Battery Question

[ssupko]

With your boat stored our of water over the winter (4 months tops), if you have the ability to give the batteries a charge where the boat is stored every so often, due to having power at the location, is it really nessesary to remove them?

 

[estebanj]

You don't want them to be exposed to freezing temperatures, so it's better to remove them. If they are fully charged/well maintained, they are unlikely to freeze. But why take chances? Just take em home.

 

[Alex F]

I'm on board with estbanj. I always take them home and keep it mine in garage. I store them on wood planks to prevent the batteries loosing charge (I've herd that it'll happen if you store them on concrete for a while). I would charge them ones in mid winter and then at the end, before boating season. I would check the charge before installing them back in the boat.

Alex.

 

[Sorrento 25]

A charged battery can't freeze. They survive winters just fine in any other vehicle. They also will not discharge sitting on concrete.

Leave them in the boat on a good float charger IMO.

 

[sbw1]

I store them in the boat fully charged when the boat is put away. This works just fine. I recharge them in the spirng.

 

[wish2fish]

esteban.........a guy from south florida giving advice on freezing batteries? j/k

I leave mine on the boat and keep them on the promite charger. A have another set sitting in my shed for over a month and I just checked on them. The one on the charger was fully charged and Saturday night I switched the charger from one battery to the other and by Sunday morning the other battery was fully charged. Those batteries held their charge well and they just finished their second season.

 

[Warren]

Don't worry about your batteries Ssupko. If you put the boat away for the winter with the lead acid batteries fully charged they won't freeze. Just plug the boat charger in every 4-6 weeks if possible for a few hours and you will have lots of cranking power at launch!

16 winters for me and no issues!
Warren

 

[Henry Boyd]

I side with the 'charge em and leave em on the boat' crowd mainly because I believe hauling the batteries out of the engine compartment, then down a ladder, to the truck, then to the house and into the basement creates a greater risk of damage to the batteries, boat, truck, and me.

 

[sbw1]

The storing of batteries on a concrete floor used to be a problem many years ago. As pointed out, it's no longer an issue. In the "olden days" the battery cases were made of a different material that would allow electricity to go to ground. With today's plastic cases, which have now been around for quite some time, discharging is no longer an issue. If you have flooded cell batteries, the best thing you can do is keep the distilled water up to where it needs to be and put them away fully charged. When you go to your boat in the spring, turn the charger on right away and bring them up to a full charge. Once you have a battery fail due to age (not neglect), replace all of your batteries and you should be good for another 4-6 years. AGM batteries are expensive but do last a long time. They also discharge at a slower rate when in storage and require no maintenance other than proper charging. Buy quality. It pays.

 

[dpvandy01]

If you have flooded cell batteries, the best thing you can do is keep the distilled water up to where it needs to be and put them away fully charged. .

What an odd coincidence.... I was filling my batteries last night with distilled water for a charge and wondered "??What is the proper level???" Must be close to the mid-winter stretch......95 days here in cincy

 

[Sorrento 25]

esteban.........a guy from south florida giving advice on freezing batteries?

Ha good point. Two from S. FL giving freezing battery advice. Unfortunately I'm still here freezing in WI prepping the house for sale. Plenty of cold weather experience. The rest of the family is in FL where I will be again shortly.

 

[sbw1]

What an odd coincidence.... I was filling my batteries last night with distilled water for a charge and wondered "??What is the proper level???" Must be close to the mid-winter stretch......95 days here in cincy

You need to cover the plates. If your batteries have slots in the cells, when you take the caps off, fill with water until it touches the bottom of the slots.

 

[ssupko]

Thanks for the feedback. I like Henry's logic!

There was mention of "float" and "permite" charge. What are we talking about here?

 

[ssupko]

Also, when filling the cells, is there any harm in filling them right to the top of the opening. (Like, almost overflowing, or maybe even overflowing a little bit, and then just poping the caps on?)

The H2O won't expand unless frozen, so I can't see the harm - But this was my first year as a boat owner, and I don't have a ton of experience with these deep cells.

 

[wish2fish]

Also, when filling the cells, is there any harm in filling them right to the top of the opening. (Like, almost overflowing, or maybe even overflowing a little bit, and then just poping the caps on?)

The H2O won't expand unless frozen, so I can't see the harm - But this was my first year as a boat owner, and I don't have a ton of experience with these deep cells.

do not over fill. The fluid should be within 1/4 of the plastic but not touching. If you fill to the plastic the acid ends up on top of battery.


Promite is a marine battery charger made by Promariner. link to website

 

[wingless]

Idle batteries lose about 10% charge per month, more at higher temperatures.

Do NOT let batteries remain at less than 50% state of charge, as they will sulfate, sustaining permanent damage losing capacity.

The best way to store batteries is on a trickle charger, maintaining them at 100% charge.

A six-bank safety charger was built for mine, w/ individual fuses and isolating resistors, so I get a single point connection to maintain float voltage on mine during the winter.