Lamar Technologies CA 1550 - Manual (Page 6)

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Note: Charging old batteries or batteries that have been in a very low state
of charge 4, 6, or 8 volts and/or batteries that have been dead in excess of
24 hours to 30 days or more, should be observed for a possible
temperature rise during charge. See conditioning section IV.
14. Ampere Hour Meter (16): This provides the precise ampere hours of
charge into the battery, and is an indicator of acceptance of charge. When
used with the tapered current level and time, it is also an indicator of
battery condition. If time, tapered current and ampere hours of charge do
not all approximately coincide, there is a problem with the battery, such
as sulfation, shorted cell or the end of battery life. With tapered battery
(fully charged), ampere hours should be about 110-140% of the ampere
hour rating of the battery, if the battery was initially completely
discharged. See NAVAIR 17-15-BAD-1 manual for details.
B. 12 VOLT LEAD ACID BATTERIES
Procedure is exactly the same as for 24 Volt Batteries, except set voltage to 14.7
Volts.
C. CELL BALANCING
Battery voltage is the average of the sum of the individual cells.
There are 12 cells in a 24 volt L-A battery, 6 cells in a 12 volt L-A. The internal
cells of the lead acid battery may be imbalanced after charge but it is not possible
to verify this as there is no access to individual cells.
Therefore, a balancing mode procedure for 12 or 24 volt lead acid batteries should
be performed in a Constant Current mode as follows:
a. At completion of charge at 28.5 volts (or 14.7 V), when the battery has
tapered to low amperes, the battery is charged even though the time is less than as
set.
b. Note the ampere hours. They should be more than the ampere hour rating
of the battery if the battery was completely discharged when placed on charge. If
the amp hr reading is not higher than the battery amp hr rating, leave on charge
until the end of the time setting. Note: To reset (extend) the time setting for the
same time period as set on the timer without losing the amp hr reading,
quickly toggle the on/off switch to off/reset ,then back to on, one time.( The
amp hr meter has a built-in time delay of approx. 2 seconds). Time may be
increased during operation, but not decreased.