Charging a Dual Purpose Battery

[Skoot]

Hey fellas, I need some Aquawisdom from you gurus about battery charging/rates/selections.  Heres the details:

I have a Dual Purpose Lead Acid (wet cell) battery which is used for starting, livewell and VHF.  Im using a DieHard Automatic Battery Charger with charging rates of either 2/10/50 amp.  It also has a "Battery Type" selection switch for Conventional Low Maintenance or Maintenance Free Deep Cycle. http://www.sears.com/diehard-10-2-50-am ... 871222000P

Any thoughts on which selections I should be using?

[seabob4]

Scott,
Set it on 10A output, deep-cycle, and you'll be fine.  "Dual-purpose" batts tend to lean more toward deep cycle construction...

I had a straight deep-cycle Nautilus in my old full size Blazer, so obviously used for nothing but starting the truck and "truck" loads.  5 years, and finally a terminal broke...

[gran398]

Bob,

10 amp vs. 2 amp trickle...any difference, other than time? Thanks.

[seabob4]

Scott,
The key is battery construction, and the ability for the battery to "last".  Quality components, quality assembly, etc.  Lead acid, AGM, gel cel, doesn't matter.  Most batts are built in China these days, anyway.  If you have a battery, because of it's construction, can resist sulfation, than that's a good start in regards to applying a charge.  You want good clean plates and good electrolyte to set up the charge cycle, be it 2A, 10A, or 30A.  The batt has to be able to accept the amperage and voltage being presented to it.

I look to East Penn and Trojan for quality batts, as well as Deka.  East Penn and Trojan are the premier golf cart batt providers, 6V batts times 6, basically $400 per change, not including swapping out, another at least $150.  That comes to $550-600 per change, so not something that one want's to do often.  Ask my parents, and I do their swap...so they save some bucks...

[Skoot]

Thanks a lot Bob!

While were on the subject;

1. Should I remove or loosen the caps on the battery during charging?
2. Is it normal for the battery to be aggressively Snap-Crackle-n-Poppin during charging?
3. How long should it take to charge a "low" battery @ 10A?

[seabob4]

Scott,
One should simply be able to attach the charger output leads to a batt, plug in the charger, and let it do it's thing.  I never loosen the access caps, your thinking that this mayallow release of the hydrogen gas that is generated during the charging process.  Lead acid battery cases already have vents in them (maybe unbeknownst to you) for that very purpose.  However, if the rason for loosening the caps is to allow boiling electrolyte to escape, then you have a problem with the charger and it's output VOLTAGE, not amperage.  My buddy BlackfinMike up in Long Island has a big $$ charger that can dump 60 amps into a batt if need be.  It's the output voltage that creates the snap, crackle, and pop you are experiencing.

Do yourself a favor, plug in your charger set on 10A, and put your meter on the batt terminals.  You should see voltage readings of between 13.5 and 13.75V.  If you are seeing 14, that's too much...