I think the deal with charging them to 100% is bull. We have had ours for 5+
years
and during a year of cruising only charged them to 80% on a regular basis.
Only charged
them to 100% on the rare occation we pulled into a marina. They are still
performing
fine. I've never equilized them since back when I got mine the concept of
equalizing
a sealed battery was unheard of. My charger doesn;t even support equilizing
an
AGM. After 5+ years they are performing about as well as they were when they
are new.

Doug

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the info, I have a Zantrex smart charger and have monitored
it closely as we have been living on the boat since last Aug, I set it
for AGM batteries and when I got it and have the 60 amp charger with
the internal voltage regulator removed. It charges at 50 amps for about
40 min then starts dropping down as the voltage rises. I have most
consistently charging from a -80 to about -20 daily. This has met
our demands and keeps the motor running down to about an hour. To go to
full charge or till the green light flashes on the Link 10 batteries
monitor would take another hour. Fully charged is about 12.7V. When we
are moving I usually run the motor for several hours and correct for
any miscalculation in the monitor. I thought this was reasonable from
the literature I had red and from the sales person of the batteries. I
then found the batteries operation manual on line and saw that they
recommended that the batteries be fully charged each time they are
charged. This is unreasonable for a cruiser and I wish I new that
before I purchased them. They only reason I went with the sealed
batteries is that I don't have an adequate vented batteries box. The
gel cells were working fine in the boat, but they were 12 years old and
swelling on the sides. We are cruising for a year and I didn't want
problems, which I am having. I now see everyone and his brother with
wet cells mounted inside the older boats and vent them into the cabin.
The literature did recommend that I equalize them at 15.5 Volts
for 5 hours. I did that and noticed some improvement. I am thinking
that they are sulfated and wonder if I can get more life back in them
by doing it again. I am worried about doing more damage though.
I will read the article, and again, thanks to everyone for you
opinions.

John