EQ5 goto recommended voltage

[msacco]

Hello, I have a 75AH deep cycle battery, but it seems like because slewing changes the voltage rate the mount simply stops at times, so I bought a step-up transformer and while setting it to constant voltage of 12.5V it works, but I want to know what would be the most recommended voltage to use. I tried looking for the manual, but couldn't really find it, anyone knows what that voltage would be? Thanks.

[Merlin66]

I’ve been using the HEQ5 for the past ten years with a car voltage converter 120W 12v to 15 v . No issues, no dramas.

 

[Waldemar]

Since these mounts are made for use with a fully charged battery, which is ±13,8 Volts, I would go for 13,5 to be on the safe side.
If the voltage drops whilke slewing, to the point the mount stops, three things have to be checked:
#1 the battery charge (full or not) 
#2 the cable capacity (too thin?)
#3 Do the motors have to work too hard because of imbalance or too tight worm adjustment?

[msacco]

4 hours ago, Waldemar said:

Since these mounts are made for use with a fully charged battery, which is ±13,8 Volts, I would go for 13,5 to be on the safe side.
If the voltage drops whilke slewing, to the point the mount stops, three things have to be checked:
#1 the battery charge (full or not) 
#2 the cable capacity (too thin?)
#3 Do the motors have to work too hard because of imbalance or too tight worm adjustment?

When my battery is fully charged it is at around 12.7V, but it drops rather fast when slewing at full speed, and therefore stops after a while.

I don't think its a problem with the cable, I mean maybe it is a little thin, but when I tested it with a driven car it worked just fine, so I think its not really the problem.

And I really have no idea what tigh worm adjustment is, or how to test that, how can it affect the voltage?

Thanks.

[Carbon Brush]

Meaure the battery terminal voltage while slewing.

On a half decent 12V battery you should not see more than 0.1V drop.
If there is more drop, the battery is suspect.

A 12V 75Ah battery should be able to easily provide enough current to pop fuses or set the mount motors on fire if there is a stiff drive.
Certain drives do include over current detection to shut down on overload.

A 'droopy' battery suggests it is time it was replaced.

If in doubt give the battery a full charge, then run it into a known heavy load and see how long it lasts.

For example a car headlamp bulb (55W usually) takes around 5.5 amps.

A 75Ah battery should keep it running bright for 75/5.5 hours - more than 12 hours.

If it can't manage 6 hours, that is 50% of indicated capacity, bin it.

Hope this helps, David.

[msacco]

2 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

Meaure the battery terminal voltage while slewing.

On a half decent 12V battery you should not see more than 0.1V drop.
If there is more drop, the battery is suspect.

A 12V 75Ah battery should be able to easily provide enough current to pop fuses or set the mount motors on fire if there is a stiff drive.
Certain drives do include over current detection to shut down on overload.

A 'droopy' battery suggests it is time it was replaced.

If in doubt give the battery a full charge, then run it into a known heavy load and see how long it lasts.

For example a car headlamp bulb (55W usually) takes around 5.5 amps.

A 75Ah battery should keep it running bright for 75/5.5 hours - more than 12 hours.

If it can't manage 6 hours, that is 50% of indicated capacity, bin it.

Hope this helps, David.

The battery is brand new, so I don't really think the battery is the problem, when slewing 2 motors on full speed the voltage drops around 0.1V, but overall it does seem to be dropping rather fast.

[Waldemar]

1 hour ago, msacco said:

When my battery is fully charged it is at around 12.7V, but it drops rather fast when slewing at full speed, and therefore stops after a while.

I don't think its a problem with the cable, I mean maybe it is a little thin, but when I tested it with a driven car it worked just fine, so I think its not really the problem.

And I really have no idea what tigh worm adjustment is, or how to test that, how can it affect the voltage?

Thanks.

12,7 volts is at the low side for a fully charged battery... bad battery or not so good charger. Whether it is brandnew is not always a guarantee it is ok.
if the worm is tightly adjusted, so there will be no play, it may cause the motors to have to work too hard and stop. It will cause more sound as well as overheated motors. easy to check by hand if they get hot. 

[Carbon Brush]

Hi. The battery may be new to you. But how long ago was it manufactured?

There should be bundle of numbers somewhere on the battery to inidcate model number and manufacture date.
Could you have bought a new (but old) battery?

As soon as a battery is assembled, it starts to degrade. This is a temperature dependent effect.
In equipment mnufacture, many people specify battery date codes less than 12 months old.

Next is storage before you got it.
A battery that is discharged then stored without recharge can die in days.

The battery capacity check I described will tell you the state of the battery.
Apart from my typo about headlamp current. It should about 4.5 amps, giving a theoretical 75/4.5 or 16 hours.

4.5 amps is much more adruous load than a balanced EQ5 should impose.

If you are still confident of the battery, then fit an ammeter into the line.
That will tell you if the drive is stiff.

Hope this helps, David.

[msacco]

10 minutes ago, Waldemar said:

12,7 volts is at the low side for a fully charged battery... bad battery or not so good charger. Whether it is brandnew is not always a guarantee it is ok.
if the worm is tightly adjusted, so there will be no play, it may cause the motors to have to work too hard and stop. It will cause more sound as well as overheated motors. easy to check by hand if they get hot. 

Well not quite sure about that, I am using a car battery charger atm with charging speeds of 5.5A and 2A, but I should receive a new lead acid charger I bought recently, so that will tell if the problem comes from charging. I don't think the motors are getting any hot though.

6 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

Hi. The battery may be new to you. But how long ago was it manufactured?

There should be bundle of numbers somewhere on the battery to inidcate model number and manufacture date.
Could you have bought a new (but old) battery?

As soon as a battery is assembled, it starts to degrade. This is a temperature dependent effect.
In equipment mnufacture, many people specify battery date codes less than 12 months old.

