HOW TO TELL WHEN A BATTERY IS FULLY CHARGED

(CHARGED BATTERY PARAMETERS)

MULTIPLE STAGE CHARGING SYSTEMS

If you are using the charger in the FREEDOM, the battery is charged when the system switches to the Float cycle. If another manufacturer's charging system is being used it should be adjusted so the transition from Acceptance Charging to Float will occur when the charging current, at the Acceptance Voltage (14.4/28.8 V typically), drops to below 2% of the battery capacity. (See the description of the Ideal Charge Curve on the previous page.)

CONSTANT VOLTAGE CHARGING SYSTEMS

Constant voltage charging systems have restored as much charge to a battery as they can when the voltage reaches the maximum regulation point (a typical 12 V system is set at 13.8 V) and the charging current drops to less than 1% of the battery capacity. (It can take more than eight hours for a battery to reach this state of charge.) If you are using an engine-driven charging system and trying to limit engine run time, you probably will charge only until the current drops to 5% or 10% of capacity. The LINK 2000 should be synchronized to whichever of these charge levels is reached in normal operation.

USING SPECIFIC GRAVITY

Accurate battery current measurement is necessary to determine the charged parameters in the two previous methods. Specific gravity of the battery can also be used to determine the charge level of a battery. Regardless of the charging system used, a battery is charged when the specific gravity shows no increase for three hours, when measured at half hour intervals. Typical specific gravity @ 77 °F for a fully charged liquid electrolyte battery is 1.265 + 0.050.

CHARGE EFFICIENCY FACTOR (CEF) AND HOW IT IS USED

The CEF determines the rate at which the Link 2000 counts back up during charging to compensate for the inefficiencies of the charging process. The CEF has a factory default value of 87%. That means the charger must return 1.15 Ah to the system for the battery to restore 1.0 Ah.

The CEF is automatically recalculated (and averaged over the last few cycles) after every charge cycle if the battery has been discharged more than 10% of the declared battery capacity and the charged parameters for voltage and current (selected automatically or manually in the setup procedure) are met for five minutes (may vary by setup). Additionally, 100% of the kWh removed must be returned during charging.

Continual CEF compensation ensures that the battery state of charge and the Link 2000 stay in sync. Monitoring the CEF over time helps assess changes in performance of the battery or charging system.

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