True or False: You don’t have to charge at night.
False: Most GSE chargers are “opportunity” chargers.
This means that it’s safe to charge a battery for short periods of time, when there’s an opportunity. By plugging in periodically during the day, the state of charge of the battery remains relatively high and reduces or eliminates the need to get the battery to 100 percent at night.
But in opportunity charge mode, the battery’s state of charge doesn’t get above 80 percent. Then two bad things happen:
- First, the electrolyte begins to “stratify.” The acid sinks to the bottom and the water rises to the top.
- Second, the battery begins to sulphate. The acid that went into the plates during discharge never fully comes back out into the electrolyte during charge.
The result: A battery that experiences a loss in performance and a loss of life. Most battery manufacturers recommend a 100 percent charge daily and an equalize charge weekly. OK, but that may not reasonable. However, getting to 100 percent at least a few times per week and an equalize charge at least once per month is necessary for maintaining your batteries.
Not only will you avoid stratification and sulphation. You will also reduce the risk of hitting creep mode, reduce the risk of over discharge and reduce the average battery temperature. All of which improve performance and life.
In fact, I would say that next to proper watering, plugging in at night is the No. 1 thing you can do to properly maintain your batteries.
