Owner`s manual

•6•
NOTE:NotallswitchesandLED’sareavailableonallmodels.
Ammeter
TheAmmeterindicatestheamountofcurrent,measuredinamps,thatisbeingdrawn
bythebattery.Asabatterytakesonacharge,itdrawslesscurrentfromthecharger.
Correspondingly,themeterwillshowlesscurrentbeingdrawnbythebattery.Whenthe
currentstopsdecreasing,thebatteryischarged.Thestartareaofthemeterindicatesa
highrateofcurrentbeingdrawnfromthecharger.Whencrankinganengine,themeter
needlewillbeattheextremerightsideofthestartarea.The2ampchargeratemay
indicatesomeactivityonthemeter,althoughthemeterdoesnothavetheresolution
todisplaythislowrate.Forthe2ampchargerate,atrianglehasbeenprovided.Its
accuracyhasbeencalibratedforusewithsmallbatteries.
Percent of Charge• 
Thepercentofchargescaleisintendedasavisualaidtohelpsimplifyreadingthe
stateofcharge.Itisscaledforusewiththe6,10,12,15or30ampchargerateonly.
Forthe2ampchargerate,usethetriangle.Thepercentofchargeisbasedonthe
currentdrawnbythebattery.Forthisreason,accuracywillvarywiththesizeand
batterytype.Typicallya28amperehourgelcellbatterywilldrawlesscurrentatthe
endofthechargecyclethana140amperehourwetcellbattery.Thismeansthatthe
indicationforafullychargedlargebatterymaybeslightlylessthan100%.
Battery Type Switch
Usethisswitchtosetthetypeofbatterytobecharged.
SLI• –TheseinitialsstandforStarting,LightingandIgnition,whicharethethreebasic
functionswhichabatteryhastoperformonallnormalvehicles.Thisbatterytypeis
usuallyusedincars,trucksandmotorcycles.Thesebatterieshaveventcapsand
areoftenmarked“LowMaintenance”or“Maintenance-free”.Thistypeofbattery
isdesignedtodeliverquickburstsofenergy(suchasstartingengines)andhave
agreaterplatecount.Theplateswillalsobethinnerandhavesomewhatdifferent
materialcomposition.MostMaintenanceFreeBatteriesareSLI,otherwiseknown
asFlooded,RegularorStandardBatteries.Regularbatteriesshouldnotbeusedfor
deepcycleapplications.
Deep-Cycle• –Deep-cyclebatteriesareusuallymarkedas“Deep-Cycle”or“Marine”.
Deep-cyclebatteriesareusuallylargerthantheothertypes.Thistypeofbatteryhas
lessinstantenergybutsomewhatgreaterlong-termenergydeliverythanregular
batteries.Deepcyclebatterieshavethickerplatesandcansurviveanumberof
dischargecycles.
AGM• –TheAbsorbedGlassMatconstructionallowstheelectrolytetobesuspended
incloseproximitywiththeplate’sactivematerial.Intheory,thisenhancesboththe
dischargeandrechargeefciency.Actually,theAGMbatteriesareavariantofSealed
VRLA(valveregulatedleadacid)batteries.Popularusesincludehighperformance
enginestarting,powersports,deepcycle,solarandstoragebattery.AGMbatteries
aretypicallygooddeepcyclebatteries,andtheydeliverbestlifeperformance
ifrechargedbeforethebatterydropsbelowa50percentcharge.IftheseAGM
batteriesarecompletelydischarged,thecyclelifewillbearound300cycles.Thisis
trueofmostAGMbatteriesratedasdeepcyclebatteries.
GEL• –TheGelCellissimilartotheAGMstylebecausetheelectrolyteissuspended,
butdifferentbecausetechnicallytheAGMbatteryisstillconsideredtobeawetcell.
TheelectrolyteinaGELcellhasasilicaadditivethatcausesittosetuporstiffen.
Therechargevoltagesonthistypeofcellarelowerthantheotherstylesofleadacid
battery.Thisisprobablythemostsensitivecellintermsofadversereactionstoover-
voltagecharging.GelBatteriesarebestusedinVERYDEEPcycleapplicationand
maylastabitlongerinhotweatherapplications.Iftheincorrectbatterychargeris
usedonaGelCellbattery,poorperformanceandprematurefailureiscertain.
Whenantimonyisknowntobeoneofthematerialsusedinthebattery’sconstruction,
thatbatteryisconventional/lowmaintenancetype.
Somelowmaintenancebatterieshavearelativelysmoothtopwithout