leakage current with shore charge

[Ric]

When I have my shore-current charging my batteries, even after the batteries are really full (ie 14v for several days) there is a small current of 0.1A going into the batteries. Is this to be expected? I don't remember noticing this before - so maybe my batteries are dying?

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[Becky]

Yes. Batteries loose charge when not in use, and a triple-stage charger working in the third stage of charging balances this loss with a minimal trickle of current to maintain voltage level. I fitted a Mobitronic charger last Spring and this kept my batteries fully charged all season. This is one of the reasons that the things are so expensive compared with a car charger.

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[halcyon]

If the 14 volt is your top voltage, and dependent on type of battery, 14 volt is low for top end charging. For a normal battery 14.6 volt or thereabouts, will give you a good charge, but should not be maintained for a long term as it causes heavy gassing. For long term running 13.6 volt float charge is more common which is below the gassing point. The .1 amp is normal to maintan a battery level.


Brian

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[john_morris_uk]

I think he means - once the top end part of the charging cycle is finished - in other words the charger has wound itself back to float mode.

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