Mega Pulse

David
I have installed 2 x 100ah sealed deep cycle batteries in my new Kanga camper to run my 60 litre EvaKool fridge and was told by a workmate that he had heard a Mega Pulse would make the the batteries last longer. I had never heard of them.

BigO the only thing that makes batteries last longer is proper charging, and not cycling to deeply, preferably no less than 50%. Once you go past 50% nothing will save your batteries.
At the end of the day, solar and a quality regulator is the only thing that will give you maximum battery life.

What 3 stage charger did you use?

Shaker,

I use a Ctek 7A mains operated smart charger (Bainbridge Technologies). Cost about $390. Has several modes of operation for wet cells and sealed units as well as a boost setting, and a supply setting. It takes about 8 hous to bring my 85AH deepcycle carvan mounted battery from about 50% to 80% and then about another 48 hrs to get to point where it is fully charged and in the "maitenance" mode. It can be left in the final mode indefinitely but it "pulses" every 10 mins or so automatically with or without any load.
I've read about the limitations of charging batteries from the vehicle voltage regulator/alternator but was quite suprised how long it took after I turned the car off, disconnected the battery and connected the charger. AND it's not the fault of the charger.
My vehicle regulates to 14.2 V DC

Regards,

Hey Roachie, the real reason that you have not got the megapulse hooked up is that you cant find a 100mm x 100mm spot to put it LOL...

Michael,
Mate, you dunno how right you are!!!! LOLOL

Shaker,
I bought a Hybrlec 15amp 3 stage charger for $300- It also has a switch for flooded or gel batteries another switch with 3 settings for voltage outputs of 13.2; 13.5 & 13.8v. It has another switch marked "charger" and "power supply". I assume the latter would be used to, say, power a 12 volt fridge that did not have a 240v option?

Works okay for me....

Roachie, still got it for sale?

John,
Sorry mate, Jiarna from oodnadatta sent me a memeber message asking for it...sent it off yesterday.

Shaker,
I bought my 3 stage charger from HYBRALEC.......they've got a website:
www.hybralec.com.au

One of the main reasons comon wet lead acid batteries loose capacity is through sulfation as DaveNJude mentioned, however in a vehicle application I found that constantly running the batteries down past 11.5 volts shortened their life and was the main contributor for so many people going through batteries (cannot recover them either).

Do a search on battery sulfation. There is a circuit you can build which prevents sulfation from happening in a battery . The Megapulse uses this same circuit (high negative pulse) and works a charm (I have one but only after a lot of research). The technology has been around for many years and is used primarily in home power (solar + battery banks on large scale).

Regards
David

I have taken a vow of poverty.... To annoy me, send me money.....

After a lot of research I found the same.
Although I had a deep cycle battery which I was about to trash and after installing the megapulse I got another year out of it. I can't say it "fixed" it but it disolved the sulfation enough to continue working for a while longer.
Since I put a new battery in, no sulphation has occured and it is being used in the same way.
William

Chrispy pity your mate in Cooma did not start off with the correct batteries and proper regulator. Marine batteries are most definitely NOT suitable for a solar/wind system.

Well, i suggest you tell him then.

He's used 2v batteries in series for years.... like 20. He probably wouldn't know anything about it anyway as he's just a PhD in the electrical engineering field.

Hmmmmmmmmmm..............2V Marine battery?..What brand/type are they Chrispy?

rgds

Wok

He used to be involved in government research circles. I suspect that he is able to source batteries that are used in some submarine capacity. I'm going down there tonight, so I'll see if I can get more details on the exact specs. I do however jnow that these things are monsters - each one is about 3 feet tall and a foot square....

Chrispy because he/she/it has a Phd in electrical engineering would make it unlikely he/she/it knew anything about batteries and battery storage systems.

If he/she/it had a properly designed system with 2 volt storage batteries the batteries would have lasted substantially longer than nine months. In a properly designed system, with 2v lighting/storage cells, you could expect an absolute minimum life of four years and generally up to six years or more. Today we have 2v cells that will last a minimum of ten years. There is no such thing as 2v marine batteries.
Perhaps this would suggest your Phd friend new nothing about low voltage systems and even less about batteries and alternative energy principals and design.

ROTFLMAO

Sorry guys I can't help myself. Just can't stop laughing.

Sorry again

Hmmm.. I've been told you like to stir it up. I'd also like to know how many letters come after your name, because every single post on this forum seems to have your difinitive and most knowledgeable answer to end it. How wonderful that you're always correct. I really am in awe of your brain. It must be hard to lift off your pillow in the morning.

PS: What the hell gives you the right to question what others do. I'm only going by what I picked up talking to our neighbour. If I'm wrong, I sincerely apologise, If I'm not wrong in what I thought he said last time we spoke I'll come looking for you.

PS - The term "MARINE" is from my mouth - not his. I have been under the impression (after nemerous posts on a few BB's) that "deep cycle" batteries are sometimes referred to as "marine" batteries anyway.

Hello Chrispy,

OK I get the picture.......these are the HUMUNGOUS batts used in big RAPS systems.

rgds