GL: Great-Loop Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8, Gel Batteries

[Bodie6413@aol.com]

I put the original German  Schonestien Gel Batteries (imported from  Canada) 
on my sail boat in the late 1980s with a controller charge rheostat so I  
could charge the batteries at a much higher rate when needed. This was the main  
selling point of the Gel's when they first came out.  Another was that it  did 
not hurt the battery to discharge it below the 50% level, which we  did  many 
times.  I Reset the controller for the alternator to  15.3 volts so all normal 
charging was done to that voltage level.  We sold  the boat in 1998 with the 
batteries still installed and operating with no  problems. We never 
experienced a problem with them even though they were  installed on their sides beneath 
the main bunk.  I did also equalize  the three batteries on an irregular 
basis, perhaps three times a year, to  the 15.3 voltage level. Don't have them on 
my boat now as I haven't gotten  around to it yet, but as the current batteries 
die, will replace them with AGMs.  I swear by them.
 
 
 
Ron &  Molly Bodeen, 1986 42' Heritage East, MTOA #2950, AGLCA #3464, San 
Diego,  CA