Quote:
Originally Posted by proconsul100
Hi guys,
i have a few questions you guys might be able to help me with. first one is with my power converter. would you guys know if the charger on this converter would be ok for charging AGM batteries. if it is then i can put the house batteries inside the bus . . . . any advice would be great
thanks
Eric
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The voltage on a generic power converter may be a little too high for an AGM. The converter on my camper is a computerized three-state charger with pre-programmed fast charge/top-off/trickle charge voltages. The settings on mine are not adjustable, and the fast charge voltage is too high for the gel-cells I often work with. For a test, I would connect your converter to a standard automotive battery and monitor the voltage across the terminals during the charging cycles with a digital voltmeter. Then I would look at the battery manufacturer's data sheet for the particular AGM batteries in question, and decide if the converter is safe for them or not. Remember, if you over-charge an AGM or gel cell and it vents, you can't just add distilled water to restore the lost capacity.
Some battery maintainers have a wet cell/gel cell switch to change between two presets to allow for the lower charging voltage. Some others may be fully adjustable either with dip switches or an internal screwdriver adjustment. Mine isn't, believe me I checked.