M...sushi.com wrote:

I suggest getting a gell cell to avoid battery acid spills or fumes. I
only use mine when in the field, so I don't have a set up as you
suggest. I charge my battery from a bench supply using 13.8v as a
float voltage.

Thanks, also to RHF and Cuhulin. I just took a look at these gel cells
on a couple of websites, incluidng the one recommended by RHF and some
others. This, of course, raises more questions :-)

How big a charger must one have? Must the current available on the
charger be some minimum fraction of the amp-hours of the battery, or
can one use a smaller charger and just leave it on longer?

Also, is the charge time a simple proportion between the charger
current and the battery amp-hour value? i.e., to recharge an 18
amp-hour battery with a 10-amp charger, the charge time is 1.8 hours -
?

Is it OK to drain a gel cell until it loses almost all of its charge?
Or is there some minimum level at which one must stop (25%, 50% or
etc)?

Finally, once the gel cell battery is fully charged, how does one know,
and will it hurt if the charger is kept on without checking? Does a
charger have a device to shut off when full charge is reached?

Thanks,
Bruce