"beaufortnc" wrote in
ps.com:

Hi,

Am new to the process of equalization.

Have a Blue Sky Energy charge controller that will equalize at 15.4V or
something like that, and control the equalization process.

Is there a possibility that any of my electronics will be damaged
during this process, or should I be unhooking anything from the system
before beginning the process?

Any comments are appreciated,

Thanks,

Mike.



The trouble with these "pulsers", and that's what they are, knocking the
lead sulfate coating off the plates with brute force pulses, is the
voltage you see on a voltmeter is the PEAK voltage that may occur in a
system with sulfated batteries. For that reason, I'd shut down all the
electronics and open their breakers before going to the "equalization"
mode on any of them....especially since the poor battery that should have
been replaced may open and REALLY pulse the electronics if that
happens....

By the way, the term "equalization" refers, outside the overpriced
charger marketing, to the equalization of cell specific gravity by SLOWLY
adding sulphuric acid to cells that won't come up to 1.260 s.p. after the
complete recharging cycle because their acid has been consumed by lead
sulfate ions forming crystalline lead sulfate, which cannot be recovered
by charging because it has precipitated out of suspension and lays in the
bottom of the battery in a special little well designed for just that
purpose in the battery case. Lead sulfate is a rather stable little
salt. Unfortunately, this causes the acid to be consumed, reducing that
cell's amp-hour capacity. Equalizing the gravity by replacing the acid
lost only will work until the lead plate, that was also consumed by
sulfation, eats holes in the plates as it is discharged, which, of
course, is also not a recoverable condition. Batteries are designed to
run out of acid long before they plates have holes eaten away from them.
"Dead Battery" is simply a battery that has run out of acid, hopefully
that charging it will recover.



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There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.