ricsuz88 said:
I was told that keeping the batteries installed in the rig and keeping the rig plugged into your house electricity all winter could cause the batteries to be overcharged and damage them. Does that sound right? At any rate I moved mine into our heated garage (in MN).
Well. yes and no.
LONG LONG time ago. Back when Converters were a thing called new.. There was a company (Since bought out) that made one that did just as you describe.. Magnetek.
Well Parallex bought 'em out and made a few improvements (Fixed that problem).
Today. if the battery is good.. you have converters that come in basically 4.2 types
The .2 is Programmable.. or not
The 4 are
Single stage. 2 stage, 3 stage and 3 stage PLUS (normally the 4th stage is manually invoked)
Now this 4th stage CAN boil 'em dry but you have to manually invoke it and it times out back to stage 3 usually within 8 hours.
THe old Magnetek had very poor voltage regulation. The output was NOT filtered and the voltage peaks were about 16 volts (RMS was 12-13 but peak is 1.414 or RMS * (Sqrt(2)) )
The Parallex that replaces the old Magnetek outputs 13.6
2 stage may output 14.6 for a period of time or till the current suggests time to change
The 4 stages
BULK (usually about 14-15 volts from converter current up to max for converter. Example my 9180 can push 80 amps in this mode. tapers down to.
Absorption. Same 14.5 volts but current is in the below 20 amp range
BULK 13.6 volts. and the batteries can sit there for months and months on end without boiling over.. Do check 'em from time to time (My DEKA's spent 4 years before they got thirsty. The Interstate OEM"s annually when new.. Monthly 9 years later) Nearly always plugged in).
And Equalization (the manual stage) this is a controlled overcharge it does many things. I tmay burn some of the crud off the plates. It stirs up the liquid in the cells. and if one cell is a bit.... Undercharged... With respect to the rest it "Equalizes" the charge (100%) so it all works
But if you have a modern charger.. LIke I do (Progressive Dynamics Wizard Controlled. none better. Thank you Damon.. that was the OEM. also the replacement when the OEM failed 12.5 years later) (I went factory direct for the replacement since it was.. almost out of my way).
Well.... Mine has been plugged in almost continuously for 15 years and change.