Bob B wrote:
I have read that charging with a generator tends to NOT fully charge the batteries, and therefore reduces the battery life. Is there a battery charger with an output voltage that can be adjusted to make sure you get the batteries fully topped off....or is it better to get them mostly charged with the generator and then top them off with the solar?
It isn't a matter of voltage, it is simply a matter of time. In ALL lead acid batteries (flooded, AGM, Gel, TPLC) the rate of charge acceptance falls off as they approach fully charged. The best of them in this respect are the thin plate (Odyssey type), but it still takes several hours of low current charge to get from 80% or 90% to 100%. Complicating that is that AGM batteries really should be recharged to 100% periodically or they will die young. Most people do not want to run there generator for 6 hours to charge the batteries, particularly when you can get to 90% in 2.
So either solar, which will fully charge the batteries every day if you are in any kind of sun; or flooded cells, which tolerate not returning to full charge better than AGM. Flooded cells will begin to sulfate in this service just about as fast, but you have the option of equalizing them (if your charger has the ability) which helps to restore their capacity. You cannot do this with most AGM or other sealed batteries, because it results in the loss of some water which cannot be replaced in those types.
