This three-part series addresses powering freezers and refrigerators off batteries using a power inverter. The first part gave an overview of the topic; the second part dealt with inverter sizing and gave you a number of design guidelines for the required inverter power output. In this third part article, I give you a more detailed […]
In the previous part, we took a quick tour of the topic of freezers and refrigerators on battery power. I also gave some rough indications of the kilowatt-range inverter power that these refrigeration appliances take to operate properly, despite their modest running powers. This article takes a closer look at inverter sizing for freezers and […]
Whether on a boat, RV or at a solar-powered off-grid cabin, you often need to run freezers and fridges on battery power. This is possible using a power inverter that converts the 12…24V DC power into 115V AC (or 230VAC). But how to actually do this? Which freezers and fridges can you power from batteries? […]
In an earlier post, we talked about how AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) batteries should be charged with smart battery charger – preferably even one with a dedicated mode for AGM batteries. I also mentioned that a using a regular flooded lead-acid charger for AGM batteries is not a good idea – not at least in […]
In an earlier article, we discussed how well different types of line-input chargers are suited for charging AGM batteries. The conclusion was that what is needed is a smart charger – preferably one with a dedicated AGM mode. But what happens if you put an AGM battery into your car? There the battery is not […]
When using or charging an AGM battery, you often need to know how full the battery is – or in technical terms, its State of Charge (SoC). This page gives you charts to estimate SoC from a multimeter voltage reading. (See end of article for terminology.) AGM SoC vs. No-Load Voltage The simplest way to […]
In the previous posts, we went through AGM battery charging fundamentals: charging stages, voltages, and rates, currents and times. In this article, we are going to focus on chargers: what kind of chargers you should use for AGM batteries, and what are the specs to look for. In a nutshell, AGM batteries are best charged […]
In the last part, we went through AGM battery charging voltages. In this article, we will look at the connected topics of AGM charging rates, currents and times – all different aspects of the question “How fast can you charge an AGM battery?“ In a nutshell, charging rate in C-units means how much of the […]
AGM batteries have different optimal charging voltages than standard flooded lead-acid batteries. The voltage ranges for AGM’s were roughly indicated in the previous part on AGM charging stages, but we will now examine them more closely. We will also see how the charging voltages should be adjusted with temperature. In a nutshell, there are two […]
Absorbent Glass Mat batteries, or AGM for short, are a type of a sealed lead battery popular in mobile equipment. These batteries are spill-proof and have a number of other advantages, such as high charge and discharge current, good low-temperature performance and moderate price. But you should also know that AGM batteries are trickier to […]
