The situation: I have a pair of OEM 4D house batteries devided into the two banks on my 2005 310-the builder's set up. The charger is the stock 20 amp Charles 5000 which is on all the time when not sailing or on the hook. The only constant draw is the fridge. I've noticed in the last few of weeks that the water level in several of the cells on the #1 battery is boiling down rapidly and to a lesser extent in the #2-I add water weekly or more and the charger seems to keep pouring on the coals-it doesnt seem to go into maintenance mode (though I am not checking constantly).
Question: Given the 6 year age of the batteries, is this the sign of their giving up the ghost or could the charger have become defective. The reason I believe the later could be a possible issue is that out cruising for 2 days last weekend with the fridge on all the time, autopilot on for 2 or 3 hour down wind leg, radar occasionally and the nav/com on all the time, stereo and lights from time to time, with maybe 2 hours total engine run time, I got the usual service from the batteries. I was planning to replace the batteris in the spring but don't want to fry them with a defective charger. Any thoughts from the 12 volt guru's out there?
Question: Given the 6 year age of the batteries, is this the sign of their giving up the ghost or could the charger have become defective. The reason I believe the later could be a possible issue is that out cruising for 2 days last weekend with the fridge on all the time, autopilot on for 2 or 3 hour down wind leg, radar occasionally and the nav/com on all the time, stereo and lights from time to time, with maybe 2 hours total engine run time, I got the usual service from the batteries. I was planning to replace the batteris in the spring but don't want to fry them with a defective charger. Any thoughts from the 12 volt guru's out there?
