(Forgive me if I asked this before)

 

Make any difference which battery I charge up to?

I would personally disconnect cables and charge each one independently

 

Edit: I actually have a 3 Bank Minn Kota boat charger and One Bank burned out, so I bought a new one for the boat and using this one in the garage. I can charge both batteries at the same time and it has an option to equalize them. I think it just overcharges them and boils crap off the lead. In this case I would definitely want everything disconnected.

Edited June 26, 20186 yr by Dieselfuture

Ill have to jump in here and explain equalize charging. When I get home ill explain in detail.

2 hours ago, 015point9 said:

(Forgive me if I asked this before)

 

Make any difference which battery I charge up to?

 

No. Your alternator only hooks up to one battery. 

 

If you're troubleshooting a bad battery I would disconnect and charge independently. 

Not trouble shooting.  Just that it has sat so long barely turned over to start it.  

 

And my Ford 5.4 with smaller battery didn't but it only has one.  And battery wouldn't turn over.  

 

My charger is noco genius g3500 and has a "12V repair 1.5A"   normal is 3.5A

 

I'd measure with hydrameter but can't find it.

 

 

Edited June 26, 20186 yr by 015point9

Since that charger peaks at 3.5A it will take a while to charge, but you can hook to one battery to charge both. 

Equalize charging is typically done when the battery is being topped off with distilled water once a month. Equalize charge does a few things first off it does overcharge the batteries this controlled overcharge stirs the distilled water into the electrolyte (acid) to prevent stratification of the distilled water and electrolyte. Then the high voltage does convert a percentage of the sulphation of the lead plates back into solution to gain more plate function back. This is typically done on lead-acid batteries. I highly suggest you do not do this with any seal gel cell or AGM battery most likely you will do damage or shorten the life of the battery. 

30 minutes ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Equalize charging is typically done when the battery is being topped off with distilled water once a month. Equalize charge does a few things first off it does overcharge the batteries this controlled overcharge stirs the distilled water into the electrolyte (acid) to prevent stratification of the distilled water and electrolyte. Then the high voltage does convert a percentage of the sulphation of the lead plates back into solution to gain more plate function back. This is typically done on lead-acid batteries. I highly suggest you do not do this with any seal gel cell or AGM battery most likely you will do damage or shorten the life of the battery. 

 

So "equalizing" batteries is a type of charging.  By the name "equalze" I assumed hooking up charger so both batteries got the same "equal" charge rate, in a series so to speak.  

 

Can I charge by  hooking up pos post on battery and neg on other battery? 

 

 

 

 

In this case you do each battery separate for the Cummins.

 

As for this is done all ganged.

 

11 hours ago, 015point9 said:

Can I charge by  hooking up pos post on battery and neg on other battery

You can, but it will not equalize them unless your charger is capable of doing it, which usually means it will charge a battery at 15.0 some volts which is a volt or two overcharging. If I'm thinking correctly. So with your charger just hook to ether battery and leave it for few days. My charger puts out 15 amps on each bank which on my trolling battery if I used it all day it will take about 5-6 hours if it's pretty low. 

Edited June 27, 20186 yr by JAG1

http://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/charging_the_lead_acid_battery

 

Basically, there are 3 levels of voltage for charging. Float charge, Bulk charge and Equalize Charge. Our truck can handle the float and bluk charge rates with the battery temperature sensor and the PCM voltage regulator. This is why our truck typically have good battery lifespans for a daily driven truck. 

 

No for a truck that is going to be stored over a week or more I highly suggest opening the fuse panel in the driver side of the dash and pulling the fuse outward in the yellow clips. These are disconnect fuses that prevent batteries from drain from other devices. 

 

This now being said any vehicle that is being stored for even longer like months I highly suggest you just pull the batteries out. You need to charge then at least once a week. No battery can be left in storage for long periods without some self-discharging occurring. They all do it. Newer the battery typically the longer the battery will hold up. As sulphation builds on the plates from cycling this will shorten the storage time. This is where the equalize charge comes in. This will change back some of the sulphation back to lead plate material and keep the batteries longer.   

 

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/equalizing_charge

Very good link.  Thanks for info.  Of all the things I'm uneducated on, if put into a bucket and labeled them...  elect and electronics.  

4 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

You need to charge then at least once a week. No battery can be left in storage for long periods without some self-discharging occurring. They all do it. Newer the battery typically the longer the battery will hold up.

 

If they are being stored for many months you can get battery tenders as well, or just semi-frequent charges. 

 

I don't think weekly is needed thou. We have several batteries that we only use once a year for a month and I charge them 3 times outside of that month (end of use, spring, before use) and they are never lower than 12.6 when I put the charger on them. 

 

Then there are my lifeline batteries. They can sit for 4 months in the winter and be at 13.01 when I go to do a spring charge, but they aren't cheap batteries. 

What is this sytem called?  Genverter pops into my head but not sure that is right

 

House Ilived at in Sandpoint years ago had a Battery room like that, I want to call it a genverter but I dont think that is correct

 

6 hours ago, GSP7 said:

What is this sytem called?

 

Inverter. That is a Trace 24-volt 4kw inverter. 

 

8 hours ago, AH64ID said:

 

If they are being stored for many months you can get battery tenders as well, or just semi-frequent charges. 

 

I don't think weekly is needed thou. We have several batteries that we only use once a year for a month and I charge them 3 times outside of that month (end of use, spring, before use) and they are never lower than 12.6 when I put the charger on them. 

 

Then there are my lifeline batteries. They can sit for 4 months in the winter and be at 13.01 when I go to do a spring charge, but they aren't cheap batteries. 

 

I'm talking normal lead acid batteries like automotive or like in my house power system. Normal lead acid batteries do not hold up as well for long extended periods without charging.

 

I've done similar on my RV had it parked for the entire winter without any power. It still had 12.6 volts when I flip on the master switch. Still not good to leave batteries idle without some sort of maintenance charge. 

 

Even my house system the charge setting from city power is set to the lowest 1 Amp AC. The rest is provided from either solar or hydro power sources. Currently, my hydro generator is offline till I rewire the back into the house again. Daily I get 10-15 Amp DC @ 26.8 Volts charge from the solar panels.

 

No lead acid battery is designed to be left to rest long period without self-discharging. More documents explaining self-discharging of batteries. 

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/elevating_self_discharge

12 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

I'm talking normal lead acid batteries like automotive or like in my house power system. Normal lead acid batteries do not hold up as well for long extended periods without charging.

 

Me too. As long as they aren't sulfated and aren't the cheapest battery on the shelf they shouldn't need weekly charging. To me a battery, that's disconnected, that needs weekly charging is a bad battery and should be replaced. If they get fully charged before storing they should be able to go 2-4 months, disconnected, before needing a top off charge to remain in storage. 

What is normal amp draw for our trucks just parked with little red alarm light flashing...

 

and how would I measure to see if I have parasite draw

54 minutes ago, 015point9 said:

What is normal amp draw for our trucks just parked with little red alarm light flashing...

 

20-30 mA (milliampere) is normal but not more than 50 mA.

 

58 minutes ago, 015point9 said:

 how would I measure to see if I have parasite draw

 

I talked to a few guys at part stores and they ship out pallet of new batteries back every so often if they can't sell them. I want to say every half a year. I ended up buying a couple of red top Optimas for $35 a piece back in the day. I had one in my mud truck and the other in my step dad's mud truck, I sold mine with the truck about 5 years later and his lasted about 6-7 with poor maintenance.