E-meter [RE-wrenches]

[Bob-O Schultze]

<x-flowed>ALL meters have a hard time tracking under those conditions. 
Batteries do not come charged to 100%. The Emeter, Trimetric, 
whatever, come alive reading 100%. So, if you didn't do a full charge 
cycle right away, the meter is going to read more than you actually 
have. In the NE this time of year, battery temperature is probably 
also a factor. If you want maximum accuracy, you should have the 
optional temp sensor for the meter. Tweaking Peukert will help, but 
it won't come into effect until the next charge cycle. A charge 
cycle, by the way, is a DOD of >10% and a full recharge to re-zero 
the meter.
Bob-O

>Hi all,
>   I am doing another experiment at my house (along with the humming DC250)
>to determine the negative aspects of an undersized battery bank.  I have gone
>to manual generator start so I can play with the battery state of charge.  I
>have 4 Trojan L16G batteries in a 24v bank feeding the SW4024.  Loads vary
>from a base of 4 to 8 amps to a peak of 70 to 80 amps.  Charge rate with my
>Yamaha 4600 is set at 60 amps.  Because I have been hitting the batteries
>hard at both ends,  I have noticed a deterioration in the batteries capacity
>(in only 4 weeks of usage) .  I will get down to 80% on the e-meter and
>negative amp hours agree but my battery voltage is way down indicating  less
>than 50% left.  I fiddled with the Peukerts exponent setting and set it to
>1.5 (the maximum) and it didn't seem to make any difference.  Does the
>e-meter just lose it's ability to properly track the battery at high loads?
>Anyone had any experience with this.  I saw a similar problem with one
>installed system with big loads and small battery bank.
>
>Unfortunately I did not have the e-meter on my old bank of 16 T105's that
>were worn out so I don't know what the indications of a failed battery would
>look like.  These batteries charge to 28.8 without any trouble but they are
>having a fast voltage drop similar to my worn out T105's (though not as bad)
>The negative amp hours on my e-meter seem to be correct based on my loads.
>Battery specific gravity reading indicates batteries are not really fully
>charged after running the generator for two hours at 28.8v  bulk absorption
>charge.  Current drops off normally.    Does this have something to do with
the HUMMMMM?  I'm confused!

Bob-O Schultze, Electron Connection
PO Box 203, Hornbrook, CA 96044
800.945.7587 fax 530-475-3401
www.electronconnection.com
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