Battery low

[tomsboat]

I went down to the boat today found the house battery low in water.They left the engine compartment lights on since 12/6/18.The boat is in the water in the north east.Could the lights being left on drain the battery even though the charge was on. Tom

 

[Bacchus]

I went down to the boat today found the house battery low in water.They left the engine compartment lights on since 12/6/18.The boat is in the water in the north east.Could the lights being left on drain the battery even though the charge was on. Tom

My 6 old halogen ER light drew around 20 A. Most batty chargers should keep up w that unless other loads also present.
I'd charge them up and load check them.
Might be on the way out?

 

[BruceK]

Flooded LAs? The charger might keep up but constant charging likely lead to water loss which was not being replenished. Maybe whoever left the ER lights and main switch on for 6 months owes you a battery.

 

[FlyWright]

If your charger was on and the ER lights drained the battery, you might have more of a battery or charger problem than a load problem. Any charger should be able to keep up with the light electrical load.

Have you been keeping the distilled water up regularly on the batts? Do you have a modern 3- or 4-phase charger?

 

[BruceK]

Al, I inferred lights battery and charger were left to fend for themselves for 6 months. An unattended FLA batt left like that is likely to get into trouble.
Wonder if it would have been ok even without the load. Probably.

 

[Insequent]

Bruce, I don't think it was 6 months. I read the date as 6 December (another USA thing...)

 

[BruceK]

Bruce, I don't think it was 6 months. I read the date as 6 December (another USA thing...)

An entirely different scenario.Thanks Brian.

 

[High Wire]

I don’t think a few weeks with the er lights on would be enough to run batteries low on fluids. But it is possible if the er lights draw enough to drop the charger out of float and back into bulk or acceptance charge. Depends entirely on the charger settings and er lights load.
On float voltage should be 13.2-13.4 and acceptance charge at 14.4 -14.6 depending on battery manufacturers recommendations and your charger settings.
If you spend weeks at 14.5 volts yes you will gas off your electrolytes.