‘Sandpiper’ is laid up in my garage. She’ll remain there
until the spring where she should be protected from the elements, but I shall
have to take note when there is a cold spell, because if it is exceedingly cold,
the electrolyte* in the ship’s battery could freeze. I shall need to
periodically discharge the battery and recharge it. The reason for this is to
keep the battery plates from being clogged with lead sulphate, and if a battery
is not charged, eventually it will completely discharge itself. Ideally, it
should not be allowed to discharge to a point where it has less that 25%
charge.
Two days ago I set about discharging ‘Sandpiper’s’ 12 volt
battery that normally powers two handheld GPS units, an Autohelm 800 and an
iPhone 400s. After discharging it overnight and into the following morning my voltmeter
read 9 volts. The system I use for discharging the battery is to attach it to
three 12 volt 0.183 amp bulbs wired together in parallel. For recharging I have
an old-fashioned Selmar ‘Star’ 240 volt mains charger.
*Composed of 35% sulphuric acid and 65% water solution.
Links
12 Volt Battery Maintenance
Automotive Battery
Battery Basics: A Layman’s Guide to Batteries
Lead Acid Batteries
No comments:
Post a Comment