ahhhh battery maint.
its really important that your batteries get to absorb once a week. the bubbling will help keep the sulfating in control. if your battery bank is too big for your array to get to absorb then i recommend using the generator in the early morning on a sunny day and artifically boost your batteries so you can get to absorb. also, for battery longevity the 50% mark is fairly conservative. remember thats manufacture spec. but they still want to sell more batteries in eight years. i try not to let mine go below 70%.
since you cant EQ with the inverter/loads. is your charge controler adjustable. if so you can just increase parameters of bulk and absorb to the eq level. BUT Only for 2 -4 hours. then decrease to default. EQ is basically a controled overcharge.
As for gadgets. i have had noticable results by using the infinituim battery desulfator. i took specific gravity of all cells of all batteries befor hooking them up. on average my cells where at 1.20 or less. after 3 weeks i was average 1.25. i checked every morning. best in the morning, its more accurate because theres no top charge from the day. my power usage is very consistant. after a about 5 days i noticed that my specific gravity was starting to randomly improv and in the morning by battery level was just a touch higher. 24v system, in the mornig before desulfator’s my bank would be about 24.4 and 5 days in i was 24.7/8. after 2 weeks 25.0. after 3 weeks 25.2 :)
another thing you can do is track down a load tester. disconnect all batteries from one another and load test each battery on its own. or disconnect all bateries and use a multi meter. if you have one battery in poor shape it will draw your other batteries down. like when your head lamp goes dim and you change one of 3 batteries. for a moment headlamp is strong then goes dim again. 2 poor batteries draw the one go one down.
another idea for eq/ desulfating is they now make battery chargers with eq and desulfate options you could plug this in to the generator and just clamp on.
hope this helps
gordo
