Re: maintenance free battery not acceptable?
Welcome to iboats, Bachman!<br /><br />The ignition system on your 15hp has very little to do with the 12v system. It's very likely that the failure is unrelated.<br /><br />The reason they don't recommend "Maintenance Free" batteries is that the charging system on your 15hp is what is known as unregulated. What that means is it does not know to stop charging the battery when it is full.<br />When you overcharge a lead-acid battery it looses water. Maintenance free batteries have no provision for adding more. (Although most actually do under a label or something) So the charging system on your 15hp will wear out a maintenance free battery faster than a regular one simply by boiling off the water. This isn't really a very big problem on the small charge your 15hp puts out.<br /><br />This all ignores that there are now some maintanance free batteries on the market now that are able to stand overcharging rather well.<br /><br />What part of your ignition system failed?
