cletis
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Post by cletis on Apr 22, 2016 19:01:45 GMT -8
My recently purchased trailer has LED lighting. It is currently set up with a Fiamm 12FLX300 AGM battery sitting in the floor and spring clamps to attach it. I plan to properly mount it and add an on-board charger. The lights and a power port are the only things running on this battery. It seems to me a battery maintainer would be all I need. I am considering a NOCO Genius GENM1 4 Amp. Any comments appreciated.
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edbrown
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Post by edbrown on Apr 22, 2016 19:14:50 GMT -8
It's hard to give advice without knowing the important variables. How you are going to use the trailer? Are you boondocking? If so, for how long? What are you going to run off the power port? What's the battery type and capacity?
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cletis
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Post by cletis on Apr 22, 2016 19:26:46 GMT -8
Probably not boondocking. Power port would only be used for charging phones, if used at all. Fiamm 12FLX300 battery
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Apr 22, 2016 21:39:56 GMT -8
According to Fiamm that model battery is made for uninterrupted power supplies, like the ones that keep your computer running for a few minutes when the power goes out, at a high rate of discharge. They're meant to put their amps out fast to give you time to save your work and shut down your computer or start a backup power source like a generator, then to be charged slowly until the next outage occurs.
I'm no AGM chemistry expert so I don't know what the effects are, if any, of a slow discharge like you get camping. But reading all the documents Fiamm had on their website, the only charging voltage they give is the float voltage, 13.62 @77 degrees. No bulk or absorption voltages are given. That implies that they want nothing more than trickle charging, which makes sense, since UPC batteries are meant to be on a charger 24/7 for weeks or months at a time between power outages, so they have plenty of time to be charged very slowly to avoid gassing. It also implies that a standard RV 3-stage converter is out. Looks like if you find a trickle charger/maintainer that operates at @ 13.62v, you should be OK. But it's not a battery you could deep discharge and fully charge every day without eventually killing it, so minimizing usage would be the way to get the longest life out of it.
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cletis
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Post by cletis on Apr 25, 2016 10:52:56 GMT -8
It probably will not get much use off the grid. I just want a way to keep it topped off. I may decide to install a 110 inverter though. I'm still studying that idea.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Apr 25, 2016 11:04:24 GMT -8
The key thing to remember about inverters is that for every amp of 110v you need, it takes 10 amps from the battery.
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cletis
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Post by cletis on Apr 25, 2016 11:27:44 GMT -8
Thanks.
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