I bought a Meanwell RSP-750-15

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Mobilesport said:
For me the colder it is outside the more I have to charge my batteries  because my furnace runs the batteries down overnight   , so hopefully this means I'm not as hard on the charger , that fan and heat sink you have there is a good idea , I'm thinking of doing something similar for the summer heat   ,  I'll probably use a small box fan that runs off of 110v to cool the meanwell.
Thanks for all the info on the Meanwell

I see the rsp-750-15 only has the large single DC outputs.  I wound up hooking my extra Noctua fans to the 12vDC outputs as there are 3 sets on the rsp-500-15.

Ventilation through and around the case are important.  While the transistors inside either have their own finned heatsinks or use the casing as a heatsink, it is the toroids which likely generate the most heat, and these are the round hollow magnets with copper coiled around them.

Part of my reasons for the extra fans was to keep the very loud 40MM meanwell provided fan from coming on as on mine I will set it to float voltage and power all loads overnight and do not want to have to listen to that loud fan cycling on and off.

Without the extra fans it would cycle on and off at just 6 amps output.  Now it wont come on until 34 or more amps output.

But ambient temperatures play a pretty big part in this number.  If you were not required to send the failed powermax back, they have a large finned heatsink inside you could remove and attach to the casing with some thermal epoxy.

Mine had some depressions on the side of the case and I had to grind and file my heatsinks down to fit tightly inside these, and also had to drill holes around the screws which hold the transistors tightly to the casing so I can get it apart in the future, if I have to.

I put a thermocouple on the internal heatsink on mine opposite a Meanwell temperature sensor( there are 2).  My data reveals the internal fan comes on when this internal heatsink hits 103.6f and fan does not shut off until it falls to 98.6f.

The Highest I have seen is 114f.  If I put my hand over the 60Mm noctua fan, which is directly over the internal heatsink, the temperature skyrockets surprisingly fast.

I sometimes think about adding even more airflow.  Where my MW resides, on my cabinet door, I usually have cabinet door open when asking for its full output and can plug in a USB fan right above it to aim at it.  This does not much affect the my temp readings on internal heatsink. But if I take one of my regular internal comfort fans, a 92MM vantec tornado and aim it's full flow at the opening where the wires exit the MW, I can get temperature to plummet.

Overkill, but I like to experiment and observe results.

I really love this charging source. I got so sick of the Schumacher going batcrap crazy and choosing damaging voltages or reverting to float voltage way too soon and requiring me tricking it by artificially loading batteries to reduce voltage to below 12.6v and restarting it.  The Schumacher automatic charger required babysitting and manipulation into doing its job.

I was looking at all the converter offerings and all of them appeared to be a compromise and less than ideal.

With this MeanWell power supply, i plug into 115vac, adjust voltage to 14.91( accounting for voltage drop on the DC output wires) to achieve 14.5 to 14.7v or so, then plug in the anderson 45 amp powerpole connector and boom, 40 amps. then let it go.  In 20 to 40 minutes my depleted battery is up at 14.46v or so and amps start tapering, and I back off the voltage a smidge to make sure it does not exceed 14.7v at battery terminals as the lower amperage will cause less voltage drop.

Once amps into the battery fall to 0.4 or less, I lower voltage to 13.6v and keep it there until I Unplug.  Even if the sun rises and the solar can take over, I can leave it plugged in, but sometimes hear it click on or off depending on the voltage setpoints, which is higher float, the solar or the meanwell.  Usually I disconnect when the sun is shining and the battery is full, but sometimes cannot be bothered, especially if I have no plans on driving anywhere.

I've definitely gotten thousands of hours on this unit, much of it providing current only in the 1 to 6 amp range, powering DC loads while holding the battery at float voltage.  My additional fans run continuously whenever the unit is plugged into DC, even if disconnected from AC.  This is the reason for most of the dust build up in my photos above.

If you can measure current into your depleted GC-2's, I'd love to hear how it performs at full throttle.

