I had a call this morning from someone I (unfortunately) know, who
Russell is aware of too. Someone whose depth, or lack, of knowledge
about electrical matters is quite hard to describe. He frustrates me so.

He asked me how to adjust his solar regulator up to 32V, rather than
the 28V set by the installer. He claims that 32V "will add 10A to the
charging and won't harm these deep-cycle batteries at all". He has a
knack of alienating people, so the installer won't come back to do it
free of charge. My caller has the unit and instructions, not much I can
do from here, even if I wanted to.

It's one of these. AFAICT, they are meant to be set to ~ 28 - 29V.

http://www.chinasolarregulator.com/solar-controller-1215-2215-3215-4210-etr=
acer-mppt-dual-battery-charge-controller.html

He's probably seen the "Max battery voltage, 32V". Based on what
I've read in this thread so far, I feel he's sacrificing the batteries for
some apparent short-term gain and isn't going to get the wanted 10
years out of these batteries. Am I wrong ?

Then he claims that he rejuvenates his batteries by adding bicarbonate
solution. Desulphates them, he reckons - "you can see it fizzing off".
Chemistry 101 says what happens when you mix an acid and a base.
In this case the fizzing is a lot of CO2. Apart from the addition of a
few sodium ions, I just can't see how neutralising the sulphuric acid
improves a battery.

Joe=20

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