I noticed to my great surprise today that the batteries in one bank of my boat are flooded lead-acid, and the other AGM. The batteries spend most of their time connected in parallel to each other (battery switch on "BOTH") and charging by the battery charger plugged into shore power.
I know that one shouldn't mix battery chemistries, but how much of a problem is this really? All the batteries seem in good shape - should I swap some out immediately?
And looking at this also left me with a question: Battery chargers are "smart" in that they sense how charged the battery is (presumably by how much amperage it will accept at a given voltage) then regulate the charging to three stages: bulk, acceptance and float. My charger (and I assume most) have two charging circuits for the two banks. But does each circuit set each bank into its appropriate stage (bulk, acceptance, float) independently based on that banks charge level? Or are both circuits operating at the same stage? I would have assumed that the circuits should be independent, but on my charger there are lights telling you what stage it is in at a given time - but there is only one set of lights!!
I know that one shouldn't mix battery chemistries, but how much of a problem is this really? All the batteries seem in good shape - should I swap some out immediately?
And looking at this also left me with a question: Battery chargers are "smart" in that they sense how charged the battery is (presumably by how much amperage it will accept at a given voltage) then regulate the charging to three stages: bulk, acceptance and float. My charger (and I assume most) have two charging circuits for the two banks. But does each circuit set each bank into its appropriate stage (bulk, acceptance, float) independently based on that banks charge level? Or are both circuits operating at the same stage? I would have assumed that the circuits should be independent, but on my charger there are lights telling you what stage it is in at a given time - but there is only one set of lights!!
