Alan,

I have (3) 4D AGM's for a total of 630 amp hours of capacity. The first set
lasted 5 years and when they died they failed all at once. I thought I
should have had more service from them but was told that five years is all
you can expect. The Freedom 20 we installed does not provide a very good
charge regiment as it is from 1997 before multistep "smart" charging was
well known. I wonder if you are hooked up to shore power and charging the
batteries on a regular basis using the Freedom 15 if this did not have an
impact on the batteries. I can tell you that the AGM's should charge up to
14.20v but I have never seen them accept this level of charge before
stepping down to Float. Here is how I have the charging set up (I just
happen to have the manual at home):

AT 77 degrees F
GAS = 14.30v
Absorption = 14.20v
Float = 13.25v

The people from Lifeline told me to only equalize once a year at 15.50v for
8 hours. This is a change as the original spec was for only three hours.
When the old AGM's failed I would find they charged up to float voltage and
would than drop like a rock if only a single light bulb was turned on. In my
opinion, the AGM's are very sensitive (and expensive) and I will look into
fitting 6v golf cart batteries next time I need to do so.
How many AGM's are on board? Can you isolate them and test to find out if
only one is the problem?

Rich Cassano


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-baba-l@ballreich.net [mailto:owner-baba-l@ballreich.net] On
Behalf Of Alan Sugarman
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 5:07 PM
To: baba-l@ballreich.net
Subject: [Baba-L] AGM versus Gel Cel Batteries

Last summer I installed new AGM batteries with a Link 2000 Inverter
Controller and a Freedom 15 Charger-Inverter.

The batteries are not holding a charge. The batteries have defintely
not been abused. They float at about 13.2 volts.

The manufacturer is MK Batteries. I have four 6 volt batteries in a
single bank of 400 Amp Hours.

The retailer claims I should equalize the batterries.

MK told me I would be better off with Gel's if I have a good charging sytem.

Any thoughts or recommendations???

Alan



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Received on Sun Nov 27 16:27:14 2005