Quote:
Originally Posted by California98Civic
... the most important features of the set up that I did not predict/understand about the switch to an onboard charger and deep cycle battery were the affect of heat on the battery itself and the importance of sufficient amperage. ... I got a battery with the metal sheathing to protect against heat separation of the plates. []
I have a practice of not allowing it to discharge all that low.
[]
|
Thanks. I did not get the metal jacket. Is this essentially an external heat sink? I guess I could make one pretty simply. Do you have an idea of what temperature threshold to keep under? I still haven't implemented my warm-air intake, but I was planning on running it right around the battery, I could play with having some intake holes to try and draw air across the battery and into the combustion air. I haven't even measured temps on the battery but will do it with my infrared gun this week. Any time I've had to run headlights (which is almost never) I've left alternator running (which is still only about 50% of the trip due to eoc)
Re low SOC: how do you determine your depth of discharge? I'm a bit ignorant here. I've done a basic estimate of my loads with engine running which give me an AH load estimate, but haven't measured anything to verify. The charger I bought estimates the depth of discharge, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. (it usually shows about 75% capacity at the end of the day. I've been down around 60 a couple times) I suppose that in conjunction with the watt-meter and many samples should yield some sort of decent formula.
edit 8/6: I just did a 9 mile trip. after getting home I observed very little heat on the long side of the battery with my hand. I used wire nuts to install the clamp instead of quick disconnect with rings terminals to battery and observed 5.3A max charging. Will continue to monitor.