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Posted by D Sherman on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 00:44:13 :
In Reply to: Sounds a tad high posted by Bruce in BC on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 23:18:08 :
Not sure just what's in the VPW conversion, so I don't know if all this applies. Anyway, 13.5 won't fully charge a battery. 13.8 is safe to put on it forever. That's what I float my unused batteries at when they're in storage. Military specs are a nominal 28 volts at the battery, or 14 for each unit. I generally try to get about 14.5 max with an electromechanical regulator because I've had too much trouble with the settings drifting around and the battery not fully charging. I'm talking about the kind where you bend the spring tab on the voltage coil to set the voltage. Above 15 is going to wreck the battery eventually. With an old-fashioned wet battery you could just check the electrolyte periodically and top it off if it "boils out" too much, but I think the optima would get ruined if overcharged. Do make sure that you're checking right at the battery posts. If the voltage is more than a volt or so higher at the generator/alternator output, measured to its case, than at the battery posts, check around for poor connections or undersized wire.
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