parameters. The battery will be gassing and you will see an accumulation of a large number of amp hours each day. This is a clear indication that you are destroying your battery by overcharging. Check your LINK 2000 before turning off a charging source to see that you have not accumulated too many overcharge amp hours. When discharging begins, overcharge amp hours are erased and the LINK 2000 resets to zero.

Systems that have a Conditioning or Equalization cycle will accumulate a few overcharge amp hours during equalization. This is normal and ensures that the LINK2000 stays in sync with the battery state of charge.

BATTERYCAPACITYTESTING

Your LINK 2000 can be used to conduct periodic capacity tests that tell you the actual amount of energy your batteries can store. A capacity test should start with a battery that has been properly charged and conditioned. The objective is to find the maximum availablecapacity.

Deep-cycle battery capacity is usually based on a 20-hour discharge rate. A 100 Ah battery will provide 5 amps for 20 hours. At discharge rates above 5 amps, the battery will not supply 100 Ah. For example: If you are drawing 100 amps out of the battery it will last less than one half hour. This was discovered in 1897 by a scientist named Peukert and is discussed in detail later. You can see the effect in the following table listing approximate capacities at different discharge rates.

CAPACITYATVARIOUSDISCHARGERATES

(percentage of 20-hour rate)

Hours to Discharge

Capacity (percent of rating)

20

100%

10

89%

5

78%

3

66%

1

45%

To test battery capacity, turn on a load that draws approximately 5% of the declared battery capacity. Measure the current using the Amps function of the LINK2000. The load should be constant, such as incandescent lighting. When the battery voltage reaches 10.5 volts, hopefully about 20 hours later, turn off the load and look at the A hrs display on your LINK 2000. The number displayed is the capacity at the test current. If less than 20 hours passed before the battery voltage fell to 10.5 V you can still determine the capacity with some arithmetic. For example: assume a 12 V battery rated at 100 Ah. Apply a 5-amp load. Suppose it only took 10 hours for the voltage to reach 10.5 volts. The LINK 2000 would display -50 Ah. This is the 10-hour capacity. Dividing 50 by 89% (10-hour rate) from the table above, you determine that the actual 20-hour capacity is 56 amp hours. You could repeat the test at 5% of the tested capacity (2.8A) to verify the actual capacity.

USING YOUR FREEDOM INVERTER

TO TEST BATTERY CAPACITY

Yourinvertermakestestingthebatterycapacityeasy.Firstfullycharge(andequalize if necessary) the battery to be tested. Use a load like incandescent lights running on the inverter whose amperage consumption is 5% or less of the battery capacity. Let the load run until the inverter shuts down on low voltage (about 10.2 V). Read the number of amp hours that have been consumed from the battery. If it is not close to the expected number, use the procedure outlined above to estimate the capacity.

Caution! Be sure to completely recharge your battery after a discharge test.

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