Very fast charging of deep cycle batteries.

I purchased mine online from Everybattery - sent to Perth from Victoria.
These charge rates are within Lifelines specifications and they provide a 5 year warranty for non-commercial use.

Regards Dennis

hi
wow thats a dam good warranty
cheers

I doubt that will be for under bonnet use – My warranty is 5 years for Marine and RV applications

5 year is pro-rata.
12mths is the full replacement warranty

If you use the same 20amp charger maybe not much – I couldn’t put the Fullriver on the three 40 amp chargers or it could have gone into orbit.
But if you have the power to pump into the Lifeline I’d say 500% compared to my old setup with a 20 amp smart charger.

Here is a extract from Lifelines Technical Manual No 6-0101
“The most efficient method of charging Lifeline® AGM batteries is to use a 3 stage charging profile. In the first stage, a constant current is applied until the voltage reaches a pre-set limit. The first stage is often called the Bulk charging stage. In the second stage, the voltage is held constant at the same pre-set limit until the charging current tapers to a very low value, at which point the battery is fully charged. The second stage is often called the Absorption charging stage. A voltage limit of 14.3 volts ± 0.1 volts (7.15 ± 0.05 volt for a 6 volt battery) should be used when the battery temperature is 77°F (25°C). The battery is fully charged when the current drops below 0.5% of the battery's rated capacity (0.5A for a 100Ah battery). In the third stage, the charging voltage is reduced to a lower value that minimizes the amount of overcharge, while maintaining the battery at 100% state of charge. This third stage is often called the Float charging stage. A float voltage of 13.3 ± 0.1 volts (6.65 ± 0.05 volts for a 6 volt battery) should be used when the battery temperature is 77°F (25°C).”
“The charging current during the Bulk stage should be set as high as practical; higher current levels mean faster recharge time. For repetitive deep cycling, chargers should have an output current of at least 0.2C (20 Amps for a 100 Ah battery). If the output current is less than this value, the cycle life of the battery may be negatively affected. Due to the low impedance design, Lifeline® batteries can tolerate in-rush current levels as high as 5C (500A for a 100Ah battery).”

My prime consideration was their ability to absorb energy quickly but pricewise taken over its lifespan is good - the 150 Ah Lifeline I am using has a 1100 cycle life at 50% - my Fullriver was 500 cycles at 50% - I have seen others at 300.
Regards Dennis

Hi Lyndon - that’s a bit be naïve.
The system works because of the batteries ability to absorb large amounts of energy quickly.
Whether it’s Peter or any other battery supplier, it is not in their best interests to promote Lifelines capabilities– unless they market them of course.

Hi Troy
I’m Dennis not Peter
No I hadn’t heard of this being done before – technically it’s not big challenge, if you use constant voltage chargers with approximately the same output. The three chargers I used vary a bit, one is a 14.25V another at 14.40V and the other at 14.48V
Reasons for me not going for a single charger are:
The 100 Amp battery chargers that I looked were smart chargers designed for marine operations – in excess of $1000 and too bulky for a caravan (At that stage I didn’t look at whether my genset could handle them, but it appears a 2.4 kva genset would have kicked out on overload at start-up, if the battery was heavily discharged).
There is a Projector 50 amp smart charger on the market for about $500 - a bit small for my purposes.
Smart chargers are not the most efficient way to charge a Lifeline quickly.
Going down the path with three non-smart 40 amp chargers means I could shed some of the load on the genset when required. (Charging a heavily discharged battery or having other loads connected to the genset at the same time)
I had to take a punt, risk my $95, and buy in a 40 amp charger and test it to see whether it was likely to run in parallel with a similar charger.
If you are in Perth – you are quite welcome to look at my setup.
If you buy a big charger – make sure your geneset can handle it.
Regards Dennis

Hi Peter
I am sure you have top quality batteries – no doubt about it, if as you say if BMW use them.
My requirement was for long life, deep cycle batteries with high charge acceptance.
I appreciate you have done your own tests but I needed manufacturer’s detailed engineering specifications such as Lifelines Document No. 6-0101 – some 30 pages of data and graphs.
I considered your batteries, but though they were cheap, the limited data you provided was a glossy 4 page brochure short on engineering data.
Regard Dennis

Hi Peter,
I didn’t have time to answer you fully last night.
We seem to be going off the thread a bit – you are focused on promoting your battery’s capabilities over Lifeline. I am not wedded to Lifeline, there are other batteries such as Optima that would have done the same job.
I am not convinced your battery would - as it’s designed for operating a motor vehicle - not for repetitive deep cycle work.
If that was the case, the manufacturers would have produced specifications supporting deep cycle work.
As a minimum this would have to include; Temperature, Voltage and Amperage limits, DOD v Lifespan graphs, Voltage v capacity graphs etc.
Reputable deep cycle battery manufactures such as Fullriver, Lifeline, Trogan and Optima, to mention a few, provide this information so that systems can be engineered professionally.
Your personal tests are not a substitute for published engineering date and I doubt the battery’s manufacturer would accept them in the case of a warranty claim.
Regards Dennis

....Reputable deep cycle battery manufactures such as Fullriver, Lifeline, Trogan and Optima, to mention a few, provide this information so that systems can be engineered professionally.
Your personal tests are not a substitute for published engineering date and I doubt the battery’s manufacturer would accept them in the case of a warranty claim......

So my tests are no substitute for published engineering data eh?

But they are every bit as good as your own published tests and it shows that your batteries don't live up to mine in this department o:)

On a side note: I worked for almost two decades in Germany doing service and startups of NC/CNC/PLC equipment, part of them in the domestic car industry.
And believe me, companies like Bimmer can't afford to settle for second best when it comes to outsourcing part of their operations, including parts supplies and manufacturing which has to be done at state of the art.

Do you really think, they'd select a battery for their start/stop systems and brake recuperation with only a lacklustre cycle life performance?
These things are subject to thousands or even tens of thousands of micro cycles with all its associated mechanical strain on the battery grids.
Mechanical grid fatigue is the major stress factor in this regards.
Consequently they select a design which offers maximum grid flexibility which guarantees a great number of cycles, without running into embrittlement and active mass separation problems.

And you guys think, just because someone publishes 30 pages of 'engineering data' everything is honky dory - didn't you call someone else a bit naive earlier in the thread?
Sorry if this was a bit harsh, but look the yanks to date, haven't learned how to build proper cars (among other things). All they can do is offer joint ventures to allow foreign manufacturers access to their own market, and in return benefit from technology transfer. See Daimler Chrysler (Jeep) engines engineered and made in Germany, so is the gearbox, made by ZF.

Same goes for car batteries: didn't know how to make them half decent, so Johnson Controls come along and buy top notch German battery maker VARTA.
And because Banner Batteries have very advanced automated battery production methods, which someone like East Penn can't resist to get their hands on, they also formed a joint venture in order to give their stone age facilities a bit of a technological boost.

Wake up guys.

Hi Peter
I wouldn’t hesitate to use your battery in my wife’s sedan.

I wouldn’t use it as follows:

As a starter in my 4WD, used in hot norwest summers over 1000ks of corrugated roads and miles from the nearest service station.

In repetitive deep cycle environments.

You may think your batteries can do everything, but your manufacturer’s specifications don’t support these applications.

Peter, this thread is too old to be of interest to anybody so I won't waste any more of your time by replying further.

Regards Dennis