Deep-cycle battery charging

[LazyJ]

I'm reading on here where many get six years of life from they're batteries and I'm lucky to get three. I've tried most of the name brands of wet-cell types, almost never deeply discharged, water (distilled) never gets below plates, always charged promptly after each day of use. <br /><br />I'm wondering if I'm using the wrong charger since its a cheap Schaeur 10 amp all-purpose type or maybe wrong method. On good batteries it generally starts charging at amps roughly equivalent to how many hours it was fished and declines at roughtly an amp per hour until I shut it off when reaching a 1 amp trickle. Does that sound about right or am I missing something important?<br /><br />The charger has conventional, maint-free, and manual settings. Don't know what the difference is but I always use manual because the charger begins the cycle at a higher amperage than the other settings. That's good right?

 

[jlinder]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

Do you need to add water often? If you are losing water it is being boiled away. If it is being boiled away you are overcharging and shortening the life of the battery.<br /><br />I can't answer about the setting on your battery charger - maybe someone else has experience with these.

 

[Richard Petersen]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

How many days a week do you recharge , a month, then a year. You are in year round fishing. 3 or 4 days a week = 52 X 4 = 200 charges per year X 3 = 600 charges for a battery. You are doing very well compared to most trollers I know.

 

[LazyJ]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

Good point, I'm thinking closer to 100-120 charges per year between fishing and lighting deer camp in the fall. I also bounce them around alot in the back of an off-road golf cart powering the lights. The shock could be damaging them I suppose. <br /><br />I was more concerned that I was undercharging them or perhaps not shooting enough amps through them to do the equalization thing. Is there a voltage I should target at the end of on-charge? A voltage that deems them 50% discharged?

 

[LazyJ]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

This guy's site says 250-350 charges are all you can expect, I'm easily hitting that.<br /><br /> Gary Yamahamamoto

 

[Boatist]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

The charger your have is actually a very good charger. The Maint free setting shuts down at a little higher voltage than the convential and the manual setting has no voltage regulation at all so can overcharge. I have two of these chargers and I always use the Maint free setting. Charging the battery if will drop all the way to zero Amps and when it does I then let maintain that charge for another hour.<br />I have never had a battery that did not last 6 years but I do not have a electric trolling motor. Starting battery runs everything needed for the boat. (Starter, ingition, Navagition lights, bilge blower, bilge pump, Wiper, tilt and trim motors, trim tabs. Aux battery runs everything else.<br /><br />Do You charge your batteries at least one time a month and never leave discharge?

 

[LazyJ]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

I have two of these chargers also and a dedicated 20 amp circuit I run them on so if I discharge both my batteries neither has to wait to be charged. I have a timer I set to 12 hours so if a happen to forget about them they won't cook themselves. There's no way they ever sit idle for more than two weeks. I need to start keeping logs on them, thinking about it last night I use these things alot, lights during frequent power outages, 12v sprayer, 12v transfer pump, we've even got 12v lights on my son's basketball court. Richard's probaby right, I should be happy I'm getting the number of cycles I'm getting and not worry about the age of the battery. <br /><br />So, I've got to buy a replacement for an Interstate that's almost 3 years old. I've had Exide, Nautilus, DieHard, before with no warm fuzzies about any of them. The other battery I currently have is an Everstart and at two years still seems pretty hot. I'd say the Everstart and the Interstate have been the best I've had yet. Any brand loyalties out there?

 

[JB]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

Some deep cycle batteries have a memory. They remember how deep the previous discharge was. This is much more common in NiH batteries, but does sometimes occur in lead-acid types.<br /><br />Try completely discharging it once in a while, then charge back to the top.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[SeaTrek]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

......."Some deep cycle batteries have a memory. They remember how deep the previous discharge was. This is much more common in NiH batteries, but does sometimes occur in lead-acid types."<br /><br />Lead / Acid (wet) batteries do not have a memory.<br /><br />NiH? Nickel Metal Hydride (NIMH) do not have a memory.<br /><br />NICAD ..Nickel Cadmium do.<br /><br />As far as brand loyalty goes......<br />Trojan in my opinion makes the absolute best deep cycle "wet" batteries but they are not maintenace free.<br />You will always pay a premium for the maintenance free sealed batteries because of the convenience.<br />Unfortunately, since there is no way to do a hydrometer check on the cells, you can never really actually guage the true condition of the battery or get an idea of how much longer the battery will last. Passive voltage tests do nothing except read the surface volts available at a no load condition on sealed or wet batteies.

 

[LazyJ]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

Trojan is a good idea, I thought they only made 6v & 8v. Looking at their website they boast some good amp/hours in the Group 27 size. Now the trick will be finding them...

 

[ziemann]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

SeaTrek is 100% correct on battery types. NiCads are the batteries that will produce "memory" (a decrease in capacity) and that can be corrected by deep cycling (full discharge) of the battery. <br /><br />Lead acid and Nickel Metal Hydride batteries are still used in many industrial applications because of their advantages over NiCad (No issues with memory). The company I work for uses lead acid in cardiac monitoring equipment exactly for this reason. It is an old technology, but very reliable and forgiving. <br /><br />For marine deep cycle batteries, I agree....look at Trojan.

 

[Richard Petersen]

Re: Deep-cycle battery charging

Yuasu is great for car batteries. All Hondas last 6 to 8 years. Seldom add water.