Why not a RoadPro heater?

[justoneman]

The final step was to add Velcro to the unit.

 

[justoneman]

unit in place in defroster mode.



Unit Velcro-ed to the carpet. Not going to fall over.. no way.

 

[justoneman]

What about this charger? There is one available to me locally used.

Schumacher se-82-6


http://www.batterychargers.com/se-82-6/

*On edit I see it is a manual charger.

 

[justoneman]

How about a Schumacher Ship N Shore?

 

[JoeS]

For now, I would simply stick with your 2A charger, as even that will recharge your battery sufficiently if you leave it plugged in when you're not driving.

 

[Don]

Depending on the model, the Ship N Shore appears to have settings for AGM batteries, so the charge and float voltage should be correct. While not a true 'smart charger' it would probably take pretty good care of your battery

If you're going to pay $60 for the Ship N Shore new though, this one would be a better choice: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VMAX-BC12M248-12-Volt-8-Amp-7Stage-Smart-Boat-marine-Battery-Charger-Maintainer-/272485994266?hash=item3f716e4f1a:g:jf8AAOSwOtdYUbEk
It's a true fully automatic, sealed, temperature compensated smart charger which you can leave plugged in 24/7 without harming anything

Don

 

[justoneman]

Depending on the model, the Ship N Shore appears to have settings for AGM batteries, so the charge and float voltage should be correct. While not a true 'smart charger' it would probably take pretty good care of your battery

If you're going to pay $60 for the Ship N Shore new though, this one would be a better choice: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VMAX-BC12M248-12-Volt-8-Amp-7Stage-Smart-Boat-marine-Battery-Charger-Maintainer-/272485994266?hash=item3f716e4f1a:g:jf8AAOSwOtdYUbEk
It's a true fully automatic, sealed, temperature compensated smart charger which you can leave plugged in 24/7 without harming anything

Don

I asked because there is a used Ship N Shore for sale here and I see it is automated and that it is rated for an AGM battery. But I really will not need the remote heating system till Fall. That is if we are not entering a new ice age, as seems to be the case here this week!

 

[justoneman]

Depending on the model, the Ship N Shore appears to have settings for AGM batteries, so the charge and float voltage should be correct. While not a true 'smart charger' it would probably take pretty good care of your battery

If you're going to pay $60 for the Ship N Shore new though, this one would be a better choice: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VMAX-BC12M248-12-Volt-8-Amp-7Stage-Smart-Boat-marine-Battery-Charger-Maintainer-/272485994266?hash=item3f716e4f1a:g:jf8AAOSwOtdYUbEk
It's a true fully automatic, sealed, temperature compensated smart charger which you can leave plugged in 24/7 without harming anything

Don

So I bought a battery charger. I bought this one because I needed a battery charger in general. I am not thinking it would be the proper one for my AGM battery. It would be nice if it was but I bought it because it was a good charger for the price $15. I can still buy another charger if this one will not suffice.

Its a Schumacher SE-5212A

 

[justoneman]

I read this bit about my charger:

"I did a little testing with it last night and put it on the 10A and it appeared to provide a current of roughly 8A then scaled down to 2.5A until reaching 14.6 V over about 2 hours and then floated with less than 2A intermittently at 14.8. I then took the battery off and put it on a tender which provided a current of about 1.25A at 13.8V. This appears to meet the specs of what I have found online."

If this testing the individual did is true does this charging profile work with the AGM battery I own?

 

[kiev]

Those voltages seem a bit high for AGM. A bit high for a wet cell lead acid too, for that matter. Anything over 14.4 is boiling off electrolyte thru hydrolysis.

You could put a large diode or two in series and that would drop the voltage that the battery sees by ~ .7 to 1.5 V, then it could still be used but would prevent the over-voltage.

 

[justoneman]

BATTERY

Wow, that's a fancy battery! The Sears website provided negligible information about this thing.

DieHard Platinum AGM group size 34M are made by Odyssey, according to a totally unverified source on a marine blog on the Internet. Take that with a grain of salt.

However, if that's the case, here is a link to the Odyssey website about the care and feeding of these things:
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-TM-002_1214.pdf

They like the charging voltage to be between 14.4v and 15.0v and a float voltage of 13.5v-13.8v.

