Lead Acid Batteries

For a good source of info on batteries and boat electrical systems, read the blue pages in your West Marine catalog. It's free. Lead acid batteries gas when being charged, that is the acid as it takes a charge gives off hydrogen gas from the water. So, regardless of how "smart" your charger is, you must water your batteries on a regular basis. I have six 6 volt deep cycle batteries in our house bank on Satori, our Cal Cruising 46. The are on constant charge when we are on shore power, so the first day of each month I add distilled water. I am now replacing these batteries after 7 1/2 years. I have ordered them from West Marine, (Who else?), to have the same build date. That way they are all apt to fail about the same time. When one battery in a bank fails, the charger tries to make up the difference and fries all of the batteries. A few years back I installed batteries I got from Sams Club, they failed in two years. When removing them and replacing with good West Marine batteries I found the Sams Club batteries weighed 8 pounds less than the West Marine same external size. You get what you pay for. Tom Vandiver