What Voltage float to set to on charger?

**Family Traveller** · 5th June 2013, 12:39 PM

Hi all,
I have a question in regards with the battery charger on my van.
I have two wet cell batteries under van and the chargers float level is set to 13.2v. The charger has three settings 13.2, 13.5 and 13.8v.
Would it be better to have the float level set to 13.8v?
When connected to the D4 the volt gauge inside the van reads 14.1v so wouldn't it be better to have the batteries already at 13.8v so the car doesn't need to charge them up from 13.2v to 14.1v?
Thanks for any replies
Scott

**drivesafe** · 5th June 2013, 01:42 PM

Hi Scott and the reason the float voltage is lower than the D4’s voltage is because the float voltage is intended to do nothing more than stop the battery from self discharging.

Whereas the 14.1v from the D4 is intended to charge batteries.

Your battery will have a much longer life span if the permanent voltage is just above the battery’s fully charged voltage level ( 12.75v max ) than it would if it was on a permanent charging voltage level, anything from 13.8v and higher.

**Family Traveller** · 5th June 2013, 01:46 PM

Thanks for the reply, so out of the three settings, 13.2 is the best?

**drivesafe** · 5th June 2013, 07:31 PM

Hi again Scott and different batteries have different requirements, so the best thing to do is to get the make and model of your battery and do a google.

Find the battery’s manufacturer’s web site, NOTE, you need the manufacturer’s web site, not some resellers advertising.

Many of the battery manufacturers will list the optimum charging and float voltages for each battery they make.

**wrinklearthur** · 5th June 2013, 08:27 PM

excuse my ignorance, but I was under the impression that the float voltage was varied according to the ambient temperature ?
.

**drivesafe** · 10th June 2013, 05:12 AM

Hi Arthur and while temperature can have a factoring effect on battery use and charging but it is not that crucial that you need to factor it in when either charging or discharging a van battery in normal usage.

If your were trying to fast charge a battery with a decent size battery charger, then the charger should be equipped with a temperature sensor so the problem should not exist in the first place.

Ironically a commonly used 40 amp DC/DC device is cooking batteries because it does not come with any form of temperature sensor, so I suppose the user of any battery charger or DC/DC device, needs to know the limitations that could be required.

Scott, what is the charge current rate of your battery charger?

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