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Old 27-02-2014, 23:13   #1
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flooded LA battery question

How often do you check your water level in your batteries?

I check mine one a week.
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Old 27-02-2014, 23:19   #2
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Re: flooded LA battery question

I haven't checked mine since I bought my boat in Sept. but I will this weekend. So you check yours once week do you see loss in that short period of time? I would think once a month would suffice.
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Old 28-02-2014, 00:59   #3
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It really depends on how toped up your batteries are kept. My batteries are most of the time at 90 to 100% from constant trickle charge from panels so i get worried of boiling my batteries . Im a weekend cruiser so I suppose its different on a live aboard.
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Old 28-02-2014, 01:40   #4
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Re: flooded LA battery question

I try for once per month. I live aboard and motor and motor for one third of the time. They always need topping up but the plates are never exposed.
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Old 28-02-2014, 01:42   #5
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Re: flooded LA battery question

Once every three or four months for me, which is about how long they take to need a little topping off.
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Old 28-02-2014, 05:03   #6
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Re: flooded LA battery question

When we were living aboard our trawler I kept records of Ahrs consumed/replaced and the water consumed before I needed to top up. Over time I realized that there was a correlation between Ahrs consumed/replaced and water consumed. I wanted to water my large (2S6P) T105 bank with fewer than two fills of the old fashioned one quart watering bottles.
With the two fill construing, my metric for when to water came down to Ahrs consumed/replaced. Worked a treat.
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Old 28-02-2014, 05:34   #7
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Re: flooded LA battery question

Most water is lost by gassing when the voltage gets above ~14.2V. Left on float below this voltage, almost no water should be lost. The relationship between AHr consumed/replaced is directly proportional to the amount of time spent recharging above the gassing voltage.

For us full time cruising and daily recharging above gassing voltage, the batteries need water every 2-3 months. I check them every 3-4 weeks. Our bank is 675Ahr, from which we use 100-150Ahr/day. A bank that is discharged more each day will spend more time above gassing voltage and will use more water.

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