Battery charger settings

[Jay Fusaro]

Hi all- I have a TrueCharge2 40A charger for my 2 8D flooded batteries. We recently bought our boat ('98 445 w/Cummins 8.3L engines). My question is - which Charge Mode is best? The prior owner had it set to "2 Stage" which is Bulk and absorption. The default setting on the charger is "3 Stage" which is Bulk, absorption and float. I don't know why he would use "2 Stage"? It seems to me that "3 Stage" so it's on float would be better. I would appreciate any advice and feedback.
Thanks!
Jay

[km1125]

If you have three stage available, I'm not sure why you wouldn't use it - especially if the batteries are regular lead-acid or AGM. Some gel batteries don't like the higher float voltages though.

[Jay Fusaro]

Thank you I agree - they are lead-acid. I'm not sure why the prior owner chose to not use the float option on the 3 Stage.

[bud37]

Source of the post Thank you I agree - they are lead-acid. I'm not sure why the prior owner chose to not use the float option on the 3 Stage.

Does it happen to give the charge time lengths for the different settings in the manual ?.......it may simply be, he didn't realize it or never left the boat plugged in so float wasn't an issue.....just a guess on my part though.

[Midnightsun]

Agreed, 3 stage is what you want. Weird things happen though. When I swapped out my factory Charles charger found out it was set to AGM however they are lead acid. You needed to unscrew the charger from the wall as the settings switch was located in the rear of the unit. Not really a good place to put it. Then again they have built cars where you need to lower the engine to change plugs.

[Jay Fusaro]

Source of the post

Source of the post Thank you I agree - they are lead-acid. I'm not sure why the prior owner chose to not use the float option on the 3 Stage.

Does it happen to give the charge time lengths for the different settings in the manual ?.......it may simply be, he didn't realize it or never left the boat plugged in so float wasn't an issue.....just a guess on my part though.

I was just looking in the manual and it doesn't give the charge lengths - it simply describes what bulk and absorption are and that once the proper charge level is reached it will shut off.

[Jay Fusaro]

Source of the post Agreed, 3 stage is what you want. Weird things happen though. When I swapped out my factory Charles charger found out it was set to AGM however they are lead acid. You needed to unscrew the charger from the wall as the settings switch was located in the rear of the unit. Not really a good place to put it. Then again they have built cars where you need to lower the engine to change plugs.

No doubt! I just wasn't sure if I was missing something. Maybe some people think leaving it on float will cook the batteries??