upgrade to 'smart' battery charger

[tmar04]

I read an article once about disconnecting OEM battery charge feature on T-1550 Sunline and using aftermarket (battery tender) smart charger to eliminate worry about boiling water out of battery. Mine ,OEM, keeps a charge of 13.6-13.8 v. will this charge be OK, and just check water level every 30 days or so? what do you guys think? thanks.

[JohnB]

Hi Tmar04

What year/brand/model converter do you have?

13.6 to 13.8 is normal charge mode. If it never drops down to the 13.25 volt area (float mode) once fully charged, then yes you can and will over charge the battery and in doing so boil off excess electrolyte.

Your converter may take a long time to recharge the battery. Long time can be 1 to 2 days pending how big a battery and how drained it was. But after that it should be dropping down to 13.25 float mode unless your using more battery power again. If after 3 days it is still on 13.6, then you should manually stop the charging.

And yes a battery minder that has desulfate mode on it will keep the battery maintained, desulfated and at 100% state of charge when not in use. I have used this brand with good success.

BatteryMINDer® Plus 12 Volt 1.33 Amp Charger-Maintainer-Conditioner (Desulfator) | All | Battery Chargers by BatteryMINDers.com

Searching for them on the web you can get that model for about $40.

Hope this helps

John

PS Just make sure you do not run the Battery Minder on the battery at the same time the converter is on. It is one or the other, not both.