I bought new batteries

[SternWake]

That will work, but you have to get the tip of the sensor right on the battery casing in the middle of a cell. Ambinent temps can through the reading off.

Wound be best to submerge the little round tip in some vaseline or something to better conduct battery heat to sensor.

I have one of those sensors on my battery held to it with Gaffer's tape and a blob of thermal grease.

 

[Mobilesport]

Ok , just got done charging for 9 hours..
Here's  what the specific gravity test looked like.
Barely into the green
I think it's 1.245

OK , update
I went back to Sam's Club and exchanged those batteries for some different ones , all the
golf batteries that were in the store 2 weeks ago when I bought mine were gone , there was
all new pallets of golf batteries and they were Duracell brand now instead of Energizer. 
I tested the voltage and all batteries were 6.35------6.37 volts , these batteries  cost
about $47 more a piece. 
Brought them home and tested specific  gravity  at 1.275.
There working fine but they seem to need charged alot , example 
Yesterday  11pm  I tested specific gravity at 1.250 , 
I ran my furnace all night 2 amp draw and 2 amps of led lights.
In the morning I fire up generator and head to work charging , 5 minutes later
I pull into work and leave the generator running charging with the 40 amp meanwell.
7:30 am to 9:30 am it's charging.
I go to break at 9:30am , shut down generator and take specific gravity test of 1.206
I'm disappointed. 
2pm I go to break and fire up the generator and charger i get off work at 4pm but I let it keep charging while I drive to my spot , I sit at my spot and finally shut down charging at 5 pm
I take specific  gravity test  of  1.260 
 Total charging time was 5 hours

 

[SternWake]

Total charging time was 5 hours

I thought furnace fans draw more than 2 amps

One cannot really fully charge well depleted  healthy batteries in less than 6.5 hours.

1.260 after 5 hours is normal I'd say, Probably take another 1.5 hours to be in the 1.270 and another hour to be 1.275+, and that is at a temperature compensated 14.8v.

when coming up from the 50% range, 80 to 100% is basically 4 hours +/- a half hour , with few exceptions

The closer to full the battery is, the slower it recharges.

There is no way around this.

 

[Mobilesport]

I thought furnace fans draw more than 2 amps

One cannot really fully charge well depleted  healthy batteries in less than 6.5 hours.

1.260 after 5 hours is normal I'd say, Probably take another 1.5 hours to be in the 1.270 and another hour to be 1.275+, and that is at a temperature compensated 14.8v.

when coming up from the 50% range, 80 to 100% is basically 4 hours +/- a half hour , with few exceptions

The closer to full the battery is, the slower it recharges.

There is no way around this.

Furnace model  ,, Propex 2800 draws 1.9 amps

They make another model ,,Propex 2000 that draws only 1.4 amps but you would want a 
extremely well insulated van box for especially that Propex 2000 model.

I have the Propex 2800 and if my van had a better insulated partition it would 
use very little propane , I'm still working  on  getting  it insulated better.

"The closer to full the battery is, the slower it recharges" This has been helpful for
me because it makes it easy for me not to over charge.

Since I'll be generator charging  what soc % should I aim for
Should i normally aim for 80% or 90% with a occasional  100%?

If it only takes 8 hours to get them to 100% I could occasionally do that easily even 
from generator , I wouldn't want to do it every day though.

 

[SternWake]

Generator recharging kind of revolves around user preference. Getting to 90% each recharge takes at least another hour more than getting to 80%.

The more PSOC cycles occur, then the time when one decides to do the 100% recharge, it will take longer.

How much longer depends on the amount of PSOC cycles, the health of the battery, and the quality of the battery, and of course the Absorption voltage held until specific gravity maxes out.

Also, after many PSOC cycles, One can hold absorption voltage until amps required to hold absorption voltage taper down to low levels, then dip their hydrometer, and find all the cells are still well below the Green zone of 1.265+.

Such a flooded battery pretty much then required and Equalization charge, ramp up voltage to as high as 16.2 volts at a battery temperature of 77F. Ideally one would dial it up slowly allowing no more than 5 amps per 100Ah of capacity, and then hold 16.2v until SG either stops rising, or gets to previously noted maximums, or 1.275+.

If the cells are kind of low on water then expect to see maximums a bit higher than 1.275, and if recently refilled they seem to take a few cycles before returning to the 1.275 zone. The SG will read low when one adds water, even if they add it and charge for several more hours.

The Voltmeter, Ammeter and hydrometer with temperature compensation, and an adjustable voltage charger are ideal tools for figuring out what a battery wants in a certain usage. There is no One size fits all prescription one follows that can be applied to all batteries from cycle 1 to cycle # XXX however many months later.

 

[Mobilesport]

@ Stern 
If it only takes another hour to get to 90% from 80% that will be a piece of cake .
I'm going to be aiming for 90%.

I'm thinking of taking them to 100% once every other week starting today , I'm taking them to 100% right now and from here on out I think I can get 100% done when I'm at work .
I fire my genset & charger up and then go to work , come out of work 8 
hours later with at least very near full batteries and then finish them up real quick.
I can check on them at break times.
Most of the time I'll shut down after I reach 90 %.

That specific gravity tester use to be a big pita , the more I've used it it's become my 
new best tester , I have it set up were I can test very quickly. 

My procedure 
1:  Open the door on my battery box and keep it held open with a 
bungee cord thats  already mounted to the ceiling

2: remove battery cap

3: goggles & head lamp on ( no gloves )

4: turn off all loads

5 : I keep my tester assembled and hanging up right on 
my wall and it seems to be safe from breaking.
This saves me time
( I do put it in a case if I'm not going to  use it for a while)

6 : I dip , document and put everything away , I shake as much
electrolyte as i can out of the tester and back into the cell as I can and then just hang the 
tester back up on the wall , 
I'm planning on adding a velcro strap to hold the tester to the wall .

 

[SternWake]

MS,


It might take more than an hour to go from 80% to 90% on your batteries, Use the hydrometer to figure it out, and know this will change too as more partial state of charge cycles accumulate.

Also, figure ou the math of the extra gas your generator consumes to get the batteries upto the level you choose.  Don't spend 200$ in gas just to extend the life of your batteries by 50$ worth of cycles

A lot of guys just run the generator for 1 hour after amps start tapering, once absorption voltage has been reached.

High amperage in the morning, and then adequate solar to finish the job or nearly so, throughout  the day is pretty efficient.  I could not run a generator for just 3 amps of current at 14.8v trying to reach 100%