How long and what thickness DC cables are you using to battery  terminals?  YOu might want to set voltage a bit higher than 14.8v to account for voltage drop on those DC cables at ~60 amps output.  Since you are generator charging, this might allow slightly shorter generator run times for more charging.

If you can also check battery temperature, I have found my low resistance AGM battery heating up more than expected when high amp recharging, and it retains much more heat than expected during discharge too, especially if I am asking a lot from it overnight.  GC-2 batteries are higher in resistance and will heat up even more than My AGM.

The battery temperature plays a big part in choosing ideal battery absorption voltage, and battery temperature is often way higher than ambient temperature, especially when they are always charging or discharging.
 
BradKW said:
My thought was that despite being forgetful at times, I don't think I'd go to work and not realize the genny was running. Certainly could fall asleep tho. Timer just looks like a simple addition and a solid bet.

I just realised that my situation may be different then you guys because I built my generator into my van so there ain't no going to work and leaving the generator running , if I go to work or anywhere my generator is coming along running or not , 
I guess the bottom line for me is that I'm always in close proximity to my genset an I never leave it running and then take off and go somewhere.
 
Heck, my MeanWell has never seen a portable generator, but if it ever does, I know I will waste little time.

With Generator recharging as the sole charging source, the meanwell set to a high absorption voltage and that which maxesout the generator, is as good as one can hope to do, retuning the batteries to as high a state of charge as is possible in the time allowed. The adjustable voltage factor allows this.

If the meanwell rsp-750-15 can do 60 amps as I suspect it will do, It would very much outperform a Progressive dynamics pd9260 which is also capable briefly of 60 amps, but then will taper to low 50 amps, and perhaps less on a generator.

The PD9260 can be forced to seek 14.4v for 4 hours when one has the wizard/pendant, and can do the automatic thing, but it does not have the capability of seeking 14.8v, nor does it compensate for temperature.

The meanwell rsp-750-15 set to 15 volts will blow away a PD9260 bulk charging depleted GC-2 batteries on a generator. More charge in less time with less fuel burned. Just increase the airflow/ cooling ability when it is at full output for increased product life.

I release flatulence in the direction of 'smart chargers'.

Smart charger's in turn release flatulence toward those who believe their lying but oh soo soothing green lights
 
@ Sternwake
I'm running 4 gage cables to my charger , after I get the Mean well wired up I'll try to get back to you with my amp readings.
I did notice that your meanwell has more outputs then mine but I didn't realise that you had three , I thought that you had two where's mine has the single output.

What do you think about removing the Meanwells cover and leaving it off and letting it breath more and have a big fan blowing air accross it?

I'm gonna throw a idea at you , don't know if its any good ,,,,,,,, how about mounting the Meanwell in a small refridgerator or in the winter have a compartment thats open to the outside cold air  ,  

Powermax let me keep the bad unit but I have plans to try and bypass the computer part of it and try and get a steady 14.8 volts out of it .

As for heatsinks I'll run into some at work in the trash , I already found some but I don't remember if I ended up throwing them out during spring cleaning , I very well may still have em.
 
Mobilesport said:
@ Sternwake
I'm running 4 gage cables to my charger , after I get the Mean well wired up I'll try to get back to you with my amp readings.
I did notice that your meanwell has more outputs then mine but I didn't realise that you had three , I thought that you had two where's mine has the single output.

What do you think about removing the Meanwells cover and leaving it off and letting it breath more and have a big fan blowing air accross it?

I'm gonna throw a idea at you , don't know if its any good ,,,,,,,, how about mounting the Meanwell in a small refridgerator or in the winter have a compartment thats open to the outside cold air  ,  

Powermax let me keep the bad unit but I have plans to try and bypass the computer part of it and try and get a steady 14.8 volts out of it .

As for heatsinks I'll run into some at work in the trash , I already found some but I don't remember if I ended up throwing them out during spring cleaning , I very well may still have em.

