Friday, Oct 10, 2008 at 08:01
Not as simple as one thinks as recently I had an abalone boat with two identical battery banks one a cranking bank and one a house bank with separate chargers both identical .
The cranking bank had problems after 6 years the house bank was still working perfectly.
The float was 3.8V per cell on both banks and within the top end of the manufacturers specifiifed float.
The results were the house bank was continuously under load and although getting to float rarely stayed on float.
The crankers were continuously on float and should have been set at the bottom end of the specified float.
The problem is now overcome by rotating the banks bi monthly between cranking and house duties.
So refering to manufacturers guidelines is a must for long term floating and using an adjustable charger is a bonus.
Some AGM and Gels are voltage sensitive and over time 13.8 float can shorten the batteries life.
Ian
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