How Low Should Voltage Drop On XS D3400 During Storage?

[SnowDrifter]

You ever seen a battery at close to 16v? Electrolyte looks something like water at a simmer. In AGM batteries, that's lost electrolyte that can never be replenished. Plus that level of gas can separate the lead oxide coating from your battery plates reducing their performance.

IIRC the ctek chargers do it as a cycle. 5 seconds on, rest. Repeat X number of times. Just once won't do anything, but after repeated use, it ads up

[Sutliff]

You ever seen a battery at close to 16v? Electrolyte looks something like water at a simmer. In AGM batteries, that's lost electrolyte that can never be replenished. Plus that level of gas can separate the lead oxide coating from your battery plates reducing their performance.

IIRC the ctek chargers do it as a cycle. 5 seconds on, rest. Repeat X number of times. Just once won't do anything, but after repeated use, it ads up

Definitely some great/interesting info ... I was actually going to PM you about something, SnowD ... ----> Everything is as described in my OP, but at this point in time, the 340 now rests at approx. 12.5-12.3v ... interesting why it will not rest at 13.1-13.15v like it did last year. Only changes from last year is the Mech 240A ALT ... up from a Mech 170.

This is done exclusively with the SMD VM-1 in the same interior 12v socket ... May not be the most optimal, but, at least in my simple mind, it is a consistent read. (There is nothing "On" that is drawing power whatsoever ... no changed from last year ... & I read quite often from the same meter & same locale.

Obviously question/comment open to anyone ...

PS: hdorre: It was a "good" hijack. *cheers!* :-)

[SnowDrifter]

Try the drain/charge cycle. See if that helps

What voltage do you charge at? It IS entirely possible to have boiled the battery. I've done that one before hehe

[Sutliff]

Try the drain/charge cycle. See if that helps

What voltage do you charge at? It IS entirely possible to have boiled the battery. I've done that one before hehe

I have only ever needed a small Black & Decker charger. Used it to bring the BATT up before first installation, & unexpectedly pulled it out this spring to bring it up a little before I started the car with the new ALT - & the winter storage.

Only charging it sees now is off the Mech 240A.

[SnowDrifter]

Try the drain/charge cycle. See if that helps

What voltage do you charge at? It IS entirely possible to have boiled the battery. I've done that one before hehe

Only charging it sees now is off the Mech 240A.

What voltage?

[Sutliff]

Try the drain/charge cycle. See if that helps

What voltage do you charge at? It IS entirely possible to have boiled the battery. I've done that one before hehe

Only charging it sees now is off the Mech 240A.

What voltage?

When freshly started, it'll read as high as 14.9 ... sometimes, through the interior cig lighter on the VM-1, it will start to flash the 15.1v LED.

After hot, it is still a solid charge of 14.4-14.6v ... with nothing playing ... just riding with windows down.

I do not know if you are on mobile, & can get to this or not, but this is the "maintainer" I have ... http://blackanddecker.com/power-tools/BM3B.aspx ... It was recommended last July when I started with these AGMs., & obviously does not have a discharge cycle, etc on it ... just that it is good enough to bring up AGM's volts, & float until needed if left on.

BTW: If you have an extra moment, ... What does it mean to "boil a battery" ... in particular one of these - for me - expensive XS's?

[SnowDrifter]

Yup that's the same one I have. Nothing special but the charge profile is safe and about what you'd want for AGMs

By boil a battery, I mean cause your electrolyte to literally boil. By charging at too high a voltage for the temperature of the battery. Issue with these sealed batteries is that once you lose your electrolyte to this process, it cannot be replenished, and your batteries capacity & performance will be permanently reduced.

For reasons I have yet to understand, lots of folks in the car audio realm seem to have this massive boner for overcharging batteries at crazy high voltages. I'm running 14v, so I charge at 16.1. But that's the equivalent to charging a normal battery at 13.8v. Something that's pretty safe for under-the-hood temperatures. I've been there, done that with the charging at 14.8+v game. All it did was cause me to fry 3 batteries. Went to start my car one day and it didn't. Only took about 6 months to do this

[ToNasty]

i just sold one. it had been sitting for 8 months and it still was at 12.8

[Sutliff]

Yup that's the same one I have. Nothing special but the charge profile is safe and about what you'd want for AGMs

By boil a battery, I mean cause your electrolyte to literally boil. By charging at too high a voltage for the temperature of the battery. Issue with these sealed batteries is that once you lose your electrolyte to this process, it cannot be replenished, and your batteries capacity & performance will be permanently reduced.

For reasons I have yet to understand, lots of folks in the car audio realm seem to have this massive boner for overcharging batteries at crazy high voltages. I'm running 14v, so I charge at 16.1. But that's the equivalent to charging a normal battery at 13.8v. Something that's pretty safe for under-the-hood temperatures. I've been there, done that with the charging at 14.8+v game. All it did was cause me to fry 3 batteries. Went to start my car one day and it didn't. Only took about 6 months to do this

After I think about it, ... after you said you have this B&D charger yourself, I actually think it was you who recommended this to me ... or at least posted that this is the one you used, & that is was more than sufficient for my needs ... I am sure I could go back in my threads last summer & find it, but obviously, it is no big deal ... just a cool coincidence.

Anyway, ... Should I worry very much about, essentially, how "high" my MechMan 240 charges this D3400? I mean, it is quite often a little over 14.4v ... & will go up when there is a draw ... lights, stereo, A/C, etc.

I read a little something on 4XSPower.com that these BATTs should not be charged at high voltages - initially - for over 5 minutes. Ever read that?

As an FYI: I put the charger on the BATT earlier today ... it has been on for about 7 hours now. I do not really know why I put it on, but I did. Oh, well, cannot hurt it.

Also, as I was cleaning out the inside today, a couple things hit me. I do not know if it is actually calculable, but I found 3 things that were plugged in each night ... & now I wonder if they, in total, could have lowered the BATT .2-.3v over the course of 12-15 hours or ever up to 36 hours.

1. The 12v plug-in for my phone charger ... behind my driver's seat ... a cable plugged into the USB slot, not charging anything, but a very bright blue LED is on 24/7.

2. In my OBD II/2 Port I have a BlueTooth thingy that works with my phone & does all sorts of stuff. At night/When the car is off, there is no BT connection, but it is flashing some LEDs - some semi-brights, others very faintly - like a total of 4 LEDs ... red & orange ones.

3. ... AAANNNDDD ... the SMD VM-1 is always plugged into my front 12v socket ... which is nice & bright with LEDs & all.

Could the combo of those three drain that BATT ... assuming it is still a healthy BATT - less than ONE year old - 2 to 3 TENTHS OF A VOLT over what I think is such a short period of time?!

Ugh.

Thanks for even reading this, Bud.

[SnowDrifter]

I fried batteries on a bit higher than that voltage. It's really up to you how much of a big deal you want to place on it. I've cooked my batteries, others have run for years without issue. YMMV

And as for the combo of things making a draw: Yeah it's entirely possible for that to drag down your resting voltage a bit. Little draws add up. I noticed mine changed when I got an aftermarket alarm