|  Charging
ODYSSEY® batteries
The information on this page discusses battery charging. For available
battery chargers, click here
Proper
Charger Selection
A critical factor in the proper use of a rechargeable battery is
charging. Inadequate or improper charging is the most common cause
of premature failure of rechargeable lead acid batteries.
Small,
portable automotive chargers may be used to charge your ODYSSEY®
battery. These chargers are essentially designed to bring a discharged
battery to a state of charge (SOC) that is high enough to crank
an engine. Once this is successfully accomplished it is up to the
engine alternator to fully charge the battery. It is important to
keep this design philosophy in mind when using this type of charger.
There
is another class of chargers that is designed specifically to maintain
the battery in a high state of charge. These chargers, such
as the 1.25 amp Battery Tender® from Deltran are not
capable of charging a deeply discharged ODYSSEY®
battery. This is due to the fact that these
chargers have very low output power. They should only be used either
to continuously compensate for parasitic losses or to maintain a
trickle charge on a fully charged stored battery.
(A)
Selecting the right charger for your
battery
Small portable automotive chargers can also be used, as long as
certain suitability criteria are met. Qualifying these chargers
for your ODYSSEY® battery is a simple two-step process.
Step
1 - Charger output voltage
Determining
the charger output voltage is the most important step in the charger
qualification process. If the voltage output from the charger
is less than 14.2V or more than 15V for a 12V battery
do not use the charger. This output voltage is measured
on the battery terminals with the charger charging, the voltage
is steady and the output current has begun to decline. For 24V battery
systems the charger output voltage should be between 28.4V and 30V.
If the charger output voltage falls within these voltage limits
when the battery approaches a fully charged state, low output current,
proceed to Step 2; otherwise pick another charger.
Step
2 - Charger type — automatic or manual
The
two broad types of small, portable chargers available today are
classified as either automatic or manual.
Automatic chargers can be further classified as those that charge
the battery up to a certain voltage and then shut off and those
that charge the battery up to a certain voltage and then switch
to a lower float (trickle) voltage.
An
example of the first type of automatic charger is one that charges
a battery up to 14.5V, then immediately shuts off. An example of
the second type of automatic charger would bring the battery up
to 14.5V then switch to a float (trickle) voltage of 13.6V; it will
stay at that level indefinitely. The second type of automatic charger
is preferred as the first type of charger is likely to undercharge
the battery.
A manual
charger typically puts out a single voltage and has to be manually
switched off to prevent battery overcharge. Should you choose
to use a manual charger with your ODYSSEY® battery, do
not exceed charge times suggested in Table III below.
(B)
Selecting battery type on your charger output
While
it is not possible to cover every type of battery charger available
today in a product guide such as this, this section will try to
give the ODYSSEY® battery user some general charger usage
guidelines to follow, after the charger has been qualified
for use with this battery.
In
general, do not use either the gel cell or maintenance free setting,
if provided on your charger. Choose the deep cycle option, should
there be one on your charger. Table III below provides suggestions
on charge times based on charger currents.
Table
III: Suggested charge times for ODYSSEY® batteries
| Model |
Charge
time for 100% discharged battery |
| 10A
charger |
20A
charger |
PC
310 |
48 minutes |
24 minutes |
| PC
535 |
1.5
hour |
45
minutes |
| PC
545 |
1.5
hour |
45
minutes |
| PC
625 |
2
hour |
1
hour |
| PC
680 |
2
hour |
1
hour |
| PC
925 |
2.5
hour |
1.25
hour |
| PC
1200 |
4
hour |
2
hour |
| PC
1700 |
7
hour |
3.5
hour |
| PC
2150 |
9 hour |
4.5 hour |
Note
that the charge times recommended in Table III are based on an assumption
that the ODYSSEY® battery is fully discharged with an
open circuit voltage of 11.6 volts. If the battery is only partially
discharged the charge times should be appropriately reduced.
Sealed
Rechargeable DrycellTM - Deep Cycle Batteries
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