Anyone know how to change alternator output for AGM battery

Seen these DC to DC chargers as well, and as long as the batteries are in parallel they should charge well, and depending on the depth of discharge, and how far you drive to put voltage in them will determine their longevity, hooking into a smart charger that can sense the battery chemistry used, and charge accordingly unless you set it manually are a good way to keep them performing well.. I just like the RedARc ones for the size, and their ability to go up from 25-30-40 amp rated charge, do wish they were a little cheaper though.. but the "you get what you pay for" mantra comes up....

 

I use a cheap RC charger for my LiFe battery. An IMAX B6 clone is about $25. Max charge rate is 5a, but still works fine on my 100ah battery.

 

I have a hobbyking 4port charger think it'll handle 10A each.. charge rate on anything up to a 6s with balance board.. although I only have some 2200maH packs for my Heli...

 

Are you sure you are only seeing 13.5V on your truck? I had to run out a few minutes ago and decided to throw the meter on and it was sitting around 14V on my truck.

 

Been running dual AGM batts for almost 4 years in 3rd gen, no problems.

 

Same here at least 2 years with dual AGM batteries on my 3rd gen as well. No issues.

 

First I heard of a need for a special alternator for AGM batteries. Our Jeep Grand Cherokee came with a AGM battery. The battery is located under the passenger front seat. I also put a AGM in a 2009 Dodge Ram. I had no problems with the battery for over 2 years. Traded the Ram so don't know how much longer it would last.

 

Great question. My info is coming from my OBD adapter which is sensing the voltage at the port. I will get shot of both the OBD and a DMM.

That is still a bit low for keeping AGMs happy long term though.

 

Yeah, kinda curious to see what yours is showing too. I got 11 years out of my last Odyssey with similar alternator output so am ok with that being considered a shortened lifespan.

 

Wow. No complaints there.

 

from the people i've talked to, the "shorter life" is largely overblown. Yes it may be shorter, but you are talking like 5.75 years instead of 6 or 9.5 instead of 10. It's not like half in which case would be a much bigger deal.

I toss mine on a charger like once every month or two (when I think of it), mostly just when my truck is going to be sitting for a week or more.

 

Putting an AGM battery in the engine compartment of a car that wasn't designed for one is a waste of money and achieves nothing.

First, AGM battery performance is degraded by heat. At engine bay temps, yourAGM battery is no better than a SLA. Second, AGM performance is degraded by not charging them with right voltages and cycles (charge and float). Fun fact.... charge voltage of AGM batteries actually decreases with temp increase. Even at engine bay temps auto alternators still don't put out enough to charge them all the way. Then the float voltage of auto alternator is conversely probably too high at high temps. But your alternator can't switch between charge and float anyway so.....

To each their own, but nobody is really getting any benefit by swapping an expensive AGM for a SLA in a tacoma.

 

This is what Torque said this morning:

Start up:


About half way to work:


End of the trip:


The range carats show that like what I said, the charge voltage is rock steady on my Taco. Typical on the ECU commanded side, it showed 13.9v and the Adapter measured side was usually 13.6v. About 0.3v drop isn't bad. On my bike before installing a large gauge harness with the new light, there was a 1v drop measured. I wouldn't be surprised if the malaise era GMs varied by more than 2v, remembering seeing the lights dim and flicker at idle.

I have my DMM with me and will verify the battery voltage. Was yours at idle or a bit higher RPM?

I suppose my 13.5v assumption that I posted about was that the battery was seeing the same 0.3v drop. It is pretty cool that the battery does see commanded voltage at any rate.

 

ITT: people that think everyone running AGM has a stock Tacoma.

I bought a NOCO Genius 7200 and top it off once a month or so.

I think best bet for getting higher charging output would be for OVTune to come up with something or add solar if you really need it. I don’t think it’s going to be as easy of a solution as it is for 1st and 2nd gens.

 

That is interesting, thanks for the pics! When i checked mine yesterday with the meter it was done at idle, after about a 30 mile drive i checked again and it was still about the same at idle.

 

You're welcome.

I will do the same. That makes it a lot easier, but I do have a wood block in the back. Hahaha!

 

The reason i switched to an AGM was because my vehicle had a bad case of corrosion on the cables, no matter what I tried it would always came back and it actually destroyed the cables.

Switched to the Odyssey Battery along with another new set of battery cables. It was exposed to temperatures above 100 and below zero, hate to sound like a broken record but it lasted 11 years without doing anything special. Was well worth the extra few bucks initially spent as it lasted a very long time, had zero corrosion, and had excellent cranking power.

 

I changed mine out with AGM so I wouldn't have to worry about the acid water spilling out all the time and corroding everything.

 

I switched to agm for off-road purposes. I have had batteries spill while off-road. suspension, brakes, tires, battery, armor all my top 5 upgrades for any of my trucks.

also I had my agm interstate die on me just 5 days ago. It was about a year old. I believe that it may have had a bad cell or was sulfates from not charging properly. I did put it on the charger to bring it back but it wasn’t holding a charge. On startup my multimeter said I was at 14.0 volts, and that would drop down 13.6 after warm. I will be monitoring this battery monthly and putting on my noco charger after checking voltage.

 

Corroding cables and battery acid "spilling out all the time"???

30 years driving cars bikes trucks boats atvs with SLA batteries. Never had these issues.