Charging while in dock

abielecki

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Hi - This year I needed to replace my "house" Interstate battery (new last year), Interstate told me I overcharged it (5 of the 6 cells were dry and he said one was dead altogether). My Charles charger (new unit last year) is always on when I am docked, is that wrong?

Andy
 
Yes I think that is not right. The charger should have a auto off function so as not to over charge your batteries. Read the manual and see if there is a auto selection.
 
Thanks for the reply, I'll look into that this week when back at the boat.
 
My 3 bank Guest charger had the house side charging circuit fail to shut off, frying a house battery.
Switched to a Genius 4 2 years ago & have had no problems.
Leave it on all the time, with engine batts switched off.
Got it at batterystuff.com.
 
Charles Charger (3-bank, 20-amp, OEM) is always powered on and I just replaced the two-battery house bank and the two starting batteries. But they were six to 6.5 years old....
 
Charger might have a switch for what type of battery you are charging too? wet, gel, etc.
 
you should be fine to leave the charge on. It will not turn on unless it is shore power plugged in anyways.

yes, not all chargers are equal. Unfortunately the better ones do cost more money.
also, "wet" lead acid batteries require maintenance and more frequent inspection. Over charging will cause the acid/water to boil and this gas will evaporate, you need to refill with distilled water. if you don't and let the fluid level get too low, the cell(s) will be destroyed and can not be fixed.

1. take a look at your charger and determine if it is will do the task and maintain the batteries properly. chargers need to be powerful enough to "wack" the sulfation off the plates, smart enough to know when to lower the amps to not "boil" the cells and float/trickle charge to maintain the battery from slow self discharge. Generally you need about 8-10 amps charging capacity per bank. If you have 2 batteries: 15-20 amp charger, 3 batts: 20-30 amp charger, etc.
2. make sure the batteries are marine grade (much heavier plates and construction than car batteries to handle the vibration and abuse)
3. consider switching the batteries to AGMs (absorbed glass mat) as they self discharge much slower, no maintenance (water to check and fill), generally last longer in marine envirnoment since there is no fluid to "slosh" back and forth in the cells and the plates are packed against each other in fibreglass, generally last longer than wet cells because no maintenance is required--albeit generally more expensive than wet cells, but hey if they last longer that should even out the score.

my grady came with a Charles charger and it still working very well. had a few questions and their service was very good too.