You're close to totally correct., with one exception that was what led to my "edge of settings" comment. The inverter low cutout voltage maximum setting is 48 volts, and I wanted to set it higher. From the charts I've found, 48 volts on a 16 cell LFP battery is about 10% charge. Your making me think about this harder is leading me to believe it's a non-issue. On the inverter I can't set it to cut out until the batt is at 10%, but the BMS cuts it off at 20%, so it looks like my stress over this is all for nothing. The low batt cut in maximum is 52, which strikes me as not a problem.
bidens incredible transition to electric cars
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So, I am going to ask a dumb question here since I am very ignorant with all of these battery talk going on here.
Lead-Acid batteries, I have seen a few videos of people cleaning them out, think with vinegar or something like it and restoring the old batteries. Have ya'll had any experience with this? All I have ever done to prolong these batteries is add more distilled water (top off) and do about 3 day cycles of 12 hour slow charging.
Lead-Acid batteries, I have seen a few videos of people cleaning them out, think with vinegar or something like it and restoring the old batteries. Have ya'll had any experience with this? All I have ever done to prolong these batteries is add more distilled water (top off) and do about 3 day cycles of 12 hour slow charging.
Its just not worth the effort, I tried once and made holes in my clothes. The only thing you can do is clean the terminals or if its nearly dead try flushing the battery with distill or deionized water to clear the sediments. But the sediments which would have settled at the bottom could get wedged between the plates and make it worse, so only try this with a near dead battery, which no longer takes charge or shows charged just after a few minutes in the charger.
Makes sense.
So ended up replacing a 12 volter for our Zero-Turn, when they tested it, polarity reversed on them. When this thing died, it died quick but got 7 years out of it. Had it on a 1.2v trickle charger I have connected to a solar panel with a Maintainer Charger. Actually have two maintainers that connects to that solar panel, it has worked surprisingly good. Charges my Side-by-side Gator and the Zero-Turn.
Crazy, the price of batteries today...
I totally forgot to mention that I have a gadget called a desulfator that I run on my AGM battery bank, which I occasionally switch over to in the solar system. It sends out a burst of high frequency pulses about once a second, which is supposed to make the bad stuff fall off the lead plates. I've got no clue if it works, much less on an AGM that doesn't have the traditional lead plates. I just figured with 8x AGMs, costing about $2k these days, it was worth spending $40 for the gadget on the chance it might help prolong the AGMs' lifetime.
I use one for a car in storage, and another for a family member's sump pump battery... like you, I don't know if it actually works, but it sounds good and does no harm, so...
Desulfator, hmmm, sounds interesting...
I have two of these, did burn one out once, my mistake, forgot to disconnect before I starting Gator (side-by-side), probably not good to have two chargers, one being an alternator, charging the same battery at the same time, lol
One came with my Solar Panel so just bought the second for the Zero-Turn...
I have two of these, did burn one out once, my mistake, forgot to disconnect before I starting Gator (side-by-side), probably not good to have two chargers, one being an alternator, charging the same battery at the same time, lol
One came with my Solar Panel so just bought the second for the Zero-Turn...
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
I been using this since 6 years. De sulfation never worked on any of my AGM and this charger is probably the benchmark with rave reviews.
CTEK 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 Amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V - Walmart.com
Buy CTEK 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 Amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V at Walmart.com
www.walmart.com
Oh well, the placebo effect still makes me feel good.
I still got an old Sears charger I still use from time to time, never failed me yet. Dang, I am old...lol
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Those older chargers were just a transformer and a diode, i.e. half wave rectifier, which the flooded lead acid batteries apparently tolerate quite well. Now we have computers and highly regulated clean DC in the chargers, which most of the newer battery technologies need. But, what a mind boggling huge change with the chargers. (On the box hoarding, I still have many boxes for my 1950s Lionel train items).
Those rectifier inside had a beefy heatsink.
I remember I used to crank the engine with the charger still connected. I also used to watch needle go up and down when the Speaker/Sub had a bass sound but I doubt I would be able to do that with current chargers which would probably throw a error.
Still have that charger lying around somewhere in the garage.
Keeping it in the box is why the charger still looks so goodI can't believe you still have the box... "FULL YEAR WARRANTY ON SIDE OF BOX"...
They even made boxes better back then...Still getting calls to extend the warranty, lol or may be it is the car warranty
So should I stop using this charger? Rarely use it but I did revive a old Zero-Turn battery with it, Three days, 12 hour charges, got another 3 years out of the battery topping off the fluid.
I have used it on vehicle batteries in the past, but older vehicles about maybe a decade ago. But now with these Auto Start/Stop Batteries (expensive) and my 2025 RAM 1500 has a second battery, think it is to keep electronics running while the engine is stopped, I was told. May need to not use this old charger anymore for vehicle batteries.
I have used it on vehicle batteries in the past, but older vehicles about maybe a decade ago. But now with these Auto Start/Stop Batteries (expensive) and my 2025 RAM 1500 has a second battery, think it is to keep electronics running while the engine is stopped, I was told. May need to not use this old charger anymore for vehicle batteries.
May be I need to do this once my warranty expires:
5thgenrams.com
Guide to Disabling Auto Start Stop + Removing the Auxiliary Battery on a 2025 RAM 1500 SO/HO
Posting this to help others who may want to remove their auxiliary battery to diagnose or prevent issues like voltage drops, no-start events after the truck sits, or similar problems. What This Modification Achieves: Removes the auxiliary battery, which many suspect is a source of battery...
5thgenrams.com
My understanding is the old low-tech chargers are perfectly fine for flooded lead acid batteries, possible death for other battery types. More and more cars have AGM batteries, something to be aware of. This caution also applies to portable generators with battery charging outputs. The labels on the connectors say 12 volt DC, but in most cases it just like the old battery charger, rectified AC with no filtering or regulation, and peaks over 20 volts.
This kinda brings up a question, on these future autonomous self driving vehicles, who do the Cops ticket for violations?
This kinda brings up a question, on these future autonomous self driving vehicles, who do the Cops ticket for violations?
Biggest mistake Tesla made was naming it autopilot. Tesla Autopilot is just a better version of Level 2 Autonomous driving.
Level 2 means, you are legally liable for accidents or other driving errors even when you where not driving. Driver must keep his hands on the steering wheel from time to time.
Level 3, which so far only Mercedes S class has it in North America. In this system the car maker is legally liable for when it was being driven in autonomous mode. Speed limit for autonomous driving is 40mph.
It will request the driver to take over in the event it assumes it's unsafe for it to proceed and it will slow down and park the car on the side, if it fails to get a response.
China has lot of cars with them and operate at speeds upto 50mph.
Level 4, this system is only available in China. Where the car maker is legally liable at all times. Not available to consumers yet, only fleet operators.