Barry,

Here's an outfit that sells regulators and chargers for boats and 
wind/solar power systems.  Way more than you need, but they have a 
great deal of good information about the care and feeding of 
batteries.  One thing they address is the fact that the ideal 
charging voltage for a battery varies somewhat with its 
temperature.  They have regulators that use temperature probes to get 
their voltage exactly right.  They also address the technique of 
equalization charging, where you charge at well over the normal 
voltage for short periods in order to get all cells equally and fully 
charged.  With proper care, batteries can last quite a long time.

http://amplepower.com

Dave may want to check in on this, too.  He has assembled quite a 
good UPS system, though I think he's also trying to provide some 
emergency AC power for his whole house.

Brett

At 11:34 PM 10/31/2012, you wrote:
>Hi All
>I have got my station components to work on 12 vts DC thru the use 
>of DC/DC converters.My thought was that the DC/DC converters are 
>more efficient than wall warts and a UPS and the battery would last 
>longer on a power outage.  I would like to have the system  run on a 
>battery with something to maintain the battery health while under an 
>approx 1 to 2  amp load. . The problem is what to use to keep the 
>battery charged but also healthy. I tried a 1.5 vt 
>charger/maintainer which worked for ~ 2 years. I am not sure whether 
>it's the battery or the maintainer which is malfunctioning. I can go 
>into what I have done recently . My question is would a possible 
>scheme be to run a 6 amp charger on a wall timer work to cycle the 
>battery and prevent sulfation?  Maybe shutting off the charger for 
>say 8 hrs each day then put back on a 6 amp charge would work. 
>Alternatively is there a product  I could use to have battery 
>maintain charge and capacity for a reasonably long period of time.
>
>Regards
>Barry
>www.seismicvault.com
>


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