battery tender or not

[freddyray21]

Got the boat all winterize. Last year I just left the battery in it and in the spring put it on a trickle charge a couple of days before we took it out for the year. What does the group think about keeping it on a battery tender? I keep my boat in the garage (not heated) not outside.

 

[Bondo]

Re: battery tender or not

I don't think the Battery will Care,.....1 way or the Other.........

If put away Fully Charged,.... Batteries have a Wonderful Shelf Life,........
They're Batteries..............d

 

[Don S]

Re: battery tender or not

If you put it away fully charged and you disconnect it so it can't be used. It should be good in the spring. If it has to be charged in the spring, it needs replaced because there is something wrong. A good battery will start your engine fine in the spring.
Where would you like to find you have a bad battery. In the spring when you pull your boat out of storage, or out on the water when you stop to fish, camp, ski, or whatever and it won't restart because it didn't have it's presious trickle charger running for months to keep it LOOKING Good.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: battery tender or not

a real classless response Don

 

[freddyray21]

Re: battery tender or not

that really was not a fair statement Don and I apologize. I don't in fact even own a trickle charger and I have always just stored the battery unhooked in the boat fully charged. I had read somewhere you should use a battery tender on them and just wanted an opinion.

 

[Bondo]

Re: battery tender or not

just wanted an opinion.

Well,.........

You've got 2 So Far............

Battery Maintainers are Another "Marketing Ploy",.....

Just another Unnecessary thing that Somebody will tell you is Absolutely Necessary,..................

Antifreeze Winterizations is Another 1 that comes to mind........

 

[ron7000]

Re: battery tender or not

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq13.htm
http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/

the worst thing you can do is store a battery for an extended period of time in a discharged state. Batteries will also self-discharge even when disconnected, and it varies on the battery type. The purpose of a float charger or maintainer is to keep the battery at 100% at 13-13.5 volts. This helps prolong the life of the battery by preventing sulfation. Batteries that are discharged will also freeze at a warmer temp, so depending on your battery type, location, and what you buy for a float charger may or may not pay for itself. Also depends on how long you want to run on the same battery. If 2-3 years service life is acceptable then you probably don't want to get a float charger, but if you want 5+ years and prefer to put the effort into maintaining your battery then float chargers are a good thing. The BatteryMinder by vector from northerntool is what I have, a little less expensive than the batterytender and been using it for about 4 years and glad I bought it. Be careful on some chargers advertised as trickle chargers or maintainers, especially the bench type 2/10/100 style chargers. they will kill your battery by overcharging it.
I would say stick with the $50+ brand name float chargers, but I bought a $10 maintainer from harbor freight not too long ago and it keeps the battery at 13v and haven't had any problems with it so if you want a cheapo then try this http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41288

 

[Don S]

Re: battery tender or not

I'll stick by my original post. A good battery doesn't need to be kept charged during the winter, and rather it lacks class or not, where would your rather find you have a bad battery. In the spring when you take it out of storage, or out on the water the first time you stop for over an hour and it won't start. It was just a question! And you are the one that mentioned the trickle charger.

Last year I just left the battery in it and in the spring put it on a trickle charge a couple of days before we took it out for the year.

I just assumed that meant you had one, since you did it last year.
Still, if the battery was getting low, (possibly a bad cell, overcharged by a faulty or unregulated charger or whatever), you wouldn't notice it because the battery was charged for 2 days before you used it.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: battery tender or not

Don't know if the battery was getting low or not. I just hooked it to a charger on principal. At least to my understanding a trickle charger is different than a battery tender. To my understanding and I could be wrong a battery tender monitors the voltage of the battery and only comes on to charge when the voltage drops below a certain level. A trickle charger charges at a very low amperage all the time.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: battery tender or not

In the spring is the only time I ever put it on a charger last year. It started the boat fine all year. I had only read what Ron had written before about storing batterie and wanted opinion. The part I objected to in your answer was the condesending remark "because it didn't have it's presious trickle charger " I think the word presious [sic] was over the top

 

[bruceb58]

Re: battery tender or not

If you put on a trickle charger tha puts out a set small amount of current constantly regardless of battery charge, you could do more harm than good because you may cook your battery. Make sure you get a float charger.

I have an onboard charger in my boat and it stays connected all the time.

