user9253
Joined: 28 Mar 2008
Posts: 1935
Location: Riley TWP Michigan
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 Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 12:44 pm Post subject: Should battery be charged with a higher voltage? |
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An RV-12 owner recently asked a question on VansAirforce about the charging voltage for the Odyssey PC680 battery. It seems that all of the voltage regulators that come with the Rotax 912 are factory set at 13.6 - 13.8 volts. The regulators are sealed; thus no adjustment is possible. This RV-12 owner wanted to know if the battery should be charged with a higher voltage. So I did some testing.
I charged up my PC680, and then disconnected the battery charger on Tuesday. On Wednesday I measured the battery voltage with no load. My cheap meter read 13.01 volts and my Fluke read 13.09 volts. Then I went flying, did some touch & goes and gave a couple of rides. A total of 1.75 hours accumulated on the Hobbs and the engine was started a total of 6 times during the day. The starter uses very little power because the engine starts with only one revolution of the prop. The longest flight was about 30 minutes. At cruise, the Dynon D-180 indicated the normal 13.6 volts (which is 0.2 less than what my handheld voltmeter reads.)
The next day, Thursday, I measured the no-load PC680 voltage: my cheap meter read 12.98 and the Fluke read 13.06 volts. The Odyssey Owner's Manual http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-OM-010_0412.pdf
says that the battery is 100 percent fully charged when the open circuit voltage is 12.84 or higher. Since my battery voltage is above 12.84, I have come to the conclusion that the Rotax voltage regulator setting of 13.6 - 13.8 is adequate for normal operations. If the battery is ever discharged for some reason, I intend to fully charge it before flying.
Have I come to the correct conclusion about the regulator setting?
Joe
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Joe Gores |
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