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Mecer 3kVA trolley - Maximising battery lifetime advice


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Posted

I recently bought a Mecer 3kVA trolley with two 100AH AGM batteries.

The trolley arrived with a note that had the following to say about how to maximise the battery lifetime:
1. Please leave your inverter kit plugged in and turned on. It will keep your batteries at constant full charge - this is the best state to keep them in.
2. If there is no load shedding, after a few weeks, the acid will start to sulphate on the top of the battery, so please do the following: Once every 1-2 months, please unplug the inverter from the wall and let it run until the inverter starts beeping, then immediately plug it back in. This will circulate the acid and will tremendously increase the cycle life of your batteries.

I have never heard the inverter make any beeping sounds when using it for a long time. I normally run a 400-500W load on the inverter for about 2.5hrs (when load shedding hits). If my calculations are correct that should take the battery capacity down to about 50%. I do not want to discharge more than that. 

Is this good advice?
At what level will this inverter start to beep?
Won't it do more harm to discharge it so far?

Posted (edited)
28 minutes ago, Koerant said:

AGM batteries

What they are talking about is not sulphation, but rather stratification (heavier parts of the electrolyte sinks to the bottom), and this does not happen in AGM batteries.

So the advice is in fact misleading and will likely shorten the battery life rather than extend it.

Edit: Also, you don't have to discharge a battery to counter-act stratification (in a flooded battery). You merely have to raise the charge voltage to a gassing voltage so that it bubbles a bit and the acid mixes.

Edited by plonkster
Posted

Have started noticing that Victron drops the float voltage down to 13.2Volt if the batteries have not been used for 48 hours and then applies a full charging cycle every week. I am thinking to emulate this by turning my 13.7V float charger off for most of the time. Floating above 13.5V for long periods makes my batteries weep and it obviously dries them out.

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