If you're going to buy a charger then be careful and first verify that the battery is made by Odyssey, as these charging voltages are higher than what EastPenn (the other major US AGM manufacturer) recommends.

Not to worry, your present little charger will work with this battery, no matter who made it.

C H A R G E R

Oh, that charger is not 4A but it is 2A at 12v.

Here's a next-to-useless manual for it:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/769964/Diehard-28-71219.html#manual
Not even a spec sheet for the darn thing!

How long is your commute?

So my new charger looks to be fine for charging but high for float level. So if I charge the battery to full and then simply turn off the charger I should be fine I think.

 

[justoneman]

Those voltages seem a bit high for AGM. A bit high for a wet cell lead acid too, for that matter. Anything over 14.4 is boiling off electrolyte thru hydrolysis.

You could put a large diode or two in series and that would drop the voltage that the battery sees by ~ .7 to 1.5 V, then it could still be used but would prevent the over-voltage.

Yes, perhaps. The actually battery manufacturer seems to list a pretty high voltage of charge as being proper however.

 

[JoeS]

BATTERY

Wow, that's a fancy battery! The Sears website provided negligible information about this thing.

DieHard Platinum AGM group size 34M are made by Odyssey, according to a totally unverified source on a marine blog on the Internet. Take that with a grain of salt.

However, if that's the case, here is a link to the Odyssey website about the care and feeding of these things:
http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-TM-002_1214.pdf

They like the charging voltage to be between 14.4v and 15.0v and a float voltage of 13.5v-13.8v.

If you're going to buy a charger then be careful and first verify that the battery is made by Odyssey, as these charging voltages are higher than what EastPenn (the other major US AGM manufacturer) recommends.

Not to worry, your present little charger will work with this battery, no matter who made it.

C H A R G E R

Oh, that charger is not 4A but it is 2A at 12v.

Here's a next-to-useless manual for it:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/769964/Diehard-28-71219.html#manual
Not even a spec sheet for the darn thing!

How long is your commute?

So my new charger looks to be fine for charging but high for float level. So if I charge the battery to full and then simply turn off the charger I should be fine I think.

 

[JoeS]

Please re-read, what I first wrote:

If the battery is made by Deka (East Penn), then it specs a maximum charging voltage of 14.4v at room ambient.

If the battery is made by Odyssey, then it likes a higher charging voltage.

Same type of differences for float voltage levels.

Edit: I just went looking for the excellent VRLA tech manual that East Penn used to publish, but what I found no longer has the substantive and quantitative information in it.

Here's the Odyssey manual, with nice temperature-compensation curvesl: http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-TM-002_1214.pdf

Who made this battery for Sears?

justoneman, I was unable to find either the specifications for the battery or that charger. So that we don't speculate, could you post exactly what the specific charging and float voltage recommendations came with the paperwork for both the battery and what are the voltages for the various settings of the charger?

After charging, if you simply fully disconnect the battery you will be fine, as the self-discharge rate of AGMs is very low. I usually top-up my stored Optimas about once every nine months, with the chargers stopping the charge cycle almost immediately after starting.

All that said, you now have the hardware - let us know how this setup works on a daily basis.

 

[justoneman]

Please re-read, what I first wrote:

If the battery is made by Deka, then it likes a maximum charging voltage of 14.4v at room ambient.

If the battery is made by Odyssey, then it likes a higher charging voltage.

Same type of differences for float voltage levels.

Who made this battery for Sears?

justoneman, I was unable to find either the specifications for the battery or that charger. So that we don't speculate, could you post exactly what the specific charging and float voltage recommendations came with the paperwork for both the battery and what are the voltages for the various settings of the charger?

After charging, if you simply fully disconnect the battery you will be fine, as the self-discharge rate of AGMs is very low. I usually top-up my stored Optimas about once every nine months, with the chargers stopping the charge cycle almost immediately after starting.

All that said, you now have the hardware - let us know how this setup works on a daily basis.

