Xantrex Technology 2000, 2500 owner manual Battery Charging, Bring all cells to the same potential

BATTERY CHARGING

charging cycle. The battery voltage will increase to 16.3 using the cool temperature wet cell setting. This will cause the battery bank to gas profusely and will accomplish the following:

1.Removal of residual sulfate. Each time a battery is cycled (discharged and re- charged), a small amount of sulfate is left on the plates. Over time, this gradual build-up of sulfate will compromise the performance of the battery. By applying an equalizing charge, the sulfate is returned back to the electrolyte, raising the specific gravity and fully exposing the active material of the plates.

2.Bring all cells to the same potential.

All lead-acid batteries are made up of indi- vidual 2 Volt cells. As the battery bank is cycled, slight differences in the cells result in different cell voltages, affecting the over- all charge effectiveness. Equalizing brings all cells up to the same voltage and the electrolyte in each cell to the same specific gravity.

3.Mixing up of the electrolyte. Electro- lyte in battery cells tend to separate into layers of acid and water. The vigorous boiling action of the battery during equaliz- ing serves to physically mix the electrolyte.

Equalizing is not required on gel cell batteries. You will note that if the dip switches are set in one of the two gel cell positions, the equalizing charge voltage is the same as the bulk charge voltage, there- fore, equalizing is equivalent to an 8-hour acceptance stage and is not harmful.

To limit the DC current during equaliz- ing to less than 15 Amps, turn on dip switches 7 and 8 before starting the equal- ize charge. Do not operate AC loads that are on the output of the inverter/charger when equalizing.

Charging Over-Discharged Batteries Charging into a battery bank with a terminal voltage of less than 8 Volts pre-

sents a special problem for the unit. If this situation arises, the unit will attempt to charge for 1 minute. If the inverter senses excessive ripple voltage, it will shut down to protect itself.

To successfully charge an over-

discharged battery, you must remove as much DC load as possible. Set dip switches 7 and 8 to the ON position to limit the amount of charge current and the result- ing ripple voltage. After the battery voltage has reached 10 Volts, these switches can be set to their previous positions.

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