Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

[jumpjets]

I just winterized my boat, and I have my deep cycle and starting battery stored in my garage. Instead of buying a battery tender or other gizmo to keep my two (relatively new) batteries fresh and healthy over the winter, what if I just put them in my truck?

Every few weeks I can cycle a battery through my truck. I'll put my marine starting battery in the truck, use it for a couple weeks, then use the deep cycle in the truck, etc...

Is this a ridiculous idea or would it work? Will I damage my deep cycle battery by using it as an automotive battery?

 

[NYBo]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

It would work, but that's an awful lot of work to avoid connecting a charger every couple of months.

 

[R DAVIS]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

Just use a couple inexpensive trickle chargers connected to a timer, available at Home Depot or Lowes, and set it to charge the batteries an hour or so every day. That will keep them topped off with no danger of overcharging.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

I just winterized my boat, and I have my deep cycle and starting battery stored in my garage. Instead of buying a battery tender or other gizmo to keep my two (relatively new) batteries fresh and healthy over the winter, what if I just put them in my truck?

Every few weeks I can cycle a battery through my truck. I'll put my marine starting battery in the truck, use it for a couple weeks, then use the deep cycle in the truck, etc...

Is this a ridiculous idea or would it work? Will I damage my deep cycle battery by using it as an automotive battery?

Ayuh,.... Ya could I suppose,... I just leave mine in the boat, 'n give 'em a charge in the spring,...

If they don't hold a charge then, it's time for new 1s anyways,...

 

[KD4UPL]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

Swapping batteries around sounds like waaaay too much work. Trickle chargers are really cheap.
The simplest thing to do is put them in the garage and leave them there until spring. I never put a charger on mine all winter. They always start the boat fine in the spring. The last set of batteries were 7 years old when I replaced them. This set is about 3 now.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

Ayuh,.... Ya could I suppose,... I just leave mine in the boat, 'n give 'em a charge in the spring,...

If they don't hold a charge then, it's time for new 1s anyways,...

^ thats what I do. 6 years on the batterys.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

Is this a ridiculous idea or would it work? Will I damage my deep cycle battery by using it as an automotive battery?

Nah, I have a "deep cycle" marine battery that is 10 years old and it's still working ok!

It's been on and off a trickle charger all those years.

I don't know if it would last that long in a car though. That's a LOT more and heavier discharge/charge cycles. I have never gotten my (car/truck) batteries to go more than about 7 years or so.....

 

[jkust]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

I can tell you aren't in a cold climate (aside from your sig). What motivates us here where we can generally claim the coldest temp in the country most winter days is that we plan and prevent ever having to do any work that requires us to be outside in the cold where someone has no heated garage. Just the act of swapping out a battery under the hood as simple as it is even with a complicated battery placement is multiples more difficult when the ambient is below zero in the garage. A battery tender/maintainer with the computer chip for $20 is the way to go even if somehow I had the required time to do a battery swap. At minimum you could just bring the battery in the house. I've found that marine batteries seem to handle even the worst maintenance well while power sport batteries such as in a snowmobile go bad in a year of improper maintenance. I can't tell you how many stories of 10 year old marine batteries stored outside every winter in the boat are still going strong. I suppose the drive there our lakes are small and we don't float out to sea because of an engine not starting so we can get away with it.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Crazy idea for keeping winterized batteries fresh

Well, you can look for the easy way out or follow the principle "Whatever gives you more to do is more interesting" in which case cycling them through the truck wins.