My 500 watt model has 3 positive output terminals, 3 negative output.  They are the insert stranded wire crush under screw type that I am not so fond of, as exposed copper stranding will oxidize and increase resistance over time.  I used Deoxit shield on them to slow this oxidation and better options could be utilized in this regard for more surface area on the contacts between output and wire.

Honestly this junction has not been heating more than the rest of the wire so i have rung the 'good enough' bell for now, and also with the ease of voltage adjustment I can counteract any voltage drop by cranking voltage a smidge higher top compensate.

One of the outputs goes right to my wattmeter on 8awg whose output is the 45 amp powerpole connector. The other output is just a 45 amp powerpole on 8 awg, and the third just powers my Noctua fans.

If you remove the lid, then the meanwell's provided  fans will not be able to draw the significant airflow over internal components and a fan just blowing over the top will not be enough as the flow would need to be concentrated.  I would only remove lid  during use, if one aimed a powerful fan close to it, and if one could prevent anything from dropping inside the and shorting out electronics.

The lid is likely big enough to mount a 120Mm computer fan.  My lid is steel, not aluminum, but there are obvious design differences between a 750 and a 500.

You could attach this 120MM fan, sucking outward t the lid, and that way when the MW provided fans kick on the airflow through the unit will be even greater.  I use a 60MM fan blowing in and the 80MM fan sucking out.  When the loud powerful 40Mm meanwell fan kicks on the flow from the 80Mm exhaust fan is reduced considerably as it is not a very powerful fan.

If the lid on the 750 is easy to remove, and the fans are also easy to remove I'd love to know their part numbers and see how much airflow they are capable of, what meanwell dictated would be adequate.

My single 40Mm meanwell provided fan is basically as powerful as a 40Mm fan can be.  Its airflow and noise are quite high, and it is always full speed when it is triggered. 

I had somebody mail me a bunch of CPU heatsinks and fans he ripped from failed computers and those are what I used to increase heatsinking.  I gots a lot left and am trrying not to be obsessive attaching them everywhere :)
 
I'm not sure if I found a variation of that model (does look different), but it talks about not having a fan and all passive cooling: http://www.mouser.com/new/meanwell/MeanWell-RSP-150/

Mean%20Well%20RSP-150.png


So how do you easily adjust output voltages?  I just read through the instructions and diagrams at http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/RSP-750-SPEC-806360.pdf

...and while I saw many references to adjusting voltage, it was always in context of applying external voltage as a method of control...as well as things such as this:

※ Caution: By factory default, the Output Current Programming is not activated, and and are shorted by connector. Whenever this PC(pin7) PO(pin8) function is not needed to activate, as assumed in other sections’ diagrams, please keep and shorted ; otherwise, the PC(pin7) PO(pin8) power supply will have no output.
 
BradKW said:
I'm not sure if I found a variation of that model (does look different), but it talks about not having a fan and all passive cooling: http://www.mouser.com/new/meanwell/MeanWell-RSP-150/

Mean%20Well%20RSP-150.png


So how do you easily adjust output voltages?  I just read through the instructions and diagrams at http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/260/RSP-750-SPEC-806360.pdf

...and while I saw many references to adjusting voltage, it was always in context of applying external voltage as a method of control...as well as things such as this:

※ Caution: By factory default, the Output Current Programming is not activated, and and are shorted by connector. Whenever this PC(pin7) PO(pin8) function is not needed to activate, as assumed in other sections’ diagrams, please keep and shorted ; otherwise, the PC(pin7) PO(pin8) power supply will have no output.

Yea I read that too and it boggled my mind and then I read a a few more times and came up with if I don't touch any of the wires they have shorted it will work (have a output) 
My thinking is that if I plug it into a wall it will work the way it came in the box.
If I cut the wire that they have shorted ( pin 13 to pin 14 ) extend the wires and install a switch I can turn the unit off and on with the switch .
If I dont cut the wire at pin 13 to 14 I will have to plug it into the wall to turn it on and unplug it from the wall to turn it off .
Thats how I understood it and I may be wrong , I'll know soon after I make a powercord.
I have to say I wish it was plug n play cause life is to short and I would prefer to spend my time doing something else. GEEESH
 
I hate all of you, sending me down the rabbit hole like this! Now I am looking, without any success, for a Meanwell dealer in Canada.
 
bcbullet said:
I hate all of you, sending me down the rabbit hole like this! Now I am looking, without any success, for a Meanwell dealer in Canada.

