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wheels

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wheels last won the day on June 25 2022

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  1. In short answer, no you will not harm the batteries charging 24/7 or leaving the charger off for a few days. It is really only long term of both that will eventually cause an issue. Something seen in remote power sights for instance. This is why remote sites tend to use Gel banks. The Gel battery is better at longer term float charging, with the very rare event of being used in a power cut and then back to charge again. AGM,s do not like that as much and FLA's require too much maintenance to be left alone for long periods of time.
  2. More technically correct, the electrolyte is conductive, so when the battery is at reast, no load connected, the resistance of the conductive material causes it to self discharge. It's more about keeping those plates up to full charge and overcoming the self discharge. Production of any energy is via the chemical reaction. As soon as a voltage source is removed and the battery begins to discharge via that internal resistance, the chemistry is such that sulphate is created. Maintaining a float charge stops that from happening. However, a battery can slowly deteriorate even when i
  3. I should expand on the sulphate part a little. Although it will not help in regards to the Optima AGM situation above. I thought maybe someone might get just a little more knowledge from the following, if they are interested. If the Sulphate can no longer be reverted back to Plate material, the Plate is therefore diminished permanantly of that material and thus loses capacity in both Current and Storage. With an FLA type battery, the Hard material sinks to the bottom of the battery container and builds up. Deep cycle designs allow for this by having a deeper area under the Plates. Once tha
  4. It will be interesting to see how long that result lasts. The important point to understand is that Equalization charge is resulting in two very different things when it comes to FLA and GEL/AGM. With FLA, it is all about stirring up the Electrolyte via Gasification. Obviously that does not occur with AGM or GEL batteries. There are two different forms of Sulphate. The first form is a soft Sulphate and is part of the natural battery chemistry. It forms in the surface of the plates as soon as discharge occurs. The Sulphate layer increases as the battery discharges deeper and deeper. This la
  5. You have to understand how an ALT works in a normal situation and how one is controlled by an external reg. As I said above, there are two main ways of controlling. In a non external reg situation, the ALT simply produces a continuous current into a battery. But as the Voltage rises, which is actually quite quickly, the current also quickly (proportionaly) drops. So the actual regulation is caused by the Battery load itself. By using an external reg, the maximum output if the ALT is maintained no matter what the Voltage point of the Battery is. There are two ways of controlling the ALT in
  6. No it is not my Claim. Graeme has even demonstrated this to me on his test bed. It is not a claim that has been included within their information, however that does not make it false. I will reword my above comment slightly. The output of the ALT can often be increased by upto 10% for many Alternators. But not all. It depends on the ALT. It is one main factor behind why Graeme suggests certain Alternators be used.
  7. So what didn't you understand from my comment? Yes it works like some of the non sensing regulators. Not many or all, but some. There is an EPROM inside that has been programmed to control the charging. Why is it cheap? because they have saved costs by not creating an exensive box. They are not trying to recover the many hrs of R&D. Craeme and Son has a regular job and the Reg is something they have spent many hrs of their own spare time on. How do I know all this? because I have sat with Graeme for many hrs discussing the thing..... as well as many other subjects. The real proof i
  8. OK, the first thing to understand is that there are two different ways to charge a battery. Either have a power supply that is somewhat "dumb" and the Temp sense and Voltage points, control the steps a charger changes stages at. Or the other way is, have an algorithm that more closely follows the charge Laws of Battery Chemistry's. The later is harder to do for all sorts of reasons and so the initial way is more the norm for most all manufactures. Graeme is not the only one developing the Regulator. Graemes Son has done much of the physics and design of the algorithm they use. Many of you ma
  9. It doesn't need the temp sensors for either due to the algorithm. It is also how the thing can make the ALT produce more than it's rated current without cooking it. Larger Banks.....well we have one here that is controlling a 140A ALT charging 1000AHrs of Battery Bank.
  10. Go to Graeme's website and you will find all the info on there along with large easy to see wiring diags.
  11. I have never seen Acetic Acid in the info for Salt Away. I had looked for the make up of it some years ago but could not find anything apart from detergent. The detergent could well be simply Glycol. In thius case, detergents act mainly as a " wetting" agent. Reducing surface tension and allowing the Water to " attach" to surfaces. If acetic acid that is the case, I scratch my head as to how the "corrosion protectant" part is supposed to work. Plus Acetic Acid is a poor choice for cleaning crud in Salt Envirnoments. And in saying that, Phosphoric would work, but is not a lot better. Alt
  12. Don't get fooled. There is no Chemical that will disolve Salt better than Clean fresh water. It is head and shoulders above any other Chemical. Forget the Chemical "Protectants" like Salt-away and all the rest. They are nothing but a detergent and actually do very little. Certainly nothing as good as plain ole fresh water. Those products are all a rip off because they are just simple cheap forms of a detergent that are sold as some special miracle Salt eliminator.
  13. Yes it is styrene used to thin. You can cheat by using Polyester liquid resin mixed into the filler. But Epoxy works even better.
  14. Insurance is becoming a big issue for many older boats, no matter what material built from. Then add in the reluctance of insuring on a swing mooring. The "where can I get insurance" question is the main discussion I have on HFOA forum. There are only two places I can send people now. The Marina Shop in BOI. And Williams in Spain. The later I know nothing about and have heard some have had problems getting payment after mishaps. But apparently they insure with no questions asked. So if it is a case of needing isnurance to get into a Marina, but maybe never getting a pay out if Boat sinks, th
  15. As soon as you move CG from Safety to Policing, everything changes. Not saying that it would certainly follow the same here, but in both Oz and the US, the Coastguard have become a very harsh rules enforcement authority and not an organisation that is there for rescue, aid and education. However, I do think that the NZ CG could be given a tooth or two at least and be able to enforce some laws. Although, the difficult part of that is the authorisation of CG people to be able to stop, board and enforce. It's not all that easy. People with such authority require special training. Not somet
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