[C320-list] charging

[Robert E. Sloat]

Darrell-The owners manual for the OEM Professional Mariner charger in my
2002 320 says for lead acid batteries the voltage at the battery at fast
charge will be 14.5 volts at the highest and 13.3 volts when in the float
mode.  If voltage at the battery exceeds 14.4 volts for over 12 hours then
they recommend calling the help desk for service on the charger.  It also
says if you get rapid boiling in the batteries at under 14.2 volts, you
probably have a defective battery.

The manual also says the voltages at the charger will be slightly higher
than the voltages at the batteries to compensate for voltage drop in the
wires from the battery to the charger.  If you are monitoring voltage at the
charger, that may be the reason for slightly high voltage (less than 4% over
the spec voltage).  Also, depending which batteries you are monitoring and
which are servicing your refrigerator on a 24/7 basis, the batteries you are
measuring may not be in a float mode.

If you are still concerned, turn off all DC loads and let the batteries get
into a float mode and then use a good quality VOM to measure the voltage at
each battery.  Good luck.



Bob Sloat
Savannah Hull 894

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Darrell" <dgray at n-sea.org>
To: "C320-List" <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] charging


> I recently replaced my starter battery and house bank. I have been
> monitoring the float voltage from my charger and it is up at 13.8 and 13.9
> volts. This seems a little high to me from what I have read. Otherwise my
> stock charger from 1994 appears to work fine. I typically leave the
charger
> on while I am not at the boat often a week at a time with the fridge
> running. So I don't damage my batteries I am considering the following
> Replace the charger ($300-$400)
> or put a $10 timer in line before the charger which turns it of and on
every
> 4 hours or so
> Any advice would be appreciated,
>
> Darrell, Antares #88
>
>
> !!- _______________________________________
> !!- C320-List at catalina320.com mailing list
> !!- Archives Here: http://www.catalina320.com/list/archives
> !!- Change Subscription Here: http://www.catalina320.com/list/change
> !!- Subscribe Here: http://www.catalina320.com/list/join