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Follow the battery manufacturer’s recommendations for equalizing your batteries.
10 provides some background on different batteries. As a guide, a heavily used
flooded battery may need to be equalized once a month and a battery in light
service every two to four months.
The PROsine delivers a high quality charge so batteries do not need to be
equalized as often as may be necessary when a lower quality charger is used.
Equalization Procedure
To equalize your batteries:
1. Turn off or disconnect all loads on the battery.
The voltage applied to the battery during equalization may damage some
electronic equipment. As well, equalization won’t proceed correctly if loads
are drawing current from the battery.
2. Check electrolyte level.
Fill with distilled water if the electrolyte level is low. Measure the specific
gravity (S.G.) of each cell using a hydrometer. For fully charged lead-acid
batteries, the reading should be approximately 1.265. (Consult your battery
manufacturer.) Equalization is needed if one or more cells have a substantially
lower specific gravity than the others.
3. To request the equalization charge, the charger must already be in operation.
Set the CHARGER switch to ENABLE, and then select Equalize on the
Configure PROsine—Basic menu (see page 4–7).
Equalization will be carried out after an absorption charge (if the batteries are
not fully charged) or right away if fully charged. When equalization has been
requested, the CHARGING LED is on and the EQUALIZE LED is flashing.
When the system is in equalization, CHARGING is on and EQUALIZE is on.
4. The PROsine will apply a constant low current to the batteries to perform an
equalize charge. This current and the maximum voltage values can be
configured, see Chapter 4, “Configuration”. The voltage of the batteries will
rise as the current is forced into the batteries. When the voltage is rising very
slowly (as configured in Chapter 4, “Configuration”) the PROsine will
declare an end to the equalize phase. A maximum time in the equalize phase
may also be configured. Some users may have trouble with the PROsine not
completely equalizing the batteries before exiting this stage. In this case the
"Threshold Change" can be configured to 0.0V and the "Threshold Timeout"
can be set to a long time (even several hours).
Important:
If carried out too frequently or done improperly, equalization can damage
your batteries. Never equalize a battery more than necessary. Always check electrolyte
level before AND after equalization. Fill with distilled water only. Monitor electrolyte
specific gravity (S.G.) throughout the equalization phase.