Re: [A/S] Battery Life

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob,
 Under those conditions, the battery shouldn't be badly overcharged.
It's easy to tell:

Put your digital voltmeter on the battery terminals. If you're reading
much over 14.3 volts, you're overcharging the battery. If the reading is
down around 13.5, you're probably not getting the battery fully charged.
If the battery uses excessive water (needs filling more often than every
couple of months), it's being overcharged.

If you have a hydrometer, the absolute best way to check a wet battery
is to use it to read all the cells.

There's several Battery Killers:

Overcharging
Undercharging
Deep Cycling it (running it below 30% capacity, keeping it above 50%
charged is better)
Vibration
Letting the electrolyte get below the top of the plates
letting it sit in anything except a fully-charged condition. IE: run it
down during a weekend of dry camping, then don't immediately get it
fully charged. That means that if you just depend on the drive home
after that weekend to charge it that it's not fully charged. Unless you
drive for 12 hours or so, anyway.

Batteries have very specific needs and you really need to satisfy them
if you're to obtain maximum life from them. If you don't care about
their life and hardly ever depend on them, feel free to ignore those
needs.

                                    <<Jim>>