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Post by Telemachus on Nov 1, 2016 19:19:37 GMT
Which I guess you wont know accurately unless you have an Ammeter, or conduct a proper capacity test. Seems like the ideal scenario, is to have an Ammeter and Smartgauge and know how to use them! Neither SG or an ammeter will tell you the actual capacity of your batteries. The only way to find the capacity is to fully charge the batteries, let them rest for a while, measure voltage or specific gravity, connect a known load for a specific period of time (50w bulb for 10hrs will take about 40ah from your batteries). Measure gravity or voltage and work out the capacity from that. Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2016 19:23:26 GMT
Which I guess you wont know accurately unless you have an Ammeter, or conduct a proper capacity test. Seems like the ideal scenario, is to have an Ammeter and Smartgauge and know how to use them! Neither SG or an ammeter will tell you the actual capacity of your batteries. The only way to find the capacity is to fully charge the batteries, let them rest for a while, measure voltage or specific gravity, connect a known load for a specific period of time (50w bulb for 10hrs will take about 40ah from your batteries). Measure gravity or voltage and work out the capacity from that. Agreed, but to do this accurately, the batteries should be disconnected and individually tested in a temperature controlled environment against the battery manufactures rating. Most people probably can't be bothered to do this (including me).
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2016 19:24:48 GMT
Neither SG or an ammeter will tell you the actual capacity of your batteries. The only way to find the capacity is to fully charge the batteries, let them rest for a while, measure voltage or specific gravity, connect a known load for a specific period of time (50w bulb for 10hrs will take about 40ah from your batteries). Measure gravity or voltage and work out the capacity from that. Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity. that's fine if they are abive 50% of the origional capacity below that SG is meaningless. from memory it was reading something like 80% with a voltage of 12.25
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2016 19:27:42 GMT
Neither SG or an ammeter will tell you the actual capacity of your batteries. The only way to find the capacity is to fully charge the batteries, let them rest for a while, measure voltage or specific gravity, connect a known load for a specific period of time (50w bulb for 10hrs will take about 40ah from your batteries). Measure gravity or voltage and work out the capacity from that. Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity. How do you determine the original capacity?
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Post by Telemachus on Nov 1, 2016 19:38:15 GMT
Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity. How do you determine the original capacity? From the label.
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Post by Graham on Nov 1, 2016 19:39:49 GMT
How do you determine the original capacity? From the label. No he meant actual no the story board version
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 1, 2016 19:43:03 GMT
Neither SG or an ammeter will tell you the actual capacity of your batteries. The only way to find the capacity is to fully charge the batteries, let them rest for a while, measure voltage or specific gravity, connect a known load for a specific period of time (50w bulb for 10hrs will take about 40ah from your batteries). Measure gravity or voltage and work out the capacity from that. Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity. Or just discharge to say 75% and see how many Ah have been used. Multiply the result by 4. Of course, that won't work if the batteries are below 50% capacity, but if they are then the exercise is pointless because they need replacing.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2016 19:43:27 GMT
No he meant actual no the story board version Yes indeed , I meant actual. Whilst the labels on the high end batteries may be close to advertised, I suspect at the cheaper end of the range they are more fictional ( have no proof to back that up though)
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 1, 2016 19:45:23 GMT
No he meant actual no the story board version Yes indeed , I meant actual. Whilst the labels on the high end batteries may be close to advertised, I suspect at the cheaper end of the range they are more fictional ( have no proof to back that up though) See above then 😀
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Post by Telemachus on Nov 1, 2016 19:45:30 GMT
Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity. that's fine if they are abive 50% of the origional capacity below that SG is meaningless. from memory it was reading something like 80% with a voltage of 12.25 Both my sets of leisure batteries were down to 50% capacity before I replaced them. The SG seemed to be fine with that. Clearly the SG doesn't "fall off a cliff" between 50.1% and 49.9% of original capacity and I suspect it depends on why they are so far down. But obviously at some point their behaviour becomes too much for SG's algorithms.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2016 19:54:40 GMT
Well that's one way of doing it. Another and I suggest easier (if potentially more expensive) is, starting from fully charged, simply use the batteries as normal and compare the Smartgauge reading with that from an AH-counting gauge once a reasonable amount has been taken out. So for example if the SG reads 50% whilst the AH-counter (set to the original capacity) shows 75%, you know that you batteries are at half capacity. Or just discharge to say 75% and see how many Ah have been used. Multiply the result by 4. Of course, that won't work if the batteries are below 50% capacity, but if they are then the exercise is pointless because they need replacing. Which requires a smartgauge and accurate AH counter.
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 1, 2016 19:55:18 GMT
Or just discharge to say 75% and see how many Ah have been used. Multiply the result by 4. Of course, that won't work if the batteries are below 50% capacity, but if they are then the exercise is pointless because they need replacing. Which requires a smartgauge and accurate AH counter. Yes.
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Post by Graham on Nov 1, 2016 20:05:18 GMT
Which requires a smartgauge and accurate AH counter. Yes. It also assumes that the battery is fully formed.
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Post by tonyqj on Nov 1, 2016 20:23:45 GMT
It also assumes that the battery is fully formed. No more so than any other method.
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Post by Graham on Nov 1, 2016 20:32:05 GMT
It also assumes that the battery is fully formed. No more so than any other method. Depends on battery type
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