Choose A Quality Marine Battery Charger For Your Marine Batteries
One of the marine electronics used in boats and sea vessels is the marine battery charger. It is important in maintaining marine batteries. However, you cannot just purchase any battery charger because marine batteries have varying capacities and maintenance requirements.
Among other factors, proper charging plays a significant role in battery maintenance. Both overcharging and undercharging can reduce the life of batteries. That’s why it is important that you know how marine batteries function in order to choose the proper charger.
When planning to buy a battery charger, you must know the type of the battery you want to charge. In general, marine batteries come in three types: flooded cell, gel cell, and AGM (absorbed glass mat). Each battery type relies on a lead-acid chemical reaction. But they are different in terms of costs, maintenance requirements, and applications. Each thereby needs a particular kind of marine battery charger.
Flooded-cell batteries are considered the most cost-effective among the three. But while gel-cell batteries and AGM batteries are more expensive, they have a better capacity to hold a charge.
Proper charging practices ensure a longer life span of marine batteries. Remember not to leave the battery in a discharged state for any period. Overcharging, however, can also reduce battery life.
In general, lead-acid batteries must not be discharged below 50 percent. The typical charge range for marine batteries is between 50 and 80 percent. Charging the battery from 80 to 100 percent takes more time than when you charge it from 50 to 80 percent.
Determine your marine battery specifications first before buying a charger for it. Apart from knowing the type of the battery, consider also its amp-hour capacity and input voltage.
Because temperature affects the charging rate of the battery, too, make sure that you buy a marine battery charger that has temperature compensation circuitry.