That sounds good, you'll know the battery is fully charged when it drops to
13v.  I'd still get a decent charger made to maintain Gels though for winter
storage, and between trips.  The alternator simply won't charge these unless
it can put out 14.4 volts consistently.

Here is the one I have:  www.ctek.com  I have the 3300.

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Michael Diehr
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:18 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Why AGM batts don't last as long as they should

> Anytime I hear of a Vanagon with a dead AGM or two, I'm curious to
> know
> what is the charging voltage at the battery terminals? If anything
> less
> than the "magic" number of 14.2 or so, an AGM is going to perform
> poorly or less than optimal.

I have an optima yellow top that never seemed to get charged properly
from the alternator.   About a year ago I added a supplemental solar
panel (el-cheapo brand):
  http://www.sunforceproducts.com/english/details.asp?id=89

Any idea if this charge controller is putting out enough voltage?  The
manual
   http://www.sunforceproducts.com/prodinfo/manuals/SunforceSolarManEng.pdf
suggests it will charge up to 14.2 volts, and cut back in at 13
volts.   Problem solved ?