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Need Help Charging AGM Battery From Home AC Power

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  • #46
    What you are falling for is Marketing. There is nothing magic about battery chargers. They all do the exact same thing, supply current. Pb batteries are pure chemical reactions with known properties.

    All I have been telling you is AGM is different than FLA batteries. They do not use a liquid electrolyte. What little moisture in a AGM battery has to be recombined, and to do that require a minimum current to recombine Hydrogen and Oxygen. Sure a manufacture can say it will charge up to a 125 AH battery with 4 amps. At face value is true if time is of no concern, and a minimum charge current is not required. But that charger does not know what size battery is connected to and what the requirements are. Well expensive ones do because you tell it and then it knows how much current the battery needs.

    It is up to the buyer to size the charger correctly. All Pb batteries have maximum and minimum charge rate limits. It is just a characteristic of the chemistry in order to have needed chemical reactions. FLA is universal of a minimum of C/12, and maximum of C/8. AGM and Gel although are Pb, are under pressure and have slightly different requirements in charge rate. Gel must be charged slowly, AGM, or most AGM's need to be charged at higher rates. Example if you have a 100 AH AGM and manufacture minimum charge rate is C/10 and Maximum is C/2 means you charger must be at least 10 amps and no greater than 50 amps. 4 amps will not work no natter what the charger manufacture says.

    Will your AGM fully recombine with only 4 amps. I cannot answer that, but I have doubts if it is a 100 AH battery because 4 amps on a 100 AH battery is C/25 which is extremely slow for a battery charger. C/25 is what is called a Trickle Charger to maintain fully charged batteries, not intended to charge a battery.

    What I can tell you and anyone following along is a C/10 charger will work for 95% of the time for any battery type or chemistry. Makes life real easy.
    Last edited by Sunking; 03-03-2016, 10:29 PM.
    MSEE, PE

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