Next is storage before you got it.
A battery that is discharged then stored without recharge can die in days.

The battery capacity check I described will tell you the state of the battery.
Apart from my typo about headlamp current. It should about 4.5 amps, giving a theoretical 75/4.5 or 16 hours.

4.5 amps is much more adruous load than a balanced EQ5 should impose.

If you are still confident of the battery, then fit an ammeter into the line.
That will tell you if the drive is stiff.

Hope this helps, David.

That is correct, but I couldn't really find anything that might be close to manufacturer date, there is this maybe if it says anything to you:

I will test the battery once I'll get my new charger, but atm it does seem to drain fairly fast, on the other hand, when charging it also charges fairly fast(even at 2AH), so maybe its really a problem with the charging.

[Carbon Brush]

How are you charging?

I think this may be an AGM (advanced glass mat) battery. In which case incorrect charging will not give a full charge and may wreck the battery.

Standard battery chargers cannot be used.

I tried looking at the manufacturers web site, but there is no translation. The USA site does not have a decent part number search.

From the information I could find, this appears to be an AGM car battery. The CCA 660 in the numbering indicating cold cranking amps. About the right value for a 75Ah battery.

I know from experience that AGM batteries are susceptible to damage if left discharged, and need the correct charge regime.
I have one in a Mazda MX5 car and leave a 13.3V supply permanently connected when the car is stored in winter.
Previous batteries have failed when I have relied on remembering to charge, or relied on jump leads and the alternator to recover.
 

If in doubt, the best method of ensuring full charge is to apply 1.3.2V to 13.8V to the battery from a current limted, regulated power supply.

When the charge current drops to around 1% of the Ah capacity, or about 750mA and the voltage is 13.2V upwards, you are at full charge.

David.

[msacco]

10 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

How are you charging?

I think this may be an AGM (advanced glass mat) battery. In which case incorrect charging will not give a full charge and may wreck the battery.

Standard battery chargers cannot be used.

I tried looking at the manufacturers web site, but there is no translation. The USA site does not have a decent part number search.

From the information I could find, this appears to be an AGM car battery. The CCA 660 in the numbering indicating cold cranking amps. About the right value for a 75Ah battery.

I know from experience that AGM batteries are susceptible to damage if left discharged, and need the correct charge regime.
I have one in a Mazda MX5 car and leave a 13.3V supply permanently connected when the car is stored in winter.
Previous batteries have failed when I have relied on remembering to charge, or relied on jump leads and the alternator to recover.
 

If in doubt, the best method of ensuring full charge is to apply 1.3.2V to 13.8V to the battery from a current limted, regulated power supply.

When the charge current drops to around 1% of the Ah capacity, or about 750mA and the voltage is 13.2V upwards, you are at full charge.

David.

Correct, that is an AGM battery, the reason Im not doing much experiments on the battery atm is because I'm waiting for the deep cycle charger I ordered. When using the car battery charger the voltage seems to go up very fast(charged at 2AH) but also go down very fast, I bought the new charger because I think that the problem might be due to the car charger maybe not good enough(even though we're using it for regular car batteries and I don't really understand where comes the difference).

Regarding the battery health, as I said, I first want to wait for the new charger

Thanks anyway!

[Carbon Brush]

Just make sure whatever charger you use is specifically marked as suited to AGM batteries.

'Deep cycle' is not the same as AGM.

A lot of chargers are not suitable for AGM and without a lot of care you can easily wreck the battery.

David.

[msacco]

25 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

Just make sure whatever charger you use is specifically marked as suited to AGM batteries.

'Deep cycle' is not the same as AGM.

A lot of chargers are not suitable for AGM and without a lot of care you can easily wreck the battery.

David.

Mind explaining the difference? I bought this charger: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10A-12V-Full-Automatic-Car-Battery-Charger-110V-to-220V-Intelligent-Fast-Power-Charging-Wet-Dry/32843602424.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.1aa74c4d2Qj4zS as it seems rather decent, Im super scared it won't work and I bought it for nothing now ? (Bought the 10A version btw).

Edit - if it won't work I think I'll get this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/FOXSUR-12V-5A-Pulse-Repair-Charger-with-LCD-Display-Motorcycle-Car-Battery-Charger-12V-AGM-GEL/32880436386.html? as it seems to have good reviews by people that tested it on AGM batteries.

[Carbon Brush]

The first charger does not state it is suitable for AGM batteries. You therefore should assume it is not suitable.

The second charger makes the claim it is AGM compatible. However, in the absence of a downloadable user manual, or a full specification, it is something of a gamble.

As for the reviews. Have you read them? Voltage and temperature indicating incorrectly - on 5* reviews.

Both chargers are remarkably low cost for the claimed performance.

Surely you can buy something locally? If it does not perform correctly, you can take it back to the shop.

David.

[msacco]

18 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

The first charger does not state it is suitable for AGM batteries. You therefore should assume it is not suitable.

The second charger makes the claim it is AGM compatible. However, in the absence of a downloadable user manual, or a full specification, it is something of a gamble.

As for the reviews. Have you read them? Voltage and temperature indicating incorrectly - on 5* reviews.

Both chargers are remarkably low cost for the claimed performance.

Surely you can buy something locally? If it does not perform correctly, you can take it back to the shop.

David.

Well I already ordered the first charger, so I guess I'll give it a shot anyway and see how it performs, the second charger have a few positive reviews stating it works for AGM batteries, I haven't seen much information about the voltage and temperature indication though.

Things are extremely expensive where I live, so for a higher price I'll probably only get something much worse than that, thats the reason I usually buy things on aliexpress.

Edit - http://www.chinasuoer.com/battery-charger/122.html this site seems to state it is suitable for AGM.