Phone reply brev ity.
  O data sheets make zure it says constant current limiting on overload.  Mny meNwell and other supplies witll have hiccup protectin or shut down on overload.  No good for charging depleted batteriez.
 
SternWake said:
Phone reply brev ity.
  O data sheets make zure it says constant current limiting on overload.  Mny meNwell and other supplies witll have hiccup protectin or shut down on overload.  No good for charging depleted batteriez.

(insert head scratching smilie here) lol
 
@ Sternwake
Does your Meanwell have a on / off switch or do you just plug it into the wall to turn it on? 
Thanks
 
Mobilesport said:
@ Sternwake
Does your Meanwell have a on / off switch or do you just plug it into the wall to turn it on? 
Thanks

No switch.  I genearlly plug it in to my power strip wait the half second for it to fire up my wattmeter, adjust to deisred voltage, then plug my powerpoles together.  I guess I could use the switch on the power strip , but generally I unplug it from AC and DC when not in use. Dc first, usually.

Don't much stress the order really.  There can be a pop hooking it to DC first so generally I hook it to AC, set voltage plug then mate the powerpoles, then 40 amps are available, if needed.
 
SternWake, could you give us a quickie guide to using a power supply as a charger? I have read this and your thread on it, but am still a bit confused on charge times etc. Can one keep the charger on the bank until amps taper? Will the amps taper as acceptance goes down? Should one go from the battery manufacturer's absorption voltages right into the float voltage?
Thanks...you are a great help to many on here...
 
These power supplies, when used as battery chargers, give one the ability to recharge the battery as quick as possible.


Those who do not really need their battery fully charged in minimal time need not pursue the option of these Adjustable voltage power Supplies.   but those relying on an automatic charger to be able to charge a battery in minimal time, are basically fooling themselves, perhaps with the help of the lying green "full charge" light.

Basically my PS is capable of 40 amps.  When I set it to 14.7 volts, then plug it into my 50% depleted battery, Instant 40 amps.  But the battery voltage does not instantly climb to 14.7 volts.

My 50% depleted battery accepts 40 amps for about 45 minutes before battery voltage approaches 14.7v.  if I had more battery capacity, this would take longer.  This is basically the 'bulk stage;  Constant current stage.

Once the battery voltage nears the preset power supply voltage, amps will begin to taper. At this point, To keep 40 amps flowing, one would need the power supply to seek a higher voltage, but 14.8v at 77F is about the maximum one should expose a lead acid battery to.  This is the absorption stage, Constant voltage, while current tapers.  If the current were constant, then voltage would keep rising, and that is not acceptable.

On my battery, after the 45 minutes of 40 amps constant current/ bulk charging, the amps begin tapering and the voltage holds at 14.7v, or whatever I decided to set it at.  In about 4 to 5 more hours the amps will have tapered to about 0.4amps at 14.7v.  This time can vary with temperature and how many cycles have accumulated since last full recharge, and some other variables too. 

It is then that this AGM battery can be considered fully charged. When Amps required to maintain absorption voltage taper to 0.5% of the capacity of the AGM battery, IE 0.5 amps per 100Ah of capacity.
Generally, flooded batteries, when amps required to hold absorption voltage taper to 2 to 3% of capacity then the battery is or very nearly is fully charged.  With flooded batteries one can dip the hydrometer and know for sure.