 

[Boatist]

Re: battery tender or not

As the weather get colder the battery needs charged less often. Any chemical receation slow down as the temperature drops. Still all batteries self discharge and in winter should be charged up every 2 month. In hot summer should be charged every month. If you only want your battery to Last 2 to 3 years then dont charge it in winter or summer. I check water levels once a year and charge in winter every two month and have never had a battery that did not last 6 years but will admit my deep cycle is only for electronics as I do not have a electric trolling motor. Charge with a smart charger that will shut down when the batteries are charged.

Do not use a trickle charger as most will over charge if left connected. Smart charger or battery maintainer and Most on board chargers do a great job of keeping batteries charged.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: battery tender or not

Well, heres my 2 cents. I've done (I agree with ron7000 here to) a manure house fulla reading on the subject, and as a conclusion, I have, and HAVE had for a few years, the cheapy Harbor Freight Float chargers on all my batteries year round (a lot of my toys get used sparingly).They put VOLTAGE in at between 13.20, and 13.50. Ask any Electrical wizard about that voltage, and they will agree, the sweet spot. It puts out damn near zero amps, but keeps the battery up, and will REALLY reduce sulfating. It must, as I have only replaced ONE battery in probably the last 8 years. Swear by them, would not own a SMART CHARGER if ya gave me one. Why pay 60 bucks, when you can get all ya need for 6 bucks (on sale now at the HF in town). I have 8 on my batteries now. Main thing is people just don't check the water. Unless its a SEALED battery, 9 out of 10 its got caps, even if it don't look it. Those recessed flat plates are still caps...look at the sides or corners, and you will see cutouts for sticking in a screwdriver to pry them off. And that includes most so called Maintenance Free batts .

 

[Scaaty]

Re: battery tender or not

And for a few bucks (like 20), while at HF, get a Load Tester. Put on any battery in the spring will instantly tell you if its go boating or go to town for a new batt first. Every boater should own one.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: battery tender or not

Scaaty,

i agree with you on the float charger. I do like having the smart charger because it can bring up a discharged battery and is permanently mounted in the boat so that when i go to my house on the lake, I can just plug it in and run lights, stereo, etc while I am docked.

You can't bring up a discharged battery with a float charger...at least not very fast.

The load tester that they sell at HF for $20 is just a voltmeter...and not a very good one at that. They do have something that they claim is a load tester for $50 but I doubt it can load the battery with 500 Amps like it claims.

 

[ron7000]

Re: battery tender or not

I have the carbon pile load tester from HF. It's the 500 amp one. The 100amp one is useless like you said because to do a correct load test it is one half the CCA rating or 3 times the amp-hour rating. The typical battery is 600-700 and can be as high as 1000 on a big starting battery- had them on my 7.3L F250. I load tested those at 500 amps and the tester worked just fine. Had to wear my welding gloves to pick it up afterwards though.

the smart chargers are nice because they will charge any discharged battery plus maintain it and requires no effort on your part. If you already have battery chargers then it might not be cost effective to spend the money on a smart charger but if you have nothing, then starting out with one smart charger at $50-$80 which will do everything is a good way to go especially if you have a few batteries to take care of.

 

[mkast]

Re: battery tender or not

Lead acid batteries can discharge over the winter because of the current path created on the battery case. Using a digital multimeter set on volts, place the positive lead on the positive battery post. Place the negative lead on the battery case. Unless the case is clean, current will flow. Before storage, clean, clean and clean.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: battery tender or not

Lead acid batteries can discharge over the winter because of the current path created on the battery case. Using a digital multimeter set on volts, place the positive lead on the positive battery post. Place the negative lead on the battery case. Unless the case is clean, current will flow. Before storage, clean, clean and clean.

Highly doubtful that you can be measuiring a battery discharge with a multimeter unless the battery exterior is extremely contaminated. More than likely, you are holding the probes with your fingers and measuring the conductivity through your body.

 

[mkast]

Re: battery tender or not

Highly doubtful that you can be measuiring a battery discharge with a multimeter unless the battery exterior is extremely contaminated. More than likely, you are holding the probes with your fingers and measuring the conductivity through your body.

It was an electrical current project at the A&P school I used to instruct at.
More than likely you commented before you tried it.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: battery tender or not

OK..I am willing to hear you out on this...how much current were you measuring in this experiment?

Was the exterior of the battery caked with deposits and moisture added?

I agree that it is important to keep the battery clean, I just question that you can actually measure what the discharge is accurately.