kevina Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 I have a cbe charger in the Rapido which I've owned for 10 years, I always keep on eye on battery voltages and have noticed a bit of an oddity. The charger is normally on the gel setting of 14.3v, flooded setting is 14.1v. Although it is linked to 2 110Ah gel batteries it rarely gets hard use as we are rarely on hookup and if we are we've arrived with full batteries anyway. I turned it on yesterday for a monthly top up and noticed the charge voltage was 14.9v current 3A., watched it for a minute then turned it off and charged the starter battery with a seperate charger. (That was the one that was low and needed charging). Btw I double checked the voltage. Today I turned the cbe charger on again and it showed 14.9v again. Swapped to "flooded" setting and it was 14.7v, so both outputs were 0.6v high. After watching for a minute it dropped to 14.1v, switched back to "gel and it was 14.3v. Never noticed this before, any ideas? I've now discharged the battery a bit and put it back on to charge starting at 13.8v 8A - it's now at 14.1v 2A so looking normal. Coincidentally (?) the alternator seems to have packed up at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Replying to this post will be right up Allan’s street but just to demonstrate what I have learned from him, clever battery chargers will usually start with a “testing” voltage to see what battery resistance is being faced and what the state of charge is, before they settle to a charging or maintenance voltage, so there is nothing to worry about in your tale. Topping up your batteries every month or so may be adequate for purposes of keeping sufficient charge to perform when required but my understanding is that to optimise battery service life when MHs are being stored, it is better, if your charger is genuinely clever, to apply continuous charging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Don't know why you have the high initial readings, but it has always struck me that CBE have crossed the Gel and Wet battery 'tags', as 14.1v is way too low for a wet battery, but wouldn't be out of order for a Gel. 13.8v is more appropriate to wet batteries as well and 13.5v for Gel, the opposite of the manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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