Battery Boilers

[fwernlein]

I would echo the advice of Tom, in that at least you should protect
your battery investment - perhaps by what I did, keep one of the
boilers as a spare/reserve (unplugged, but set up) and replace the
other with an fully automatic multi-stage charger. I used a 45amp
IOTA and it is plug in and forgetaboutit. You still of course need
to check the water level about once a month. This simple "fix" will
save you a lot of worry and effort at a very reasonable cost.

But, to answer your specific "how long to charge" question: It
depends on what you are taking out of the batteries. There can be
no set answer, the variables are basically what you take out you
want to put back in...to get a full charge. If using a fully manual
system as you now have, you will have to experiment to find out
your "charge time" per day, based on your individual battery drain
factors and set the timer accordingly.

1: In my OEM system, if just in storage mode; master switch off and
no real loads: I used one "boiler" unit on a timer for 2 hours a
day. Seemed to work fine.
2: when "living/camping" with lights, fan, pump...I found that one
charger on all the time worked fine; if you see your voltage
dropping and not recovering, plug the second one in to top off.

Frank
85FC33
Woodbridge, VA.


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "thomas_sorrentino"
wrote:
>
> I just installed all new batteries and cables. I still have the
old
> battery boilers and probably will have them at least until the
spring.
> In the mean time I keep the coach plugged in to 30 amps. My
thought is
> to keep the battery chargers plugged into a timer. Does any body
have
> any experience as to how long to keep them on per day? One or two
> chargers? The goal is to keep the batteries topped off without
boiling
> them out!
>
> Tom Sorrentino
> 1987 PT38
> Bedford Hills, NY
>