bestconverter.com) advice. It has a LOT of info on the display - I do believe I will wonder how I ever got along without one.

We're having our dealer install everything, since husband decided they might be less likely than him to fry something and more likely to hook it up in the correct order (at least they'd have to fix it if not LOL).

P.S. Someone above mentioned I should have surge protection - we did get a SurgeGuard 30-amp protector (~ $95 -$100) early on - plugs into power post, tells me if wiring OK as well as surge protection.

And thanks again for the advice and information here on the forums!!!!

[Kittycatcat]

Hi again -

I have yet another question for the good folks here - PD 4655 and the Trimetric monitor installed by dealer and seem to be working properly. We also got 2 new wet cell Interstate batteries at our dealer. They showed about 12.7, maybe as low as 12.6 volts on the Trimetric after we got home and left everything unplugged for a day.

Plugged back in, the PD4655 showed "normal" charge mode, and is now at "float" 13.2V, but the Trimetric won't show a % full amount - just those darn 3 dashes -
because in the history the battery has never reached 14.3 volts since the monitor's been turned on. (Google and the user manual are my friends - I understand both the volts and amps parameters need to be met before % works - so far only the amps test parameter is met.)

Will this correct itself once the battery is discharged enough (say, during boondocking) to trigger "boost" 14.4V charging mode when plugged back in?

Or am I missing something?

Thank you!

[pcskier]

Originally Posted by Kittycatcat

Hi again -

I have yet another question for the good folks here - PD 4655 and the Trimetric monitor installed by dealer and seem to be working properly. We also got 2 new wet cell Interstate batteries at our dealer. They showed about 12.7, maybe as low as 12.6 volts on the Trimetric after we got home and left everything unplugged for a day.

Plugged back in, the PD4655 showed "normal" charge mode, and is now at "float" 13.2V, but the Trimetric won't show a % full amount - just those darn 3 dashes -
because in the history the battery has never reached 14.3 volts since the monitor's been turned on. (Google and the user manual are my friends - I understand both the volts and amps parameters need to be met before % works - so far only the amps test parameter is met.)

Will this correct itself once the battery is discharged enough (say, during boondocking) to trigger "boost" 14.4V charging mode when plugged back in?

Or am I missing something?

Thank you!

Not familiar with the Trimetric, it's on my list. If you unplug from shore power and wait an hour or so, what does the Trimetric say in terms of voltage?

In any case, the PD4655 often takes a bit of time to decide what charge is needed. I've had my batteries down near 12.3 and when hooking up my generator to recharge, the voltage shows 13.6 for awhile but eventually will bump up to 14.4. If I am not plugged in and using a generator and need to expedite things, I'll manually put the PD4655 into boost mode, I have the remote pendant. But if you don't, you can open the cover and there is a push button on the upper right you can press to sequence through the charging modes, and the flashing light indicates the mode you are in.

[Kittycatcat]

Thanks, Pcskier -

I do have the pendant. I assume it hasn't yet been in boost mode because we haven't discharged the batteries enough to warrant it.

The Trimetric is a battery monitoring kit recommended by Randy at bestconverter.com - it has 2 parameters that must be met before it will display a %charged value - it needs to see volts higher than the set-point (currently at default value 14.3) and amps lower than set-point. The volts parameter hasn't been met.

I'm thinking that once the PD4655 does a boost mode, the monitor will see the higher volt reading and then agree to show % charge. Or not. Not sure.

Don't want to force it to boost mode on an already fully-charged battery, so guess I'll wait until battery actually needs the higher charge and then see what happens with the monitor.

[Kittycatcat]

Oooooops - battery monitor now started showing % charge - guess I was supposed to be patient, not mess with it, and wait it out after the charger hit float stage.....

Please disregard my last 2 posts -
No one ever has accused me of being patient....

In my defense, I think the instructions could have said "let the freakin' thing run for a few days without touching it"