tmiller1116
Veteran Member
OK, I figure I am either going to come out sounding dumb because someone has covered it before, or start a long discussion with lots of technical points.. or both... BUT.. here goes...
We live aboard in the marina and are on shore power most of the time (we work on land). Our shore side 12v load is rather light... LED lights, electric heads, water pump, diesel heater fan, shower sump pump, etc. 6 Golf cart style batteries for the house.
So, is it "better" to leave the charger going all the time or should I shut it off and let the batteries do some "work" then charge them back up? Like every other day or so? I know the charger is *supposed* to maintain a proper charge, it claims to be a 4 stage charger.... but I check water levels the first of every month and about every 2-3 months I have to add to them..4-8 ounces per cell on average.. of course it does not help that the PO let the batteries go almost dry before selling the boat to me. Hygrometer (sp?) shows them to be in the *ok* range, but probably will need replacing within a year or so.
Separate charger for the starter battery.. wondering about doing the same for it.. previous battery died and that seems to be an old fashioned single stage charger. I am guessing it over charged in combination with PO letting it run dry too.
Just hoping to make my batteries last a while before having to dump all that money on new ones.
We live aboard in the marina and are on shore power most of the time (we work on land). Our shore side 12v load is rather light... LED lights, electric heads, water pump, diesel heater fan, shower sump pump, etc. 6 Golf cart style batteries for the house.
So, is it "better" to leave the charger going all the time or should I shut it off and let the batteries do some "work" then charge them back up? Like every other day or so? I know the charger is *supposed* to maintain a proper charge, it claims to be a 4 stage charger.... but I check water levels the first of every month and about every 2-3 months I have to add to them..4-8 ounces per cell on average.. of course it does not help that the PO let the batteries go almost dry before selling the boat to me. Hygrometer (sp?) shows them to be in the *ok* range, but probably will need replacing within a year or so.
Separate charger for the starter battery.. wondering about doing the same for it.. previous battery died and that seems to be an old fashioned single stage charger. I am guessing it over charged in combination with PO letting it run dry too.
Just hoping to make my batteries last a while before having to dump all that money on new ones.