tidclacy
Active member
Am ashore now and connected to power. Is it ok to leave batteries to be charged this way or is it better to trickle charge using solar panels?
Battery charging
- Thread starter tidclacy
- Start date
Hoolie
Well-known member
I used to leave mine on charge but there have been so many threads on these forums about batteries that were fried by chargers I would not do it any more.
Even if you're on board the rate at which battery failure might happen is frightening. Use solar - it's power output is generally limited, at least in winter in the UK.
Plevier
Active member
I think the problem is normally if you have a multi stage charger that goes onto boost every time it's connected. All you need is a few momentary outages and the repeated boosting fries the batteries. My Cristec is like that. The instructions actually tell you to disable the boost (internal tiny switch) if leaving the boat on shore power unattended for that reason.
captaina
New member
I disagree. If your shore power is reliable and won't drop out without you knowing it, be happy. If it does drop out and there is a circuit breaker on it, when the power fails it stays off...so this issue matters. If this is an issue, either turn up and check it every 2 weeks if that's practical, or, if not, then go for a SMALL solar panel with dump resistors. This is the second best option.