When the battery is fully charged verified by the ammeter or the hydrometer or both, if possible, One can either unplug the power supply, or they can lower the voltage to 13.6 or 13.2 or whatever their battery manufacturer  calls for at the temperature it is at.  I lower the voltage slowly, as if one lowers it quickly there will be a 'click' in the meanwell as the overvoltage protection kicks in.  if impatient I unplug the DC powerpoles, lower voltage to 13.6v, wait for battery voltage to drop below 13.6, then plug the DC  Anderson powerpole connectors back together.  I do not like the 'clicking' of the overvoltage protections kicking in, but so far it appears harmless.

Once lowered to This float voltage, the power supply will provide whatever amperage it requires to maintain the float voltage chosen, powering all DC loads and  also holding the battery fully charged, as long as the loads do not exceed the maximum output of the power supply.

The tiny voltage trim potentiometers provided with these power supplies are not meant to be adjusted 2 times a day, 7 days a week.  They are rated for something like 50 or 75 cycles, meaning you can sweep them full range 50 to 75 times before they start wearing out.

If one wants to be changing voltage often, then removing the provided trim pot and installing wires to run to a larger potentiometer is required.  

I now use a 10 turn 1K ohm Bourns potentiometer with turns counter.  Meaning it spins 10 full times, 3600 degrees, from one end to the other and dialing in voltage to the 0.01th of a volt is simple, and one can do it thousands of times before the potentiometer wears out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-1K-Ohm-...Turns-Counting-Dial-Rotary-Knob-/161785993268

For the average joe, it is  NOT simple to remove the original voltage trim pot, and solder wires to the circuit board to  run them to the new potentiometer which also needs to be mounted on something for the turns counter to work properly.

An Earlier reply when i was typing on my phone, I wanted to make sure that people understand there are many power supplies available, and not only by meanwell.  Many of these will shut down on overload.  A depleted battery is basically an overload.

The Meanwell RSP series, has Constant current limiting on overload, which is required for charging a large depleted battery.  There are some other MEanwell series which also have constant current limiting on overload, but not all of them.

So the Wiley shopper looking for a deal will not be getting a deal if the power supply  chosen  does not have constant current limiting on overload, but uses some other method of self protection not conducive to battery charging.


Before I got the meanwell, i got a 23$ 350 watt power supply from amazon.  This 350 watt power supply had NO self protections.  Rated for 30 amps it would do upto 38 amps until it released the magic blue smoke.  I had to keep twiddling the voltage potentiometer  slowly upwards as the battery charged, to keep it at 36.5 amps output.  There was no setting the voltage unloaded and them plugging it in.  When i got tired of twiddling the voltage potentiometer to keep it up near 36 amps output, I set it to 14.9v plugged it in, and let it destroy itself.

It took 17 minutes.

The Next day I placed the order for the meanwell rsp-500-15.

So to repeat, these are basically manual chargers for a specific purpose and for a certain mindset.  They can be used very effectively to charge quickly or charge fully or both. They are not automatic, they can overcharge, they require a human or a timer to control the time they are allowed to feed a battery, or a human to lower the voltage to safe float levels once the battery is known to be fully charged.

Can one use one of these as a slower charger? Yes, just lower the absorption voltage to 13.6v and it will charge much slower.  Whether 13.6v can eventually fully charge any given battery, depends on the battery and its health, and how much time constitutes 'eventually'.

Often the battery specific gravity will never rise to the maximum at 13.6v, no matter how long it is held there.  Sometimes not even 14.7v can do it, and the flooded battery needs a few hours at 16 volts for all cells specific gravity to raise as high as they can go. 

AGMS are different regarding the 16 volt Equalization charges.  Basically avoid them on AGMS.
 
Fantastic as always SternWake. You always go the extra mile to help out here and I am sure it is appreciated by many. Now I am off to try to find one in Canada, which may not be that easy!
 
Does voltage always rise during bulk stage?

