Odyssey PC1200 Owner's Manual - page 25
17
Publication No: US-ODY-TM-001 - April 2011
www.odysseybattery.com
®
The charge times recommended in Table 5 assume that
the ODYSSEY battery is fully discharged and these charge
times will only achieve about a 80% state of charge. For
partially discharged batteries, the charge times should be
appropriately reduced. The graph in Figure 2, showing OCV
and SOC, must be used to determine the battery’s SOC.
The battery should be trickle charged (2A setting) after high
rate charging, regardless of its initial SOC.
Temperature compensation
Proper charging of all valve regulated lead acid (VRLA)
batteries requires temperature compensation of the charge
voltage – the higher the ambient temperature the lower the
charge voltage. This is particularly true in float applications
in which the batteries can stay on trickle charge for weeks
or months at a time.
The temperature compensation graphs for ODYSSEY
®
batteries in float and cyclic applications is shown for
ambient (battery) temperatures ranging from -40°C (°F) to
80°C (176°F). The compensation coefficient is approximately
+/-24mV per 12V battery per °C variation from 25°C (77°F).
Since the charge voltage and ambient (battery) temperature
are inversely related, the voltage must be reduced as the
temperature rises; conversely, the charge voltage must be
increased when the temperature drops.
Note, however, that the charge voltage should not be
dropped below 13.2V as that will cause the battery grids to
corrode faster, thereby shortening the battery life.
RAPID CHARGING Of ODySSEy
®
BATTERIES
All ODYSSEY batteries can be quickly charged.
The graph below shows their exceptional fast charge
characteristics at a constant 14.7V for three levels of inrush
current. These current levels are similar to the output
currents of modern automotive alternators. Table 6 and
Figure 7 show the capacity returned as a function of the
magnitude of the inrush
3
current.
Standard internal combustion engine alternators with an
output voltage of 14.2V can also charge these batteries.
The inrush current does not need to be limited under
constant voltage charge. However, because the typical
alternator voltage is only 14.2V instead of 14.7V, the
charge times will be longer than those shown in Table 5.
Table 6: fast charge capability
Capacity
Inrush current magnitude
returned
0.8C
10
1.6C
10
3.1C
10
60%
44 min.
20 min.
10 min.
80%
57 min.
28 min.
14 min.
100%
90 min.
50 min.
30 min.
Table 6 shows that with a 0.8C
10
inrush current, a 100%
discharged battery can have 80% of its capacity returned
in 57 minutes; doubling the inrush to 1.6C
10
cuts the time
taken to reach 80% capacity to only 28 minutes.
figure 7: Quick charging ODySSEy
®
batteries
LOAD TEST PROCEDuRE
This procedure should help determine whether the battery
returned by the customer has reached its end of life or simply
needs a full recharge. Depending on the time available one
may choose to perform either the longer load test (Step 4) or
the shorter ½CCA load test (Step 5).
The ½CCA test is quicker but less reliable than the longer test.
This is also the test that is performed when a battery is taken
to an auto store for testing.
An alternative approach to determine the health of the battery
is to use the ODYSSEY
®
battery PortAlyzer
TM
handheld tester,
specifically developed for these batteries. The test procedure is
shown in the flowchart in the section that discusses the tester.
1. Measure the open circuit voltage (OCV) of the battery.
Proceed to Step 4 or Step 5 if the OCV is equal to or more
than 12.80V; if not go to Step 2.
2. Charge the battery using the ODYSSEY OMAX-50A-1B
Ultimizer
TM
charger until the green LED light comes on,
indicating the completion of the charge. Stop the test if the
red LED comes on indicating a bad battery.
3. Unplug the charger and disconnect the battery from the
charger. Let the battery rest of at least 10-12 hours and
measure the OCV. If it is equal to or more than 12.80V
proceed to the next step; otherwise reject the battery.
Temperature, ˚C
Charge voltage, V
17.40
16.80
16.20
15.60
15.00
14.40
13.80
13.29
12.60
Theoretical cycling (ideal)
V-0.00004T
3
- 0.006T + 2.5745
Theoretical float (ideal)
V=0.00004T
3
- 0.006T + 2.3945
and 2.20VPC minimum
3
Inrush is defined in terms of the rated capacity (C
10
) of the battery. A 0.8C
10
inrush on a 100Ah battery is 80A.