Hi Brian, I also have a Schumacher charger, model SC4. It seemed to work well enough for my purposes. A couple years ago a cycling bilge pump ran my batteries flat on two occasions, and I had to pull them out and bring them home for charging. I don’t know how you’re defining “fully charged” but if I recall correctly I would have 13.6 volts of potential from each battery after charging on the Schumacher. I don’t have a battery level meter on my boat.
I’ve got a small solar panel and charge controller on my boat that trickle-charges the batteries. It keeps them topped up enough that I leave them on board over the winter and have the amperage to start the A4 on launch in the spring. I’ve got a pair of group 29 lead/acid batteries that I topped up with distilled water when I brought them home to recharge. Two years after running them both flat twice, and recharging them with that Schumacher SC4, they’re still giving perfect service. If I recall correctly I bought that Schumacher unit because it was relatively inexpensive. Cheers, Randy Stafford S/V Grenadine C&C 30 MK I #79 Ken Caryl, CO > On Apr 30, 2020, at 10:47 AM, nausetbeach--- via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > Does anyone have a recommendation for a good at home battery charger? My > charger died earlier this week. It was a “smart” charger made by Schumacher > but it never seemed to really get the batteries fully charged. I never could > find out the charging parameters. Having a charger with an option which can > force an equalization step seems like a necessary capability. I have flooded > batteries and do not see changing type in the near future. > > By way of background, last fall I asked about storing batteries over the > winter – Rob A, Marek, Ken H and others all recommended leaving them on > board, and Ken sent a link to an article on RC’s / Marine How To website > about battery storage, which was very helpful. In that article RC strongly > suggested the batteries should be at full charge and they should be fine come > spring. I had zero confidence my battery charger [a home / garage charger, > do not have an on board charger or even any AC on board] would be up to the > task so once again I brought the batteries home. > > Thanks, > Brian > _______________________________________________ > > Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and > every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use > PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > <https://www.paypal.me/stumurray>
_______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
