[C320-list] Battery Charging

[crashley at gte.net]

Doug,

That seems to be the general consensus. Up to now I have always left the 
charger on but I had a cell go bad (shorted) in one of my two 4D flooded 
batteries a couple of months ago. They were only 5+ years old, but the boat 
was used and I'm not sure how deeply or frequently the previous owner may 
have disharged them. I replaced them with two 4D AGMs and certainly don't 
want to abuse them.

Thanks,
CRA
Rosebud #882


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Stieber" <djstieber at gmail.com>
To: <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Battery Charging


> Batteries last best if kept at full charge.  If your battery charger is
> operating properly, it will cut out when the batteries are fully charged 
> and
> only cut back in when they need to be charged.  My advice is to keep the
> charger plugged in all the time.  By the way I replace my batteries after 
> 7
> years even though they still had life in them.
>
> Doug Stieber, Second Chance #406
>
> On Feb 11, 2008 5:06 AM, <crashley at gte.net> wrote:
>
>> I've heard that one should not keep boat batteries on charge for extended
>> periods. That is, when docked in my slip (which is most of the time), 
>> should
>> I leave the charger on continuously or leave it off and only charge once 
>> a
>> month (or so)? The charger is a 3 step type which ends up in "float" mode 
>> at
>> about 13.5 volts. Also, the charge is a Pro Mariner 1230 which seems to
>> have a bad reputation. Any advice?
>>
>> Rosebud
>> #882
>>
>