"Joakim Majander" wrote in message
m...
"Jeff Morris" wrote in message
...
No load voltage is a good indicator, if you know how to use it. You
shouldn't read the voltage after charging without load and never with
a high load. With a small load (0.1 - 2 A, for 60 Ah) the no load
voltage is very constant and reliable. Fully charged will give 12,6x V
and 11.7 is very close to empty. You should not let this voltage drop
below 12 V, which is ~30% capacity. For reading the voltage you need
an accurate meter, since an error of 0.1 V is significant.

You'll get good (and convenient) readings if you leave the battery rest for
20min to 1 hour before taking the voltage reading. By rest, I mean detach
the terminal so there's no charge and no discharge at all. See my yesterday
post. Your light load probably accounts for the small differences you quote
for various charging states. Or perhaps your battery lives in a hotter part
of the world!
--
Jim B, Yacht RAPAZ,
Sadly, for sale:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jim.bae...cification.htm
jim[dot]baerselman[at]ntlworld[dot]com

How can you accurately use an Ah-meter? How do you know what is the
starting point (after few hours loading capacity could be anywhere
between 70 and 100%)? How do you know how many Ah you battery can
really deliver? The real capasity depends on load and the rated
capasity is unlikely to be accurate.

Joakim

You initially charge up they batteries and set the starting point to zero.
Then all changing and discharging will be accurately accumulated. Battery
capacity is a spec given by the manufacturer or you can detrmine it
yourself if you have the patience. Capacity vs load is taken care of by
the use of Peukert's Equation which compensates for capacity vs
load. No, nothing is perfectly accurate, but it is way better than trying
top use voltage to determine level of charge. Technically, to get an
accurate reading you have to disconnect all loads and charging sources
and let the battery rest for 24 hours. Not really very practical.

Doug
s/v Callista

I think pretty much all the AH meters nowadays reset themselves. I
have have an e-meter, Link, and Ample Power and they all reset
themselves when the charge rate falls below a certain point. That
setpoint can usually be adjusted if desired. Where the problem comes
in is when you cruise for long periods of time without connecting to
shorepower. When at anchor we don't normally charge the batteries up
enough to cause the reset so an error of up to several AH will accumulate.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Ric" wrote in message
...

"Joakim Majander" wrote in message
m...

How can you accurately use an Ah-meter? How do you know what is the
starting point (after few hours loading capacity could be anywhere
between 70 and 100%)?

The smarter Ah meters detect when the battery is fully recharged, then
reset
themselves to zero automatically. They also use the ratio of
Ah-out/Ah-recharge to give an indication of the state of your batteries
and
charging system. If the percentage is low, you are having to put back in a
lot more Ah than you took out, meaning your batteries are old
(alternatively
it could mean you have a bad charging system which is boiling your
batteries).

The Rolls-Royce of Ah counters is the Victron model which is very
sophisticated and expensive. I have one by Thira which automatically
resets
itself and gives a charging coefficient which is all I need.

Here's an informative site ... http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/index.htm
.... and I've also read elsewhere that deep cycle battery life is maximized
by minimizing the discharge ... maybe I'll find that site again.


"Ric" wrote in message
...
I have just bought a couple of Delphi Freedom marine deep cycle batteries
for my service bank. Is there a recommended minimum voltage below which
one
should not discharge? Also, if the nominal capacity is (say) 100Ah, is
that
measured between standard voltages or is it measured from a nominal full
charge (with full charge voltage dependent on the charging system) until
totally discharged - ie 0v? Or is there a standard "never go below"
voltage
which manufacturers use?

I have an intelligent battery charging system on my boat that charges up
to
a threshold 14v with an asymptotically decreasing charging current, and a
battery controller with which I can set alarms to warn me of impending
doom
on the discharge cycle. At what level should I set the alarm to get best
use
out of my batteries?

Here we go ... same site ... refer 11.3 and 11.4
http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq11.htm


"bowgus" wrote in message
.cable.rogers.com...
Here's an informative site ...
http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/index.htm
... and I've also read elsewhere that deep cycle battery life is maximized
by minimizing the discharge ... maybe I'll find that site again.


"Ric" wrote in message
...
I have just bought a couple of Delphi Freedom marine deep cycle
batteries
for my service bank. Is there a recommended minimum voltage below which
one
should not discharge? Also, if the nominal capacity is (say) 100Ah, is
that
measured between standard voltages or is it measured from a nominal full
charge (with full charge voltage dependent on the charging system) until
totally discharged - ie 0v? Or is there a standard "never go below"
voltage
which manufacturers use?

I have an intelligent battery charging system on my boat that charges up
to
a threshold 14v with an asymptotically decreasing charging current, and
a
battery controller with which I can set alarms to warn me of impending
doom
on the discharge cycle. At what level should I set the alarm to get best
use
out of my batteries?

"Jeff Morris" wrote in message ...
Joakim Majander" wrote in message


No load voltage is a good indicator, if you know how to use it. You
shouldn't read the voltage after charging without load and never with
a high load.

So its reliable except when charging or discharging. And for a while afterwards.

Its not usable while charging, but with a rather small or even typical
load it is usable very soon (1-10 minutes depending on accuracy) after
charging/discharging. Without any load it might take much longer for
the voltage to drop after charging. Thus you have to know how to use
it. With an accurate meter (3 or 4 numbers after decimal point) you
can easily see, if the voltage is still changing and how adding a load
affects.



How do you use a voltmeter when there's a solar panel charging at 6 Amps, or the fridge is drawing
25 Amps?

You can disconnect the solar panel for a minute or two or check the
reading when it is not full daylight. If your fridge really draws 25 A
I hope you have at least 500 Ah of batteries, which would still last
only 1-2 days (20-50% cycle and not all capasity). For 500 Ah 25 A is
a small enough load to be qive quite accurate "no load voltage". If
you have an "over-powered" compressor, you have to be carefull not to
read the voltage while it is running.


How do you know what is the
starting point (after few hours loading capacity could be anywhere
between 70 and 100%)?

Being on shore power for a day, or running the engine for several hours generally puts you at a
reliable starting point.

You have to charge at least 24 hours to get anywhere near 100%. After
"running the engine for several hours" you can be anywhere between 70
and 100%. Charging from 50-70% to 100% is very slow.


So? Life is full of inaccuracies. If you use a battery the same way every day, the capacity is not
going to vary that much. A good A-H meter compensates for the differing discharge rate with
different loads.


I think for most people a good voltmeter is accurate enough.


BTW, I currently have a dual AH meter, with one leg on the house bank, and the other on the fridge.
This gives me an accurate readout of the fridge usage. While traveling, I kept of daily log so I
could correlate with air tamp and sea temp. Usage varied between 60 Amp-Hours a day (Maine) and 110
(S FL) for a Crosby 1/2 hp holding plate system with separate fridge and freezer.

I'm planning to build my own battery monitor, which would have a log
for the voltage and current of each battery and of cource an Ah meter.

Joakim