Crown battery charging profile

[Capt. Lenny]

The 57.1v reading was taken during a charge cycle, not sure at what point. I haven't figured out how to know when the charger is in the different stages of the charge, bulk, absorption and finish. Yes, the green light comes on steady at the end of the charge cycle. To correct my previous post, each battery reads 8.32 to 8.36 volts at the end of the 12hr rest. Used a different meter and it does have a good battery. I did an equalizing charge a week ago by doing 2 complete charges simultaneously. When I finally got ahold of DPI yesterday they told me a different way to do equalizing. Their instructions for equalization were to plug the charger in and hold the mode select button for 10 seconds then release. At that point several lights blink for the duration of the cycle. Checked the voltage this morning and it was 50.1 which was better. Also checked the specific gravity of several cells and all were 1.300 or greater. 50.1v is now closer to the 50.4v in your chart but I am still stumped. Thanks

[Capt. Lenny]

One other thing to note, since I bought this charger as used (store display model) it came without any instruction manual. Doing a web search, the only manual I came up with looks like it's for a gen3 or earlier model. This one doesn't have the same mode selector switches that are shown in that manual.

[rngilliland]

Originally Posted by Capt. Lenny

One other thing to note, since I bought this charger as used (store display model) it came without any instruction manual. Doing a web search, the only manual I came up with looks like it's for a gen3 or earlier model. This one doesn't have the same mode selector switches that are shown in that manual.

Go to www.dpipower.com Click on your charger. At the bottom of the page there is a link to the manual.

[Capt. Lenny]

Thanks for the link rngilliland! Every time I searched all I came up with was for the gen 3. I was able to find the chart for the dip switches but it just doesn't list much for crown batteries. I have more investigation work to do while batteries are charging as far as voltages for absorption rate, bulk rate and finish rate.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Capt. Lenny

Thanks for the link rngilliland! Every time I searched all I came up with was for the gen 3. I was able to find the chart for the dip switches but it just doesn't list much for crown batteries. I have more investigation work to do while batteries are charging as far as voltages for absorption rate, bulk rate and finish rate.

The attached chart shows the volts and amps for a 3-stage charge profile, plus equalization. It was published by US Battery, but it closely matches Mode-4.

Maybe it will help you visualize what is happening in each stage.

Note: Disregard the time scale at the bottom, how long each stage lasts depends on voltage or amp levels, not time.

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I learned something new - how to trigger a Gen-IV's equalization stage.

Do an equalization every day for a week or so and see what happens to the SoC.

[Capt. Lenny]

Thanks JohnnieB, you are a wealth of information! Your brain must have a lot of RAM!

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by Capt. Lenny

Thanks JohnnieB, you are a wealth of information! Your brain must have a lot of RAM!

Yes, but that Memory is getting to be a lot more Random with far less Access these days.

[Capt. Lenny]

Just wanted to post an update on my battery charging issues. I have since sold my DPI charger since they don't have the correct charging algorithm for Crown batteries. The settings that they recommended to use were for Trojan batteries (and is a dumping ground for anything not listed) didn't get the job done. I bought and installed a Lester Summit II and it's working beautifully at getting my batteries fully charged.

[Sideways]

I have a Gen IV Accusense as well and just replaced my 8v Duracell's with US Battery's. I called US Battery and the tech told me not to use mode (4) for Trojan's, instead to use whatever mode DPI listed for US Battery's closest to the amp hour rating of my new batteries (170ah) which turned out to be mode 7 which is for 190ah batteries. The tech told me ah"s did not matter as much since the charging profile is more important and US Battery's profile is different than Trojan's.
I contacted DPI a few days ago for an unrelated issue with the charger and for grins I asked what setting DPI recommended for US Battery's and was told mode 4.
I currently have the setting on mode 4 but hoping Johnnieb can recommend which setting is better suited for my new batteries.

[Capt. Lenny]

Both DPI and Crown were not much help when it came to choosing a charging profile. The Accusense charger worked well for me when I had Trojan batteries but just wasn't getting the job done with the Crowns. After a lot of frustration trying to find the correct charging profile for these Crowns, I finally sold that charger to someone that could use it and bought a Lester Summit II which made a world of difference. In my opinion, guessing on a profile was just not worth destroying new batteries. I understand that these are 2 different technologies but Lester has a lot more charging profiles available and great tech support if you need it. I would have bought Trojans again if they were available when I replaced the old ones and I wish that Crown CR190's were also available. Appeared to be supply chain issues. One thing I can say about these Crown batteries is they hardly use any water at all compared to the Trojans I had.