Thread: Traxide vs. Redarc

I have a Cetek chargeri I think it has a recondition setting I’ll use that for a week

Originally Posted by landoman

Thanks Tim
Appreciate your thoughts

I had noticed my batteries dropping voltage over a very short time so have been doing some monitoring to try to understand why

big ole snip, you know what you wrote....

your traxide is working correctly.

your starter battery is beginning to die

when the traxide is hooked up both batteries are connected and due to white man magic the aux battery is shouldering the lions share of the parasitic draw of the vehicle. (this works both ways when both batteries are good with a traxide and is the primary advantage of a traxide)

when you goto start the traxide should be dropping out, the starter battery then gives what its got to start the vehicle (which it still has thanks to the traxide letting the aux battery do its thing and support the starting battery) and then the alternator takes over and starts charging everything.

If it helps...

think of your batteries as buckets on a table, think of the traxide as a thin pipe connecting them. Over time as the battery ages it becomes a thinner version of the bucket, same height just skinnier. Starter batteries usually have a harder life than aux batteries so they get smaller faster.

as you draw power out of the cranking battery if the traxide is allowing them to be connected because the disconnect voltage hasn't been reached yet power flows from one battery to the next.

in the bucket scenario if (in your case) you have a 1l bucket connected to a 10l bucket and you take half a litre out of the 1l bucket you've used 50% of its capacity the same half litre out of the 10l bucket its only 5%. Due to the syphon effect of the small pipe both batteries will re-equalise over time. if you take the water out of the 1l bucket slowly enough you'll not notice the difference in level between the 2. This is part one of the magic of the traxide over a DC/DC or simple charge level vsr. Power goes in both directions.

If both buckets are the same size and you draw the water slowly enough then you get to draw down on both at the same time and they will empty at the same rate. This is part two of the magic of the traxide and takes advantage of a little thing called Peukerts law (its complicated battery stuff) which grossly simplified provides to the effect of.

IF you draw half the current you get more than double the time out of the battery if you double the current you get less than half the time, and the higher the SOC of a battery (to a point) the faster a given charging current will bring the battery back to a high state of charge (lets call it 95% because that last 5% is a challenge to get in). for example

Your battery is rated to do 10 amps for 10 hours and its called a 100aH battery (this is fictional numbers to demonstrate only) because Ah is simply amps times hours;

• If you draw at 1 amp you get about 120hrs of use (thas 120ah)
• if you draw at 5 amps you get about 21 hours(105ah)
• if you draw at 20 amps you get 4 hours (80ah)
• if you draw at 100 amps you get .5 hours (50ah)

Now... There is a disadvantage to a traxide over some other dual battery systems that dont use the same control logic as a traxide.

IF (and this is a fairly specific list of conditions) you have

1. a dying starting battery that will hold just enough energy to start the car
2. a moderate load on the aux battery that does not automatically cut out before the traxide disconnects
3. no excessive parasitic draw on the starting battery
4. some parasitic draw on the starting battery
5. a dying or nearly dead aux battery

The traxide will allow both batterys to discharge in sync until the cut out voltage is reached. The moderate parasitic draw on the cranking battery will flatten it until it can no longer start the engine BUT it will still power up the ignition related electrics (for a while).
in this situation if you had a lesser battery management system you could start the car because as soon as the ignition went off or the charging voltage dropped down the aux battery will be disconnected and left to fend for itself without taking any power from the crank battery.

This is the observered "flaw" that let "chain store" and dealer ¿auto electrical fitters? claim that their systems are better than traxides because their keep the starting battery voltage higher. (if you want to see them stumble and shy away real fast ask them for the specific voltages and SOC of a their system configuration after 10hrs of use and the total energy availability in the systems as a whole on comparison given identical loads and battery conditions on a traxide)

However with a traxide when you get into the situation you're in where you have more parasitic load than the starting battery can handle, but no so much load on the aux battery as to cause the total power draw to drag the system down to the point the traxide disconnects... you can still start the car.

Regarding rejuvenating the starter battery when one has a Traxide DBS:
Will it work if I connect the smart charger via the rear Anderson plug, or do I connect directly to the starter battery? And do I need to disable the SC80

Hi Ron and yes, if it is the OLDER SC80 ( pre 2017 ) it will work via the Anderson plug, if fitted. As long as the SC80 is still on.

Note, a regulated solar panel will also work via the rear Anderson plug.

This makes it easy to keep your vehicle locked but still be able to charge batteries.

With the NEW SC80 and all DT90 isolators, It is also a way to get a charge into a cranking battery that may be so flat that you can not unlock your vehicle. You first get a charge into the auxiliary battery and once it is around 80% charged, the SC80 or DT90 turns on and allows the flat cranking battery to be charged.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Ron and yes, if it is the OLDER SC80 ( pre 2017 ) it will work via the Anderson plug, if fitted. As long as the SC80 is still on.

Note, a regulated solar panel will also work via the rear Anderson plug.

This makes it easy to keep your vehicle locked but still be able to charge batteries.

With the NEW SC80 and all DT90 isolators, It is also a way to get a charge into a cranking battery that may be so flat that you can not unlock your vehicle. You first get a charge into the auxiliary battery and once it is around 80% charged, the SC80 or DT90 turns on and allows the flat cranking battery to be charged.

Thanks Tim.
That's what I've been doing over the last nearly 7 years.
Have a feeling the cranking battery is not 100% (not 3 years old yet, and checked out the Delkor warranty - 36 months).
Will do the nightly charge for a week or so as suggested.
And thenget the battery tested.

Just adding the comment that if your starter battery is sulphated it will need at least a week of treatment on a muliti-stage charger to cause a noticeable difference and longer is better.
An option is to connect a solar panel as the battery gets charged during the day and rests at night.
If the panel is permanently connected, maybe on a roof rack, sulphation is greatly reduced and the battery lasts longer.
This has worked for me.

Originally Posted by landoman

I have a Cetek chargeri I think it has a recondition setting I’ll use that for a week

Not sure what type of battery you have but I asked Ctek directly if using the Recond feature was any use with AGM's.....

Question:- "Am I correct in thinking that the reconditioning function of the MXS5 should not be used with these AGM batteries?"

Their response.....

"Dear Sir Right, Recond is only for WET, Ca / Ca and MF batteries."


Attached is a post from another forum regarding this question. Hence, my email to CTEK asking for clarification.

What do the experts think about using the recondition function on a Ctek? I don't use it myself, prefering to use Tims strategy as linked in this thread.

Hi Mog60 and thanks for the post.

To my understanding, AGMs do suffer from sulfration but it takes longer to buildup.

You MUST NOT use any device that raises the voltage above the safe tolerance level of a given AGM.

I state a given AGM, because most AGMs have a safe maximum voltage tolerance of 14.7v but some AGMs, like Optima Yellowtop can go to 15.0v

You need to check the manufacturer's specs for your specific battery to be safe.

Or just use the standard 3 stage charging in AGM mode, that most modern battery chargers have, and carryout the rejuvenation process I described.

While time consuming, this is safe to use with any form of lead acid battery.

DO NOT use this process with Lithium batteries.