Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

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.

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

"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.



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

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

yes. Unhooking or not turning on would be advisable.

"beaufortnc" wrote in message
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.

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

Mike is talking about equalization, Larry, not desulfating - they are
two entirely different things. And batteries that use a desulfator
still need to be equalized.

There is no need to disconnect electronics or 12 volt equipment during
equalization or desulfation. Unless it is a garage based manufacturer
all 12 volt equipment is designed to withstand those voltages. We
design our 12 volt equipment to withstand up to about 28 volts
continuously and voltage spikes up to 1000 volts or more.

For those that are interested, the following is the "TMI" education on

EQUALIZATION AND DESULFATION.

EQUALIZATION:

A multi cell battery in steady use goes through charge and discharge
cycles. Charging and discharging is the process of putting CURRENT
(amps) into the battery and taking CURRENT out of the battery. The
amount of charge transfered in each case is measured in amps X hours or
amp-hours.

You will notice the word "voltage" did not occur in the first
paragraph. Voltage is used to push current into a battery or draw
current out of a battery. Each cell has its own voltage that is added
up in 6 cells (for a 12 volt battery) to give the battery voltage. All
the cells contribute equally to the current flowing out - they have to
because they are in series and the identical current has to flow in all
of them and they share equally in the current coming in - again they
have no choice independent of the individual cell voltages.

A battery with cells in series is like a chain and it is as strong as
the weakest link. The whole battery is considered discharged when the
weakest cell is discharged. If all the cells have identical
characteristics then they should all reach the discharged state about
the same time.

During charging the charger can't monitor and charge the individual
cells. They all get charged equally and the charger monitors the total
voltage to determine if they are fully charged.

But unfortunately they can't make batteries with "identical" cells -
there is always one that is weaker and will be discharged (or charged)
before the others. This means the unused capacity of all the other
cells is wasted and the battery capacity is diminished to the weakest
link. In fact that weak link will cause charging to stop before all
the tougher cells are fully charged and their capacity is also reduced.

So EQUALIZATION is the process of forcing excess current into a battery
that looks like it is already fully charged. This current will
OVERCHARGE the weaker cell(s) causing them to bubble but that extra
current will finish charging all the other cells that have been
starved. When all 6 cells are gassing then no more equalization can
occur and all cells are fully charged. An equalization charger can't
check if they are all gassing so it usually just overcharges for a
fixed time and assumes they have all "EQUALIZED" to full charge.

In this process, stirring up the electrolyte with the bubbles helps to
destratify any layer concentrations and move any debris (sulfate) from
between the plates.

DESULFATION:-

Sulfation in batteries is usually a symptom of DISUSE. In a battery in
regular use with significant charge and discharge cycles sulfation is
rarely a problem. I'm not knowledgeable enough of the chemical process
of sulfation but sufficient to say you can think of it as crystals
forming on the plates that reduces the area available for supplying
current.

In particular I've found that batteries in long term float conditions
such as at a dock with a charger maintaining float voltage, the tiny
charge and discharge cycles can cause serious reduction in life. I
don't know if that reduction is due to sulfation or just over use of
just the surface of the plates making them spongy but read the article
at http://www.yandina.com/hints.htm#BatterySaver for information on how
to save your expensive battery bank from "short cycle" damage.

When desulfators came out I read the patent claim(s). It read like
science fiction and I was very dubious of their claims. The patent
indicates that the sulfate crystals have a uniform size and if you
apply a high frequency energy pulse to them and hit their resonant
frequency (about 3+ MHz from memory) you can break them up just like
the wine glass in the Memorex commercial from years ago. However
despite my skeptical impression it is hard to deny the wealth of
accolades from those that have used them.

So EQUALIZATION and DESULFATION are entirely different processes.

Regards,

Ann-Marie Foster,

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

Andina Marie wrote:
Mike is talking about equalization, Larry, not desulfating - they are
two entirely different things. And batteries that use a desulfator
still need to be equalized.

There is no need to disconnect electronics or 12 volt equipment during
equalization or desulfation. Unless it is a garage based manufacturer
all 12 volt equipment is designed to withstand those voltages. ...

I must admit that when I equalize I turn everything off. However,
thinking about this made me wonder if its not a bad idea to leave
certain items connected. For instance, if the radar or GPS is going
to fail from 16V, I'd rather it happen at the dock than at sea. It is
quite easy for a regulator wire to come loose and allow the voltage to
run up to 17 or more. Anything that would failure during
equalization shouldn't be on a boat.

And I've had a desulphator for the 7 years I've had the boat. I don't
know if it works, but the batteries lasted 6 years and I only
equalized once. They probably would have gone 1 or 2 seasons more if
they hadn't been abused one winter.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

Andina Marie wrote:

There is no need to disconnect electronics or 12 volt equipment during
equalization or desulfation. Unless it is a garage based manufacturer
all 12 volt equipment is designed to withstand those voltages.

There is a need to disconnect the cheap stuff. Regular incandescent
light bulbs will burn out quickly when fed a diet of 15 or more volts,
although they will burn *really* bright before they blow.

This is from firsthand experience g.

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

this may not be the solution but check your boat for an electrical leak. I
had a 12 volt float switch in my bilge that got a crack in the wire. I was
blowing zincs at the rate of one every 3 weeks. Thought it was leakage at
the marina but when I went to the Bahamas it was the same thing. Found it
and replace the switch, no more problems.
Check your bilge for leakage

"beaufortnc" wrote in message
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.

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

Excellent point, Mark - I had forgotten about incandescent lamps.

Mark wrote:
Andina Marie wrote:

There is no need to disconnect electronics or 12 volt equipment during
equalization or desulfation. Unless it is a garage based manufacturer
all 12 volt equipment is designed to withstand those voltages.

There is a need to disconnect the cheap stuff. Regular incandescent
light bulbs will burn out quickly when fed a diet of 15 or more volts,
although they will burn *really* bright before they blow.

This is from firsthand experience g.

Battery equalization - Possible damage
 

I know someone that had a bare bilge pump wire in the bilge water. It
destroyed his shaft and prop. He had to be towed for repairs. Further
complications were that the original shaft was metric and the repair shop
went to a lot of expense changing it to US size.
Lee Haefele
"JIm" wrote in message
news:LBIIg.490366$IK3.13525@pd7tw1no...
this may not be the solution but check your boat for an electrical leak.
I had a 12 volt float switch in my bilge that got a crack in the wire. I
was blowing zincs at the rate of one every 3 weeks. Thought it was
leakage at the marina but when I went to the Bahamas it was the same
thing. Found it and replace the switch, no more problems.
Check your bilge for leakage

"beaufortnc" wrote in message
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.