Got a Battery Charging Question? Let me know!

[Island Jay]

Well, it is that (Sad) time of year coming up for many boaters who need to wrap things up. Winterization is never fun. It is usually around this time of year that I get asked a bunch of battery charging questions. If anyone has any questions about battery charging over the winter for storage purposes, feel free to ask away!

 

[octavio3311]

Winterization???? Dude - don't speak such evil! Its bad enough Sam Adams is pushing Octoberfest for the last month, Dunkin Donuts is pushing pumpkin crap, Costco's is pushing Halloween - now @ChargerGuy is pushing WINTERIZATION! Besides - summer just showed up. These last 2 weeks have been the hottest its been all summer - it's been 88-90 everyday.

Damn You!

 

[Island Jay]

Seriously, I walked into DD today and saw Pumpkin Muffins..is summer really over?

 

[gsbrown]

Well, it is that (Sad) time of year coming up for many boaters who need to wrap things up. Winterization is never fun. It is usually around this time of year that I get asked a bunch of battery charging questions. If anyone has any questions about battery charging over the winter for storage purposes, feel free to ask away!

I have a battery charging question. I bought my 1st boat in September and it's now winterized with the battery pulled. How often do I need to charge the battery to keep it like new? I have a manual charger from Sears that is 2/40/200 amp. Wondering if I can charge it with this and how long is safe to keep it on 2 amp setting?

 

[Bruce]

Assuming the battery is inside where it will not freeze and disconnected you should be fine charging it before storage and before reinstallation. It should not discharge more than 5% per month sitting on a shelf.

 

[gsbrown]

Thanks for reply. So I will move it to the basement instead of the garage. Arctic blast coming this week. The last time I had the boat out was in October and the last time the engine ran was at the dealer to winterize it in early November. Should I charge it at all before I store it?

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for reply. So I will move it to the basement instead of the garage. Arctic blast coming this week. The last time I had the boat out was in October and the last time the engine ran was at the dealer to winterize it in early November. Should I charge it at all before I store it?

It will not hurt to charge it before storing. If you do not want to you might use a multimeter to check the voltage. I have several batteries sitting on shelves and try to keep them above 12 volts.

 

[haknslash]

I have an onboard charger and every other week I will plug it in and let it get a maintenance charge during the whole day and then I unplug the charger but leave the battery still hooked to the boat. Is this fine to do or is it better to give the battery a good charge and then pull it? My boat is stored in my garage and it doesn't freeze much here. Boat voltage seems fine so far doing it this way but want to make sure this is OK.

 

[Bruce]

@haknslah, our boat is stored in our basement garage that never approaches freezing. I leave the onboard charger plugged in year round. The only thing I change for winter is turn the refrigerator off. I have two group 31 AGM batteries that have made it through their third season and working like new.

I assume your charger switches to a float or maintenance mode once the battery is charged. If so I would leave it plugged in.

 

[haknslash]

Yea it's a Prosport 6 so it has maintenance mode. I just have fears of leaving it plugged in while not at home as it does get warm and you just never know with electronics.

 

[Island Jay]

You can leave that charger plugged in 24/7/365 as long as it has good venting. If you unplug it, it will not back feed the power into the charger. No wrong way either way, but keeping it plugged in makes sure the battery is always topped off and conditioned.

 

[SeanPC]

I'll be pulling the batteries out of my boat Saturday after we take it out. Not looking forward to the 52 degree swing in temp in 24 hours...

 

[MattFX4]

I know this old thread but I have a question maybe someone can answer. I have the Cabelas 3 bank charger pictured below. Currently I have two lead acid batteries that came with the boat from Yamaha. I want to take one out and replace with 2 group 31 agm batteries from sam's club while they are on sale. My question is will this work with the charger? Can it charge 1 lead acid group 24, and 2 group 31 Agm batteries at the same time? I read somewhere the agm's charge at same voltage as lead batteries. The only ones that were different were the true gel cells.

 

[Mainah]

@MattFX4 - I assume that the two group 31 will be wired in parallel for the house bank. In which case you are asking about charging a two bank system (three batteries but two banks) with a three bank charger. I don't know about that brand of charger but some smart chargers that sense battery type will charge the separate banks differently. Keep in mind that hooking two sets of charger leads to one bank could cause issues but that is also effectively what is happening to those who have not cut the red loop wire on the DVSR anyway so perhaps not a big issue but certainly bettery to avoid.

Good Luck

 

[MattFX4]

@Mainah yes, what I would like to do is run 3 batteries. Two group 31 AGM's wired in parallel for the house bank, along with 1 standard battery for starting engines. I will have to read up on the charger a bit more. At first I was thinking 3 batteries, and 3 charger leads so I should be good to go. Not sure that is the case though since the two batteries wired in parallel is one bank.

 

[MattFX4]

I think each battery will have a charger lead connected to it, even though the two wired in parallel represents one bank. I found the diagram below on Promariner's web site for their two bank charger. The Cabela's charger is just a rebranded Promariner. I think I will have to do the DVSR wire mod though.

 

[2nazt]

It senses them individually. See step 2 below

 

[MattFX4]

@2nazt Thanks. Been reading up and it sounds like charger is pretty smart. I don't think the DVSR will affect anything either since the charger reads each battery separately.

 

[swatski]

I don't think the DVSR will affect anything either since the charger reads each battery separately.

Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. I am with you, took me few weeks to wrap my head around that one, but the guys here know what they are talking about.

--

 

[MattFX4]

I need to look at the dvsr threads again. That is odd though. 3 charger leads connected directly to three batteries. Seems like it would read each battery independently. My head is hurting too much to think about it haha