9
Charger charges at either a constant voltage, or constant current, or a
combination of constant-current / constant voltage to ‘Equalize’ Battery
Cells in the battery.
This stage employs Timers in combination with dv/dt and/or di/dt, and/or
dT/dt, and/or, maximum voltage and temperatures (if Battery
Temperature Sensor installed), to terminate.
Even if this stage is activated in a charge MODE, it is not applied during
every charge cycle. For lithium and GEL batteries, Equalization is not
applied and cannot be manually selected.
Manual (intentional) selection of this charge stage, by the user, can be
selected by depressing and holding depressed the ‘Menu Select Button’
for 10 seconds WHILE A.C. Power is applied. If the Menu Select Button
is again depressed and held depressed for 10 seconds, this stage will
toggle off.
The charge cycle, in which this additional Equalization Charge Stage
will inject itself into, will be announced by either flashing the Red Power-
On LED or flashing the LCD Backlight, continually throughout the
ENTIRE charge cycle. The flash will stop upon entry into the
Float/Maintenance Standby Stage
oFLOAT/MAINTENANCE STANDBY Charge Stage:
The entry into this stage typically signifies that the battery is FULLY
charged and has a Green LED ‘Charged’ indicator associated with it. On
an LCD display, the status will display as ‘FLT’.
No further charging action occurs. However, all batteries, regardless of
chemistry, self-discharge at a rate that is proportional to ambient
temperature meaning that if a battery sits on a table completely
disconnected from all loads, it will self discharge over many months.
This charge stage, depending on the MODE selected will either:
Regulate at a low voltage level to supply a ‘trickle current’ to
‘MAINTAIN’ battery at full charge (prevent self discharge), or
Disconnect itself from A.C. Power by disabling the internal relay,
and allow the battery voltage to ‘FLOAT’ for 45 days, at which time,
the charger will automatically re-initiate, an new charge cycle and
automatically reconnect to A.C. Power, or
Re-start charging if the battery voltage decays below a trigger
voltage level
If the charger is fitted with an internal A.C. Connect/Disconnect relay,
typically, the output is allowed to ‘FLOAT’ and not regulated, which
prevents the consumption of utility provided power.
During this stage, regardless of the use of an A.C. Relay, the
microprocessor continues to monitor the battery and passage of time
while in this ‘STANDBY’ stage.
The charger may be left connected to battery with the A.C. Power
Removed. The amount of drain from the battery is very minimal.
Common Traits Applied to All Charge Stages:
Each Charge Stage employs the use of a ‘Safety Timer’ to time out and
end that stage if the stage process took too long without achieving the
desired targeted results.
Upon Safety Timer time out, a decision is automatically established to
transition to the next stage, or advance immediately to the final stage –
