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Battery Maintenance

GMaurer

Member II
My 1988 E28 has two relatively new dual purpose batteries.
I've been reading about on-board chargers, such as the Guest 2614. Their literature implies longer battery life with full time 110V charging.
Any thoughts?
 

Brent Wright

Please Contact Admin.
GMaurer:
From the many classic autos that I have restored and have two currently, the one thing that I can attest, is that a battery conditioner will really add to the life of your batteries. I have currently two 8 year old batteries that work like a champ and are only rated for 72 months. I attest the extended life to the battery conditioners that have been on them since new. These cars will be started approximately once every 30 days or so. I am really looking into the solar version for the boat though.
 

Brent Wright

Please Contact Admin.
Geoff:
The units that I have are just low wattage peak chargers that maintain voltage.
The other systems out there I do not know about. Most are pretty expensive for what they claim. I guess that someone might want to compare the cost of thier batteries, (I know some of them get pretty expensive), and the unit, balanced by the gain in battery life it might provide and make a decision. The units I am talking about usually run from $20 for the AC version to $50 for the solar version. My boat batteries are of the same manufacturer and type as my auto batteries ($100 each) so it was an easy decision.
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
Oh, a trickle charger. I think the Guest model mentioned earlier is a three stage charger and is a better choice for a deep cycle battery on a boat (if it has access to shore power), which is much more deeply discharged that an auto battery. My boat is on a mooring so I plan to switch to a high output alternator and multi-stage charger so that I don't have to run the engine alot just to keep the batteries charged.
 
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Brent Wright

Please Contact Admin.
Yeah, essentially a trickle charger, but they do drop out at a peak voltage and they are being used on deep cycle batteries. I basically was agreeing to the idea of a battery conditioner. My boat already has a basic charging setup and I am just going to compliment the existing system for an additional $20 or $50 for the times it is just sitting. The other systems are alot more in depth and I'm sure alot more capable.
 
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Brent Wright

Please Contact Admin.
I thought I would add this, it was taken from a thread on the sailnet Ericson forum -
I was able to get down to the boat this week-end and check up on a couple of things so I wanted to get back and report to those of you who were kind enough to share your expertise.....

Upon examining the batteries, I found that the electrolyte level in all cells of both batteries was down significantly! Let me explain that this was totally unexpected as the literature that came with the new charger installed last year promised to keep the batteries charged up without boiling them dry. Well, fortunately, none of the plates were exposed but it wouldn't have been much longer for that to have happened in my opinion.
 
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