Battery charging advice, please

[Greenie]

Hello all and Season’s Greetings,

I’ve just had a AGM battery installed to replace a duff lead acid one.

The mains charger is a CBE CB516 set to Gel and my question to all the experts is: should the mains be left on?
The manual tends to say it can but the auto-electrician advised that once the battery is fully charged, the power should be off. A solar panel feeds both batteries, cab and hab, via a Duo battery solar controller and I seek experts opinion.

Best regards

 

[pappajohn]

I would leave it on, solar won't do a lot in winter anyway.
but saying that I wouldn't have fitted an AGM battery anyway.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I would disconnect the solar, switch off the main charger and put an Optimate trickle charger on it. They can only supply 0.8 amps and can do no damage under any battery fault condition.

 

[irnbru]

but saying that I wouldn't have fitted an AGM battery anyway.

I know you know what you are talking about usually but just for knowledge...Why not?

 

[ambulancekidd]

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[pappajohn]

I know you know what you are talking about usually but just for knowledge...Why not?

AGM are becoming renowned for early failure, even major car manufacturers are dumping them and returning to wet lead acid batteries as auto stop/start batteries.

 

[Jaws]

put an Optimate trickle charger on it.

Be careful with Optimates.. Check the model you have
If it is a 4 or a 4A be aware they have a great reputation with many bike dealers who sell batteries !!
Commonly referred to as the battery killer !
Every year for several years my sales would more than treble come March, often with the comment from the customer, 'I do not understand it.. Had it on the optimate all winter'

 

[BMSCharlie]

Gel/AGM is the correct setting and they're pretty much interchangable

Is it a smart charger? protecting the battery is one thing, but you don't want to lose it to overcharging and having it fail on you that way!

How big is the battery?

And as another Funster said - solar won't do a whole lot at the best of times, but especially not in this winter!

Feel free to PM if you need any battery/charger advice... it's the one motorhome thing I know I can help with!

 

[Richard n Ann]

I've got the optimate 2 and an old 3 on the bike. They are both just 0.8 amp.

 

[Jaws]

I've got the optimate 2 and an old 3 on the bike. They are both just 0.8 amp.

Perfect.. In my opinion the 3 was the best one.. In fact Oxford seemed to copy it for their Oximiser .. Of course I have no idea if they did or not

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[Lenny HB]

With an AGM on the Gel setting you will be doing very well if you get two years out of it. There are Type 1 & Type 2 AGM they require different charging voltages. The Type 2 uses the same voltage as Gel's but the absorption time is far too long, on the lastest EBL's it's 16 hours an AGM only needs a couple of hours.
I would never use AGM for leisure use far too unreliable.

 

[Wobblybob]

I know nothing about AGM batteries so can’t help.But while on the subject of battery charging,I have fitted a sterling BtoB charger & want to move the battery master. I wonderd if it ok to connect it to the in & out terminals
of the sterling BtoB.

 

[Lenny HB]

I know nothing about AGM batteries so can’t help.But while on the subject of battery charging,I have fitted a sterling BtoB charger & want to move the battery master. I wonderd if it ok to connect it to the in & out terminals
of the sterling BtoB.

Will be OK providing you are using switched ignition feed or D+ to turn the B2B on.
If the B2B is wired as the basic setup it can cycle with a Batterymaster as the Batterymaster will bring the starter battery voltage up, which will then turn on the B2B most likely to happen when on EHU.

 

[Wobblybob]

Thanks Lenny will use ignition feed .

 

[Gowerboy]

IMHO, having had an Optimate and Oxford chargers fail in the past, Optimate failed on a BMW 1200 RT and could’ve caused havoc with the Canbus system, I have used nothing else but CTEK XS range, my insurance company asked about the viability and safety off having them on charge all the time, so emailed CTEK in Denmark and was amazed with their reply and technical specs, that’s why most of the worlds high end cars recommend CTEK like Bentley, BMW, Ferrari,Porsche, Aston Martin, can’t have a £200,000 car burnout in someone’s private garage,??

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[autorouter]

Gel/AGM is the correct setting and they're pretty much interchangable

Is it a smart charger? protecting the battery is one thing, but you don't want to lose it to overcharging and having it fail on you that way!

The mains charger is a CBE CB516 set to Gel

The tech spec for this charger says 'IUoU', which is Martian for a 3-stage charging profile: I = constant current bulk stage, Uo = constant (high) voltage absorption stage, U = constant float voltage stage. Gel setting sets absorption stage to timed, 8 hours. The constant current value is 16 amps.