JoeS, I bought the battery and the charger used, so I do not have any documents at all on the battery and I have a useless owners manual on the charger. I found no info online about the battery's manufacture and I found info on the charger based on users quotes on a boating forum.

The 2 amp charger I already owned proved to be an issue in reality because I charged both at home and at work on one circuit. Therefore I could charge either the car or the heater battery at one time. So I had only available about 8 hours of charge time for the heater battery per day. Since I required about 10 hrs of charge time for a single leg of my commute for the heater battery, it was not working out. I ended up using the heater on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On those days I used the heater in the morning leg of my commute when the temps were from 39 degrees outside to 49 degrees, I experienced complete comfort from the separate heater. Cabin was plenty warm from it. It was rainy all that week so I experience window fogging. I tried shifting the heater to the dash position. This defogged part of the windshield but not all. The issue of course was that I needed to use the fan of the car with outside air. I them put the heater to the floor. I think I will not be using the heater for the windshield in future.

 

[Don]

With the little 2 amp charger, you should be able to charge the car and the battery at the same time from a single outlet - Run an extension cord to the car and plug in both the EVSE and the charger. You can close the rear hatch on both the extension cord and the EVSE cord with everything connected in the back of the car

For sure, it's better to use a charger with a slightly lower charge and float voltage than one which is even a little bit too high. A too low voltage may only charge it to 95%, but at least it won't damage the battery like one with a too high voltage will

It sounds like you think this is going to work for you come winter, so I would advise you to go ahead and buy a suitable charger before you harm your expensive battery. A good smart charger can save you serious money in extended battery life over the years - They're worth every penny of their higher cost

Don

 

[justoneman]

With the little 2 amp charger, you should be able to charge the car and the battery at the same time from a single outlet - Run an extension cord to the car and plug in both the EVSE and the charger. You can close the rear hatch on both the extension cord and the EVSE cord with everything connected in the back of the car

For sure, it's better to use a charger with a slightly lower charge and float voltage than one which is even a little bit too high. A too low voltage may only charge it to 95%, but at least it won't damage the battery like one with a too high voltage will

It sounds like you think this is going to work for you come winter, so I would advise you to go ahead and buy a suitable charger before you harm your expensive battery. A good smart charger can save you serious money in extended battery life over the years - They're worth every penny of their higher cost

Don

Yes I hear you on the charger. Warm weather is about here now and heating will be the least of my concerns. I will have time to obtain a proper charger. Its good to know I have this back up system ready to roll out in the Fall. Thanks so much for the input.

 

[JoeS]

justoneman, with all this effort you just put in, I was wondering just how marginal your commute is, recognizing that you can plug into 120vac at work? Looking forward to your Fall performance reports. Also, I missed it, in what part of the world are you? - might consider updating your profile.
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3196

 

[justoneman]

justoneman, with all this effort you just put in, I was wondering just how marginal your commute is, recognizing that you can plug into 120vac at work? Looking forward to your Fall performance reports. Also, I missed it, in what part of the world are you? - might consider updating your profile.
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3196

My commute is 58 miles, round trip total. Its a bad 58 too. I am in heavy stop and go around town for 20 minutes then I have 15 minutes of 70 mile an hour highway travel. Then I hit the wall of bumper to bumper for about 20 minutes. Then after that I have local city street traffic for another 15 minutes. If there is an accident or inclement weather times go up from there. I live in the far southwest suburbs of Chicago and commute to the city.

 

[JoeS]

With 120vac available at work, that's not a bad commute at all!
My own rules of thumb -
With an 8A 120vac EVSE, the replenish rate is four bars for five hours of charging.
With a 12A 120vac EVSE, the replenish rate is six bars for five hours of charging.
With your nine hours at work, you should comfortably get plenty of juice to get you home. Plug in at home, and you're full by next-morning's commute.
Stop-and-go traffic is actually very easy on the consumption, except in winter - and you've just created your "fix" for that! Worst hit is the 70mph highway stretch, and since that accounts for half your commute distance, you can always adjust your speed to fit your needs.
Hey, you'll have all summer to get used to controlling your consumption in a benign environment, so when winter hits you'll be all set! We've found that using the air conditioner results in a minimal hit to the car's range.