Vexilar battery status gauge

[riverboy]

I finally got a Battery status gauge for my fl-18 Genz box. On my unit the light is lit on the 100% full charge. Somewhere I read to keep charging the battery untill the charge complete light is on. I charged it for almost 7 hours and that complete charge light is still not lit. Should I keep charging the battery until it does come on? Im concerned with over charging the battery

bring on the ice!

[Guest]

MY FL8 doesnt show 100 at all, but always plenty of power

[TV BOY]

My "charge complete" has never come on either. I have also used a volt-meter to check it.

[LocalGuide]

Maybe Im lucky, mine has always came on. It took me well over 7 hours once to charge it last weekend but it was pretty dead also.

Well if you have Vexilar charger they have a little red light that comes on when its charged completly. I go by that first then by the battery status indicator.

If the red light isnt on, charge it somemore keep the battery topped of.

[EBass]

My charge light is always on. Dang thing, it must've been dropped as a child..er.. I mean in production.

[Giant_Jackpot]

Check out the last paragraph of this post I put in the battery thread.........

Here is the scoop on the Vexilar type batteries. Since I used to work for a company that made smart chargers for these types of batteries, I can say the info I am giving you is good stuff.

First of all, the batteries are sealed lead acid and just like the battery in your car, they like to be charged. Charge the battery after each use and you can get them to last 4 or more years. The worst thing you can do to a lead acid battery, is run it down and not charge it as soon as possible. Also charge the battery every month or so during the off season.

With that said the cheap chargers that come with these batteries will cook the battery and shorten its life if you leave charger on the battery for extended periods. The advice someone was giving Ebass about leaving the charger on the battery for 3 days is poor advice (unless the charger is a smart charger). If you really want to take care of the battery, connect a voltmeter to the battery during charging. When the battery reaches about 14.8 volts disconnect the charger. Otherwise don’t leave the charger connected for more than 24 hours.

The smart chargers are a good idea if they are doing the right thing. They should charge the battery to about 14.8 volts and then drop into a maintenance or float mode at about 13.2 volts. The next time I am at Gander I will check one of the Marcum chargers out and see if it is really a good thing.

As far as the LED battery indicators go, don’t believe everything you see. The components used in an inexpensive device like this can have tolerance swings of up to 20%. On a properly charged battery, one indicator may read fully charged while another might say ¾. Just something to keep in mind.

Let me know if you have any other questions.........

[Pete Riola]

Here's the description of the Marcum DCS.

The Digital Charging System incorporates an LCD display and can charge most 12-volt batteries. The LCD display indicates the percentage of charge remaining in 10-percent increments while the battery is in use and the status of charge during charging cycle. System includes 1-amp charger that plugs into the display monitor through a DC power jack. It features an automatic shutoff when the battery is fully charged and will maintain the battery indefinitely. Excellent for underwater viewing systems, depth finders and other applications requiring fast recovery rates.

They cost about $30.

[CNY Tim]

I have the MarCum DCS 100 auto charger that came with my LX-3 and it's two years old and works great. I also have a Powersonic 128000A auto charger and I have seen no difference in either the LCD or conventional charge complete green signal on the Powersonic. There both equally accurate. I like DCS 100 because it can recover a 9 amp. battery that's dang near dead in 5 hours the powersonic at 880ma takes longer.