Ok to leave onboard charger plugged in for extended periods?
 

I plugged in my onboard charger yesterday before leaving town for several days and forgot to unplug prior to leaving. Is it ok to leave a charger hooked up or should I find someone to go by my house and unplug?

Answer should be good for me long term since I am often on the road for work and would like to know the batteries are charged when returning.

You should be fine> thats what they are made for.

I leave mine on all winter.

Does yours drop down to the 'float/maintainer' cycle after reaching full charge?

Hi Guys,
I run one too. They are great. It also comes in handy dockside when 110V is available, allowing me to run lights/fans/stereo/DVD/etc without having to worry with shore power wiring.
The only thing to be wary of is a voltage spike from lightning.
I have seen it burn out an onboard charging system. I can't remember if it fried anything else (on a friend's boat).
I think it would help the other systems (ECU/ignition/stereo/etc) to make sure the battery switch is off to isolate them from a voltage spike (the hot side, anyway) coming through the charger and batteries.
Steve

depends on whether it will shut down when batts fully charged and float...some just keep charging and boil the batts to death

I'm not sure what kind it is. I have really only used it for short periods just prior to going out. I guess I will see Monday. Thanks for the input.

If your boat looks like a melted ice cream cone when you get back you left it on to long.

I follow these recommendations (see page 2). They are not a fan of trickle chargers...

http://www.eastpenn-deka.com/assets/base/0273.pdf

A trickle charger is exactly as named and always provides a small amount of current to maintain voltage levels ....the new smart chargers are susposed to be able to monitor voltage and not overcharge ....not sure how well they work ....but I do know that since I added an onboard charger all my battery problems ended .....m