Charging a battery

[Doug McCullough]

I'm charging my battery for the first time, it's a Duralast Marine DeepCycle 12V, 95ah, 160 Reserve Min. It has absolutely no charge. I borrowed a battery charger from a friend that is not a multi stage charger so it doesn't detect when the battery is fully charge. My question is... If I charge the battery at 12V 2Amps would it require charging for 47 hours to completely charge it, (2A x 47h = 94ah)? Or is there a better way to determine when it is completely charged?Any help is appreciated,Doug S/V Damboat

 

[John Gambill]

Battery Charging

YOU WILL HAVE TO PUT MORE AMPS BACK INTO THE BATTERY THAN YOU TOOK OUT, IN ORDER TO FULLY CHARGE IT. GENERALLY 10 - 15% MORE. BATTERIES WILL ACCEPT UP TO 2% OF THEIR CAPACITY IN AMP-HOURS (THE "20 HOUR RATE") INDEFFINENTLY. 1% SHOULD BE NO PROBLEM. THE MOST ACCURATE WAY TO TELL IF IT'S FULLY CHARGED IS TO CHECK ELECTROLITE SPECIFIC GRAVITY, BUT IF YOU LET IT SIT FOR A DAY OR SO AFTER CHARGING, THE AT REST VOLTAGE SHOULD BE VERY CLOSE TO 12.6 WHEN FULLY CHARGED.

 

[Doug McCullough]

Thank you

Thanks John, I had forgotten all about the Electrolite Specific Gravity testers. Went and bought one for a couple bucks, that should take out the guess work.Doug s/v Damboat H 25.5