batteries and chargers

It's normal for batteries to drop a bit in voltage after removing them from the charger.

A standard lead acid will drop to around 12.8 volts or so.

If the previous chargers malfunctioned then they may have over charged the batteries and damaged them.

Hello Chris & Don,

since these are wet/flooded type batteries, I hope the charger is set to match this type.
Is the charger set to two or three stage mode?
What light comes on?
What made the other two chargers cark it so early - any response from the dealership in this regards - they didnt' just replace the unit 2 times without asking any questions?
Have you checked the electrolyte level in the batteries?

Sorry can't be of much help without additional info.
You're most welcome to contact me directly through the form on our web site which can be found in my profile.

cheers, Peter

I have a Xantrex True Charge 2 20A.
It hasn’t missed a beat in 3 years – though I don’t have it connected permanently in circuit.
If you do leave it permanently in circuit and there is no significant current drain from the battery it will go into a regular charge cycle every 3 weeks. (See your ops manual for details)
I use it as a top up device, when the solar panels don’t keep up, or the batteries have been over discharged, and for equalisation.
It’s a pretty versatile unit with Bulk, Absorption, Float and Equalisation modes and about 6 different voltage settings.

Hi Chris
Get your batteries checked ,posibibly one is faulity pulling the other one down.
When you get that sorted ,make sure your charger is set for the battery type
Peter

Hi Chris & Don

An interesting question. I have been wondering if I have been doing the right thing with my van battery charging method.
My van has 2 105AH AGM Federal batteries with a 30 amp Smart Charger.
The switches on the unit (2) enable selection of wet cell or gell (I have it set to gell) or float voltages of 13.2, 13.5, or 13.8v (I usually leave it on 13.5v)
The van doesn't get used anywhere near enough, only about twice a year for a couple of weeks so sits in a shed for the rest of the time. The volt meter in the van sits on about 12.8 volts after a full day of charging and a rest period of about a day. After that I put it back on charge when the voltage drops to 12.4 minimum. It takes about 3-4 weeks to drop that low. As far as I know the analogue meter consumes a small amount of current along with natural parasitic losses.The batteries are about 18 months old, both replaced at the same time
Question....should I just leave it on charge full time or continue as I have been doing?

Thanks for any info

ob

Check your battery charger - it should have an AGM setting. If not, gel is the safe setting for AGM batteries.

As mentioned above, if one of your batteries is shot, it will be slowly killing the other. So if you're going to replace the batteries, you need to do both at the same time. May pay to get your batteries checked first...

If you are in the market for batteries, Fullriver do great AGM batteries and their pricing is reasonable as well.

Regards

MH

Thanks everyone for all the great advice, we had to go away for a few days (not in van) so will check everything out with batteries and charger when we get home...Thanks again