I remember when I had that Powermax that I set the output voltage with the batteries not connected to the charger , I then put a mark where the 14.8volt location is so I could dial it in , I then attached the battery cables to the Powermaxes outputs and dialed the voltage to 14.8volts and begin charging , the voltmeter on the Powermax would read 14.8 volts for about 14 minutes and then all the sudden it would drop to 13.6 volts , since I thought the Powermax was supposed to stay at  14.8 volts where I set it ,  I would turn the voltage dial up past the mark that I made until the Powermaxes voltmeter read 14.8 volts again  , at this point  the voltmeter would read 14.8 volts the rest of the time charging and the amps would start to drop from around 70 amps down to 7 amps.

So everytime charging with the Powermax was that same procedure. 
Dial it to 14.8 volts
14 minutes later the generator would get quieter and I would look at the Powermaxes voltmeter and see that it wasn't reading 14.8 volts anymore  , it had dropped to 13.6 volts.
Scratch my head in confusion thinking " I thought this charger was supposed to stay at the voltage I set it to"?
I would then turn the dial to turn the volts up until the Powermaxes voltmeter read 14.8 volts again and it always would stay at the 14.8 volts the second time around ,
 
Mobilesport said:
Does voltage always rise during bulk stage?

I remember when I had that Powermax that I set the output voltage with the batteries not connected to the charger , I then put a mark where the 14.8volt location is so I could dial it in , I then attached the battery cables to the Powermaxes outputs and dialed the voltage to 14.8volts and begin charging , the voltmeter on the Powermax would read 14.8 volts for about 14 minutes and then all the sudden it would drop to 13.6 volts , since I thought the Powermax was supposed to stay at  14.8 volts where I set it ,  I would turn the voltage dial up past the mark that I made until the Powermaxes voltmeter read 14.8 volts again  , at this point  the voltmeter would read 14.8 volts the rest of the time charging and the amps would start to drop from around 70 amps down to 7 amps.

So everytime charging with the Powermax was that same procedure. 
Dial it to 14.8 volts
14 minutes later the generator would get quieter and I would look at the Powermaxes voltmeter and see that it wasn't reading 14.8 volts anymore  , it had dropped to 13.6 volts.
Scratch my head in confusion thinking " I thought this charger was supposed to stay at the voltage I set it to"?
I would then turn the dial to turn the volts up until the Powermaxes voltmeter read 14.8 volts again and it always would stay at the 14.8 volts the second time around ,
MobileSport, your adjustable voltage powermax was not operating properly.  
The automatic power max 3 or 4 stage versions will apply their maximum amperage until voltage at the output terminals climbs to 14.4v, then they instantly drop to 13.8v, Stay at 13.8 for a period of time then drop to float voltage.

The adjustable voltage model is supposed to seek and then hold the chosen voltage.  no Stages.

NOw when one hooks a depleted battery to the power supply set at 14.7 volts, the voltage at the output terminals will drop and begin to slowly rise as the battery sucks up everything the power supply can make.  The voltage on the output terminals will be different than the voltage reading taken on the battery terminals at high amperage rates.  Cable thickness plays a huge part in how different these two voltages read.

At low amperages there is less voltage drop and the voltages will read closer on either end of charging cable

If the battery voltage rises quickly on a depleted battery, the battery is sulfated.  Nothing one can really do but just  allow the power supply to hold absorption voltage until amps taper to the 2 to 3% range on a flooded battery/ and or dip the hydrometer to decide when to either unplug power supply, or lower its voltage to float.  A sulfated battery cannot be charged as fast as a healthy battery.

On my Meanwell rsp-500-15, i have the wattmeter about 10 inches away from the output terminals, and there is detectable voltage drop on those 10 inches when passing 40 amps, and battery voltage itself is significantly lower than MW output voltage because of voltage drop on my cabling between Meanwell and battery.

In the case of the powermax adjustable voltage unit, the voltmeter is connected right on the output terminals of the unit.  I am surprised to hear it read 14.5 volts after being hooked to a depleted battery.  It must have not been operating properly as it should have dropped into the low to mid 13s when hooked to depleted GC batteries over 4awg cabling.

Something was very screwy with your Powermax.  Best to unlearn any observations you made while using that failed unit, before it failed.  An Ammeter and a voltmeter will really reveal a lot as to not only power supply operation, but also the state of health of the battery, once one begins to build up some 'trends and tendencies' experience.

