My solar charge controller allows me to set a cut-off voltage, so that the battery charging is stopped when the battery reaches that voltage. The value I set will probably also be the maximum voltage at which the batteries are charged by the controller.
My battery says:
My question is… is it safe to set the cut-off to 14.40V in the charge controller? I am worried because, once the battery is full, the charger will continue to apply 14.40V which is greater than the popular floating charge voltage recommendation of 13.6V.
My usage of the battery is cyclic. It gets almost entirely discharged in the night, and is fully charged by 1PM the following day.
Best Answer
This is the tradeoff using a cheap charger with no float mode. Capacity vs battery life.
Your options are ;
If your charge periods are short term, use 14.4 if it charges up always more than you can store, use 14.1
If there is no load during charge and only used at night, use 14.1, otherwise higher.