What I learned about maintaining batteries while boondocking

hammick wrote:

landyacht318 wrote:
Put your schumacher on the AGM setting, it should then not go above 14.8v, and as a bonus it holds 14.7v for a few hours as amsp taper, rather than dropping to 13.2 after an hour.

I still use my Sc2500a, but I only trust it on AGM setting. it does a way better job on the screwy31 than the deep cycle setting, and no 16.4v either.

No such settings on my Schumacher. It's completely old school.

20a rapid charger or 2a slow charger are only charge settings.

DY-1420

That's a great stand alone charger. Since it has the 140 amp boost charge, the transformer and diodes will last a long time when doing typical 20 or 55 amp charging. Unfortunately, these wheeled shop chargers also hold charge voltage up to 16 V and beyond. To some that can be a good thing and for some with sensitive electronics a bad situation.
There are a few modifications that can be used or using the simplest, ie. disconnecting the battery from the RV circuit will prove to work well. You could modify the charging circuitry within the charger by adding a diode to drop voltage. You could use a spud diode between the charger and the battery. If I have one on hand, I'll experiment and see how the spud lowers voltage. I'm guessing a voltage drop of 1 VDC. That might be enough to make the shop charger more amenable to "connect and forget" charging when connected to an RV.

All of this reminds me to check my own batteries before Winter really sets in. I'm "going in" with hydrometer in hand. :B