Where you read the voltage at full output makes a difference, and the voltage if preset unloaded, unhooked to a battery, will drop when it is attached to the battery.  When this voltage drops it is the duty of the power supply to regain that voltage, so it goes to maximum output and constant current until the voltage at the output terminals reaches the chosen setpoint.  The voltage drop on the cabling will have the battery lagging a few tenths behind.  How many tenths depends on the length and thickness of the cabling and how many connections there are between the two.

So I account for voltage drop on my cabling by setting my meanwell for 14.91 volts when I am seeking 14.46 absorption voltage.  but once amps start tapering the voltage will try to climb to this 14.91 and i will manually lower it to keep it from going that high.  If I had shorter fatter cabling this extra potentiometer twisting would be less necessary.


Now there are times when one might witness depleted battery voltage rise fairly fast to the low 14's, faster than expected, and then battery voltage will then drop again, all while taking my Meanwell's 40 amps.  Usually this only happens on My AGM battery when depleted to ~55% or below, this voltage YoYo when first hooked up that spans anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes in duration. If the sun had some time to slowly charge the battery even a smidge when i plug in the meanwell, it also seems to prevent this voltage yoyo. 
It is the battery is all groggy, first resisting the charge, but then waking up and saying 'Ok Ok, I'll drink it you *******!'  I can't explain the chemical reactions going on to explain this behavior, but I have witnessed it many many times since i've gotten the meanwell, and not just on this AGM battery but some others too, as everybody in the neighborhood brings me their  compromised and chronically undercharged batteries, or just overdischarged batteries.

Different batteries will behave differently when they have a high amperage charging source attached, and this behavior changes as they age and accumulate cycles on them and lose capacity.  Sounds crazy but they do have personalities one can figure out, with the tools and interest to see what the battery is able to accept at what voltage with X amps available to get the battery there.

Measuring tools and a raised eyebrow can accomplish a lot in terms of Knowledge gained.

My current AGM battery is retaining capacity to an Impressive degree.  It is because this Meanwell power supply can fulfill its needs with me as Voltage  and absorption duration overlord, along with being a high$$  low resistance AGM battery which loves high amp recharges.  I'd not really treat a flooded battery of only 90Ah capacity to 40 amps charging current each and every time unless I only had 2 hours to run a generator to recharge.

Charge rate is often overlooked.  Most flooded battery manufacturers recommend a 10 to 13% rate
Cheaper AGM batteries recommend no more than 30% rate
Higher$$ AGMS say no maximum rate is readily achievable, and initial charge rates lower than 20% are not advisable on a deeply cycled battery.

Odyssey battery says no less than 40% when deeply cycled.

My Northstar AGM does not say 40% is required, but It behaves much better when it  initially gets 40% or more from its most depleted state.

The 100% recharge is key too.  Without the 100% recharges then the voltage climbs faster to 14.46 and amps begin tapering earlier, and charging slows, and 14.46v needs to be held much longer for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity.

Regular high amp recharges and holding absorption voltage as long as it takes until amps taper to 0.5% of capacity has this AGM battery retaining its capacity to a very impressive degree.  I've gotten 350+ deep cycles on it, many hundreds if not thousands of shallower cycles on it, and thousands of engine starts on it, and the voltage it can still maintain 45Ah from full, still blows my mind.  I've never had so much confidence in a battery, but If I did not have the meanwell to meet this high amp recharge to 100% full requirement, I bet it would have been recycled by now on a solar alone/ alternator diet, as I do not drive that much where the alternator can meet this high amp charge rate.
 
You explain it well , I understand now , When I bought the powermax I wish  it came with a operation manual explaining this stuff , when I asked for a manual they said they didn't have one for that model because it was a custom unit   .
Im happy I'm going in to use the Mean well with my eyes open and more knowledge. 
Thanks again for all your help ,  your asset to everyone here.
 
Top