Aha, thanks Don
It just seems that the instructions do discuss the use of the banks and how often they are discharged which leads to the amount of equalization you need to consider. We just don't know how you use your boat, nor do you know how we use ours. Terry, Rich and Rick didn't mention that in their responses. For the first seven of the past eight years, I did not ever equalize my batteries. The simple reason is that I had no way to do so, since the charger I have requires the Link 2000 to run that equalization and I hadn't installed it. I bought new batteries last summer and followed Ample Power Primer's recommendations for break-in of new batteries. I would expect to have to equalize maybe twice a season. I used our new alternator to equalize the batteries, since i still haven't installed the Link. I use our boat weekly, never leave it plugged into the dock when away from the boat, self-discharge of the wet cells is overcome by the use of an 11 watt solar panel. I have a new 100 A alternator with a M612 Balmar regulator on our M25 21 hp engine. We run the engine at least 45 minutes heading out, sometimes motor all the way back, or sometimes sail back and just use the engine for a few minutes to get into the slip. We have a Freedom 15 combined inverter/charger with smart charging. My batteries are therefore almost always charged without ever overcharging. For our cruises, we spend lots of time at anchor and often go two or three days without charging with our 390 AH house bank and separate start bank on a cobminer. Then the house bank goes down to 50%. I haven't read the Trojan website on equalizing, but note that a fellow boater had recommended discussing equalization with your battery manufacturer. His 6V vendor (not Trojan) told him not to equalize.
