I currently am using an MFJ 4225 power supply for my Ham shack hooked up to a West Mountain Super PWRgate PG40S with an unknown battery type from various places such as Fry’s, Radio Shack etc.  This is then routed to a RIGrunner 4005 12 volt power distribution strip.  My batteries were not lasting more than six months at a time.  They would appear to be ok for a while (taking a charge, running the radios for while)  but  after about six months the batteries would die having a voltage of around 2.4 volts !!!  I also have this configuration in my truck and it was having the same problem !!!!  I called West Mountain and they were not really much help.  Although they did give me some good tips on what I should be looking for.  First thing I had been under the impression the AGM and GEL cells were essentially the same.  Nope they have different charge requirements.  In fact AGM Batteries require that you enable a jumper in the PG40S in order that they be charged correctly.  I also read that there was a lot of problems with sulfation with lead acid batteries.  So my plan was to

1) Make sure I knew what type of batteries I was using (This is actually more difficult than it sounds as the batteries I was using were no where to be found on the Internet).   After reading about the differences between AGM and GEL batteries I decided I would only be using AGM Batteries.  They seemed to have some advantages as to longevity when not being used and to have more capacity for the same size.  So ordered a size 24 79ah battery from West Mountain and a 18ah battery from http://www.chargingchargers.com/

2) So as I was only using AGM batteries I modified all of my PG40S’s to charge AGM Batteries.  In doing this and measuring the output from my Power Supply and the output from PG40S my power supply wasn’t quite putting out enough voltage.  At maximum voltage it was only putting out 14.10 volts and then when I turned on my radios and amplifiers the voltage dropped to 13.8.  According to the specs from West Mountain and from the AGM Battery manufactures you need at least 14.4 volts.  So I also went inside my MFJ 4225 power supply and adjusted it so that it produced 15.1 volts as full power.  Now even with a full load the voltage was still 14.4 which should be enough to correctly charge my AGM Batteries.

3) I had a couple of batteries one that appeared to be bad  (2.2 volts) and one that was showing a no load voltage of 12.4 volts.  I was hoping to use the Xtreme charger to bring them back to life.  Sadly the one battery was not salvageable but the other battery was.  It had been sitting around for at least six months maybe longer with no activity (No charging, not discharging).  So I left it on the Xtreme charger for 48 hours and then hooked it back up to my shack power system.  I Ran the radios for 8 hours and then allowed the PG40S to recharge it.  Will now begin to take regular measurements and see who long this battery lasts.

I found the that Xtreme charger produces quite a bit of noise on the ham bands.  Not too surprising so I still have not decided how I am going to integrate it into the power system.  But as it is a maintenance charger I will probably install a switch between the MFJ 4225 and the Pulse tech and only use the Pulse Tech once a week over night.

I will report back more details later….