On Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:29:36 GMT, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:

Back in the days when I was in this business, regulators were set as
low as possible to minimize boiling.

Basic spec was 13.6 +\- 0.2.

That's a good "float" voltage for a battery that doesn't get
discharged very much, like an engine starting battery. A deep cycle
battery which routinely gets disharged down to the 50% level would
take forever to recharge at 13.6 volts. That's why multi-stage
chargers have become popular on cruising boats.