People are unconscious that overcharge a deep cycle battery is not beneficial for its using cycle life. However, our bad habits always control our brains. In order to safely use the deep cycle battery, we are able to look at the article.
Deep cycle batteries are one of the most popular batteries among the RVer these days as they offer a number of different benefits which easily make them stand out from the rest of the available batteries.
One of the biggest problems of any battery is overcharging, especially with lead acid batteries where overcharging can produce extra hot gas inside its chamber and the battery become as dangerous as a time bomb.
With the help of scientific advancement, different battery manufacturer has proposed ideas related to dry batteries so that even if the battery gets overcharged it remains safe.
Most people are not fully aware of charging their special deep cycle batteries in the most efficient way and if you are also among the few who don’t know much about charging and the problems with overcharging, then this article will guide you the best.
1. Why is Overcharge a deep cycle battery Dangerous?
Let’s dive into some basic physics and chemistry stuff to understand this question better. When the battery is in charging mode, the electrons from the positive electrode travel towards the negative electrodes through a liquid electrolyte.
The electrons while traveling produce heat due to friction and because of an overall chemical reaction. The heat emanating from this reaction can increase the temperature of the electrode and can create pressure inside the battery chamber this pressure can be really dangerous as the battery could explode if the temperature kept on increasing.
Even if the battery doesn’t explode the damage due to heating can significantly reduce the life of battery cycles moreover high temperature and heat completely damage everything within the battery as it affects the cells and makes them slung and buckle this buckling deteriorates the cells and their debris starts mixing with the liquid.
As a result, the medium in which electrons and protons once used to travel swiftly and freely now has difficulty traveling, and in the end, the charging process completely becomes. In addition to this overcharging also drain the water more quickly as a result user has to put more effort into maintaining the battery.
2. Can you overcharge a deep cycle Lithium battery?
Deep cycle batteries are not like any other ordinary batteries with liquid inside. They are also called dry batteries as they don’t require any liquid for the flow of electrons from one terminal to another. BUT! Do they also get overheated when overcharged?
This answer is Yes, deep cycle batteries also get overheated but you don’t have to worry about this. Yes, you read it right lithium iron phosphate batteries do get overheated but as they are equipped with the best BMS you don’t have to worry about them getting overcharged.
This battery management system controls the flow of inward and outward current from the battery and once the current getting into the battery reaches its maximum level it automatically turns off the charging process.
On top of that, deep cycle batteries come with the latest battery chargers (also known as smart chargers) these chargers have a system to automatically turn off the charging not only this they have a small display or indicator LED to tell the user to switch off the button as it charged fully.
So, when you overcharge a deep cycle battery you may face a lot of issues. Here we will elaborate on a few of them.
3. What if your deep cycle battery is not equipped with BMS or smart charger?
If you know that your battery pack is not knitted with the latest technology BMS system then you need to be a little more careful with the charging process read the manual and follow the charging time given in it as overcharging can cause complications.
One of the first problems you might face while overcharging a deep-cycle battery is that the battery will be overheating. The heating process will not only occur while charging but also when the battery is used at its maximum capacity, altogether this emanating of heat will severely damage the performance and the life of the battery.
In addition to this problem you are highly likely to see corrosion in the grid and due to this corrosion, the batteries grids get completely damaged and eventually damaged the performance of the battery.
4. How to avoid overcharge a deep cycle battery
You can avoid this grave problem of overheating due to overcharging by maintaining its state of charging. Remember when the battery is being used it generates heat and when it is in a charging state it generates heat too so if you are doing both things at the same time heat gets added up so try to charge it when its energy is not being plugged into running some electric appliance especially electric motor or pump.
Let it cools down after using it for some time in order to avoid any grid corrosion secondly you should monitor the level of charge accumulation on the plates and lastly keep it terminal free from corrosion so that the charging points get proper clean contact point if not properly fitted it can produce some sparks or spikes as well.
For some users, getting intelligent chargers is not the right option. This is the reason why some people opt for the traditional chargers and use them at lower amperes. This has no negative effects on the life of the battery as you are not using higher amps. The only problem that you might have to face is the problem of not knowing if the battery is charged or not.
Lastly, you can buy a smart battery charger or timer switch to control the timing of charging, the timer switch will automatically switch off once the timer is finished, or you go for a smart charger, the charger should be selected according to the voltage level of the battery, these chargers have the ability to regulate its charging rate thus making sure that the battery is fully charged, 100%, without it being overcharged.
5. How to check the deep cycle battery is fully charged
When buying a new battery ask the retailer about its charging time or read the manual to get this information. With time the battery will require more time to charge but you should unplug it when the charging time mentioned in the manual is completed.
In addition to this, you can check the voltage level on the battery with the help of DMM, this will give you an idea of how long your battery takes to fully get charged up and unplug it before it exceeds the maximum level of voltage.
Conclusion
The answer to the question “can you overcharge a deep cycle battery” depends on whether the battery has BMS that automatically turn off the injection of current when the battery is fully charged or not. If you want to know more about it. You can feel free to contact Pashbull to get the latest technology deep cycle lithium iron phosphate batteries.