adding a battery

[Pblais]

Could you please cite a scientific paper that backs up this assertion. Personally, given the posts by Rick on this forum (addressing the paralleling of batteries) and given the commonality of paralleling batteries without incident I think this is misinformation.

It's only sort of true. a common 12 volt battery is 6 - 2 volt cells in parallel. With flood batteries it was / is very common for only one cell to go bad. This weak cell would make the whole battery appear discharged thus fooling the smart charger into sending more current. This would cook the remaining 5 good cells. The ability to switch out a bad battery from a multi battery bank is a good idea if using 6 or 12 volt flood batteries.

So yes one bad cell can trash the whole battery and one cell gone bad in a whole bank could do the same. The part that is wrong is that you can escape paralleling batteries cells - you can't.

Concerning flat batteries, I have considered buying a small gas powered generator.

Many subscribe to using a small Honda gasoline power generator to charge batteries. It works to a point. You have to carry a lot of gasoline and the output means you really can never get close to charging the bank up that far. It does mean if you want to use a corded electric drill or other gadgets you now can get AC power. It works better for that application than charging batteries. The last friends I know that did it said they could go 3 weeks before they needed to equalize the bank. They used giant industrial flood battery with very very thick plates. You can never hope to equalize a battery bank with a small portable gasoline generator. On larger boats the diesel genset is the way to make more power often. It is far more efficient and cost effective when you really need that much power.