"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...

Do most boaters disconnect the battery from the boat, and set it on the
dock
overnight, before evaluating the state of battery charge?

If you want to establish state of charge based on voltage alone then that is
what you should do. It doesn't have to be overnight, but an hour would be a
good idea.

If the battery is not at rest then you have to consider the current along
with the voltage, which makes things a lot harder. A battery at rest will
NOT be at 13.2 volts. A battery charger will "float" a battery at around
13.2 volts, and IF the battery is fully charged there will be little or no
current flow into the battery. If you measure the battery voltage when it
is connected to a charger then you need to verify that the current is near
zero before you can say that the battery is fully charged.

Rod