This has been a special afternoon.
I thought, why not plug the SMB into shore power and top off that nice 2006 lifeline battery which was sitting at about 12.4 volts (after two months of ownership and a couple of thousand miles)? I did, and the built in SMB charger (an old Power Source 45) was putting out about 13.23.
I come back after 3-4 hours, still putting out 13.23. I disconnect shore power and suddenly the battery is in the 11 range.
I drive down to the auto store (in the SMB) to get a charger and charge off the alternator during the drive. At the store, it's reading 12.8 with the engine off but dropping like a rock (12.8, 12.79, 12.78, etc.)
I get home, strip off everything from the battery, remove the charger (thinking there must be a massive short). Some blood, lots of cursing..... During the time it has taken me to do this, we are now at 12 volts, 11.99, 11.98....
Now the "smart" batter charger hooked up and is telling me it's.......charged.....
The disconnected SMB charger is in my living room and is still putting out 13.23.
I like to learn from my mistakes. Did I just kill my battery somehow?
It's history is unknown to me so it could have been deeply and repeatedly discharged in the past. Was it just random chance that it picked this morning to die?
Tom
PS-sorry about the two threads on this topic, I didn't realize I would have a battery "emergency" until this afternoon.