Anybody Marine Battery Knowledgable??

Who Me?

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Apr 29, 2003, 2:37:29 PM4/29/03

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I run my main ham transceiver off a power supply. I've got a smaller
back-up rig connected to a marine battery for emergencies. This was
maintained with a Sears 1.5 amp battery charger/maintainer.

After about a year, I noticed the "sleep" mode of the charger was no
longer "sleeping". (This is where the battery is fully charged, and the
charger shuts down until the voltage drops again.) Figuring it was a bad
battery, I went out and got another good size deep cycle marine battery.

Sure enough, the sleep mode started sleeping again when the battery got
fully charged. But now after only a couple of months of operation, it no
longer wants to "sleep" and seems to be charging constantly.

Thinking maybe the LED light had burned out in the "sleep" mode, I went
out and purchased another 1.5 amp charger/maintainer, different brand.
IT TOO doesn't want to go into a "sleep" mode!

What gives? Is there a certain voltage/amperage that these maintainers
look for, and if that voltage/amperage on a used battery can't be
reached, it just keeps on charging? (BTW, the indicator on the battery
is showing green, which is fully charged.)

Please also keep in mind that I have no other rigs connected to the
battery. And no other common equipment shared with the rig. (Antennas,
grounds, etc.) So it can't be a drain coming from another source. Oh,
and the rig isn't on.

And I really don't transmit much on this rig. So I can't believe the
battery has taken that much more of a beating than in somebody's boat.
My first love is SWL'ing and I do more of that then talking.

Who Me?

Doug Kanter

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Apr 29, 2003, 3:59:44 PM4/29/03

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You might want to post this in rec.boats. There are quite a few battery
experts there.

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Kenneth P. Stox

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Apr 29, 2003, 6:26:33 PM4/29/03

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This might be useful, The car and deep cycle battery FAQ:

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/

Who Me?

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Apr 29, 2003, 9:53:34 PM4/29/03

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WOW! Thanks Ken! What a wealth of battery info! The Battery Myth section
untaught me a few things my dad taught me.

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WShoots1

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Apr 30, 2003, 12:12:02 AM4/30/03

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If your backup rig has solid state finals, they may have become leaky. Often
the finals are across the power source all the time. They "turn on" when
driven.

I once had a Motorola police radio as backup in a city EOC that caused that
kind of problem. The charger was wired to float charge the big gelcell battery.
I put a knife switch in series with the power to the rig. I then had two
switches to flip,to turn on the rig, but had no more problem.

Bill, K5BY

Burr

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Apr 30, 2003, 12:21:28 AM4/30/03

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Just for the hell of it, look for a damp line or a very hi
cross. You should lose .035 amps per day. take the leads off
the battery and put a volt meter across them and look at the
rig.
The little compositor that charges the memory in your rig
could be pulling it down.

Work with it and let me know what you find.

Burr

Mike Lindo

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Apr 30, 2003, 2:48:36 PM4/30/03

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I have a class C motorhome in which I use two 6 volt golf cart batteries
hooked up to give me 12 volts. I have used Deep cycle 12 volt batteries and
have had nothing but trouble. I know many people use them but I will not go
back to using them. I have also installed a 75 watt Seimens solar panel to
keep them charged. I just replaced my "old" golf cart batteries. They were
getting a little tired. By the way, they were just shy of being in use for
almost 7 years.

Try these web sites for some relevant information:

http://www.rvsolar.com/
http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/

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