Amgen,

"Make voltage a little under the charged voltage of battery."

As I posted, battery voltage is not a fixed thing. It can vary from 11.something up to 14.5 volts under charge. That's the main reason why I have a hard time understanding how to use diodes.


Charlie,

I'm adding later the trickle charger shown in post #5 set at 12V 200mA.

The resistor might permit charging, but will it shut off when the battery will be full, or increase charge rate after battery has been drained after a power failure (I'm guessing no). Also, won't constantly charging the battery be bad for battery life over the long run? That would mean adding a sort of current monitoring circuit.

About decoupling caps on regulators, yup, leaving them out was intentional. It's the hexfets I'm interested in knowing if I have them wired properly. As far as I saw, I only need curent limit and pull-down resistors.

It's a Solex SB1270 12V 7Ah sealed lead acid battery.

Robert