Date: Mon, 10 May 2021 07:50:05 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: Another battery- did float charger cook mine
In-Reply-To: <CAHtOfz8BhGzgkAwywG2sde6JBpgheSEq+CfOJnkB1kxjiwjLdw@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Spencer,
I’ve been happy with my Noco genius charger. It’s gets varying reviews online but has worked well for me. I’d prefer a Ctek but it was more spendy.
Oh, btw, it’s the 10 amp model.
I have it hooked up most of the time to my old battery I removed from van last year. It has seemed to restore a fair bit of capacity ( I can’t quantify) and the battery is used as a convenient 12v supply for this and that. Mostly to power Chinese diesel heater I have set up on test stand and in which I’ve been improving with new mother board and controller and pump etc etc.
What I’m trying to say … I have the Noco hooked up to the old battery pretty well all the time, and turned on about 80% of the time. It goes onto a bout a 13.4 - 13.5 volt float , with occasional pop up to 15.4v for a short time then back to float .
On board the van I have a mariner pro sport hard wired in to system. Only 6 amp output so it’s very much undersized for my 200ahr aux battery. And I don’t think I like the charging profile as well as the Noco. But it works , and keeps things topped up if I plug in weekly.
On camping trips I have no issue with the big aux battery getting charged. I have two 80w solar panels and an mppt controller. And I don’t have much battery draw when camping ( no electric fridge). The panels plus the charging during driving to and from camping seems to keep the big battery happy.
Alistair
> On May 10, 2021, at 6:18 AM, Spencer Allen <soxndubs1951@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I store my westy each fall and pull the battery. Before this past winter I
> would put it on a charge every few weeks so when spring came battery was
> ready to go. This past winter because I was heading to Florida I bought a
> couple of Harbor Freight (I know) trickle 2A chargers that are supposed to
> maintain and not over charge- one for the stored battery and one hooked up
> to my Eurovan. Checked the stored battery and found two cells completely
> dried up and two low on water. Testing says battery is dead. The E Van
> battery seems to be ok. So question is since both vans are sitting for long
> periods will moving up to a more advanced ( expensive) battery maintainer
> not cook the cells if left on for a month or two or do batteries still need
> looking after? Thanks for any replies.
> Spencer
