i thought i read you dont have to equalize the agms like you do the flooded ones
In general you don't equalize AGM batteries other than Lifeline. Equalization, and by this I mean a charger with an equalizing option, can work on any lead acid battery but each AGM manufacturer has designed the battery for specific parameters and most have legitimate concerns about "drying" the battery out through equalization/gassing.
My own thoughts on the issue, after years of doing this, are that we destroy our batteries via sulfation. This is usually due to PSOC cycling, long before we'd ruin them with a
periodic equalization.
I have cut open numerous dead AGM batteries only to find them still plenty "wet" but destroyed via sulfation. I suspect there is a fine line of absorption voltage vs. PSOC cyclic use but until the manufacturers study this, and tell us what that fine line is, for PSOC operation, we are only guessing at it to arrive at a suitable cycle life.
I can tell you that charging a certain manufacturers AGM 0.2V higher than recommended has resulted in longer cycle life in PSOC cycling operation but I defer to the manufacturer for others doing the same...
The bottom line is that this is an answer best left to your battery maker. I do suggest using the
highest allowable charging voltage you possibly can, as that tends to help fight off sulfation.
The only battery that I have seen that does not need equalization/conditioning is the Firefly and Kurtis, the designer/inventor, is quite adamant that this battery not be charged above 14.4V, temp compensated. Instead the Firefly battery is recovered by discharging it to 10.5V - 11V then
fully recharging it once or twice. This battery behaves entirely differently than other lead acid batteries when it comes to sulfation recovery and high voltages are not needed just deep discharges followed by a full recharge. This is due to the carbon foam construction..
With AGM batteries full means 0.5% - 0.3% current acceptance at absorption voltage before they can be considered "full". This is .5A to .3A of charge current acceptance, at absorption voltage, on a 100Ah battery.