BatteryMINDer vs Morningstar

[FourPoints]

I understand the purpose and value of the MPPT controllers, they give you more charge for the same solar output, however this BatteryMINDer controller seems to have some of the same logic (at least the temperature part), plus it adds a different value than the morningstar controllers (and is much cheaper) in that it claims to significantly extend the life of the battery.

Anyone have direct experience with the effectiveness of desulfating batteries in extending their life?

http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...troller-Desulfator-12-Volt-15-Am-p-16141.html

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/sunsavermppt

If the manufacturer is to be believed, it would seem that for anyone who isn't trying to squeeze every last milliamp-hour out of their panels every day, extending the life of the battery would be a better value than faster charging...

 

[Maine Sail]

I'm going Genasun GV-10 MPPT. I tried a "desulfator" charger that a neighbor owned. I first tested the CA of the battery then did a 20 hour Ah load test. I then put it on the desulfator for well over a week, re-tested both parameters and saw no improvement. Perhaps some work better than others but I've not persoanlly had any real luck with the one I tried. I have seen minimal improvements doing equalizing charges though.

Would love to see some real clinical type testing before/after using a 20 hour load/Ah test and a CA load and CA capacitance test..

Our boat used a cheap Flex Charge PV7 for over 8 years and had exemplary battery life considering the use she got for the first five of those years was on a world cruise. That said the PV-7 really has a tough time getting the bank to full with its ON/OFF cycling nature and kills the performance of those last few Ah's....


Genasun GV-10 MPPT

 

[FourPoints]

I'm going Genasun GV-10 MPPT. I tried a "desulfator" charger that a neighbor owned. I first tested the CA of the battery then did a 20 hour Ah load test. I then put it on the desulfator for well over a week, re-tested both parameters and saw no improvement. Perhaps some work better than others but I've not persoanlly had any real luck with the one I tried.

what was the overall condition of the battery bank when you tried it? Most here would assume that your batteries are always topped off, properly maintained and never allowed to remained discharged without a charge source for more than mere minutes...

It sounds like from what I've been reading (not just this manufacturer's claims) that a desulfinator charger has little to no impact on a battery already in good condition, but will help revive old batteries that are not holding a charge as well as they used to (assuming the cells aren't shorted / dead), and by preventing the plates from building up sulfate layers, they will last much longer than using "normal" charge methods alone. If you are already doing a good job of always maintaining proper charge, and equalizing your banks, I don't think something like this would add much life to a battery, as most of the damage seems to come from sitting idle, or discharging of the batteries without immediate and complete re-charging..

 

[rpwillia]

My experience

Anyone have direct experience with the effectiveness of desulfating batteries in extending their life?

I have a BatteryMINDR and when I got it my #1 4D did not have enough uumph to start the diesel, even after sitting on the shore power charger all night. After a month on the batterymindr it did, and I used that battery for 2 more years without a problem.

 

[John Sluder]

Has anyone used an advance solar controller like the MorningStar or BatterMinder to bring back an iffy batter?

Any views on the battery life "extension" by using intelligent solar controllers?

 

[Bob Mack]

Fourpoints:

Another good option to consider.

I installed A Bluesky SB2512-25A MPPT with a remote display when I installed 3-85A Kyocera panels last year. Have been very please with the performance and maximized output. They do not address desulphating, but have excellent equalization.

I'll be replacing my 2-four year old, 4d's this year as they were overcharged by a failed Balmar requlator a few years ago and have since had some capacity and discharge issues.

 

[walt]

I’m not sure if I would have given up my hard earned cash for something like this... but somewhat interesting.

The pulser/desulfinator typically uses an inductor to "push then pull" some amount of current into the battery (circuit is basically an inductor to the battery positive with a switch to ground. Switch gets shorted for a moment and then released. Inductive kickback uses a diode to dump the energy back into the battery). There is some loss in the circuit doing this, I think the pulsers burn something like 40 or 50 ma to run (numbers could be wrong – I didn’t check this).

There is another device I think called a battery bug and it puts a very short duration load on the battery and by knowing the delta V and I, determines the battery impedance.

I don’t think it would be that difficult to combine these two functions into a "desulfinator" that also determined the battery impedance... I.e., as the circuit dumped current out and then back into the battery, it could also monitor the resulting current and voltage changes caused by this - and calculate battery impedance.

 

[FourPoints]

I’m not sure if I would have given up my hard earned cash for something like this... but somewhat interesting.

what I'm trying to learn is that if these desulfinators actually work to extend the life of the batteries as claimed, because a $100 controller that extends the life of a typical $100 deep cycle battery from 5 years to 7, is like getting batteries 30% cheaper.

rpwillia gave a pretty strong endorsement for their value earlier. he claims to have gone from a battery so weak that couldn't even start the engine straight off the charger, to one that was good for another 2 years of service. Sounds like his battery was already a year or two past the typical 5 yr mark when he installed the desulfinator charger, so he may have gotten 8 or 9 years out of that battery in total, which means he effectively saved about 45% on his battery.

To calculate costs per year, a single $100 deep cycle battery has a typical life span of 5 years, or $20/yr. So the annual cost of your typical battery bank is $20 x number of batteries in the bank. If you have a 4 battery bank, that's $80/yr...

Assuming the lower number of extending out to 7 years life, you reduce the annual cost of those batteries to $14, so the same 4 battery bank costs $56/yr

That means you save about $24/yr with a 4 battery bank, paying for the controller in 4 years.

I only have a 2 battery shared start / house bank, so it would take 8 years to break even, so I really can't say it would save me anything, but then again who said boating was about saving money?

I'm tempted to buy it as I'm just using the $20 sun force one that disconnects the solar panel when it's not outputting to prevent discharge, or when the batteries are reach 14v. I'd like to hear one or two more people have had good experiences with it....

 

[FourPoints]

Fourpoints:

Another good option to consider.

I installed A Bluesky SB2512-25A MPPT with a remote display when I installed 3-85A Kyocera panels last year. Have been very please with the performance and maximized output. They do not address desulphating, but have excellent equalization.

I'll be replacing my 2-four year old, 4d's this year as they were overcharged by a failed Balmar requlator a few years ago and have since had some capacity and discharge issues.

if I were cruising, I'd definitly spend the money on a MPPT controller, but they are just too much $ for my use. I go out for the weekend, usually only out for a single night but once in a while 2 consecutive nights on the boat. I don't worry about consuming 2-3 times what I can recharge in a normal day, because most of the time the boat sits at the dock for 4-5 days between going out. I've converted every light on the boat except the steaming light and the light in the head to LED, so my single biggest power draw now (aside from the starter) is the chartplotter / sounder. That's why extending the life of the battery is more important to me than getting the fastest charge.