Leaving a Charger on Battery

[choctaw]

I live almost 2 hours from my boat. Although I use it year round, someitmes it is a few weeks between trips. The cold weather is hard on the battery. Keep a bilge heater with a thermostat in it at all times, but wondering about keeping a trickle charger (2amps) on the battery. Will it damage the battery long term? Thanks!

 

[bob58]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Keeping a "Smart Charger" on your battery is a good idea. <br />A Smart Charger has a built in sensor that won't over charge your battery. Only kicks in charger when battery needs it!<br />I wouldn't use an automotive battery charger if the vessel is in the water unless you want to replace Zincs alot more often.<br />a good Marine charger won't hurt a thing as they are made so you don't have the stray current affecting zincs like regular auto chargers do.<br /><br />I used a auto charger while I was getting my crown three bank fixed and fried the zincs pretty well.

 

[cobra 3.0]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

To be safe I would put a timer on it and just charge it two hours per day on the trickle charger.

 

[choctaw]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[sloopy]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Perfectly SAFE! But two amps is not much, any regulated charger will work. Permanently installed ones are better since you can plug them in at the dock or the garage.

 

[andrewkafp]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Have you considered a solar charger ?<br /><br />http://www.iboats.com/mall/index.cgi?prod_id=5496&current_category=solar&cart_id=006 610959<br />This one looks great for a slow top up.

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

A regulated, quality solar charger might be a good option, but there are cheap imported solar trickle chargers available at import tool stores like Harbor Freight which can overcharge a battery relatively rapidly. The battery ends up damaged/destroyed by lack of water among other things. My brother is still cussing about his. I wouldn't guarantee that a so called maintenance free battery would fare any better, either. I haven't looked at the iboats link, but my guess is that one should be of the better variety. The other posts all show some good options.

 

[MrBill]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

A trickle charger, one that provides constant output, is not the proper type to use under the conditions you described. You need a "smart" type charger, one that recognizes when the battery is sufficiently charged and stops providing additional charge. There are four basic charger types, and different battery types also may require certain charger types. <br /><br />1 - Unregulated transformer chargers - are the cheapest and simplest, and provide constant charge, mostly for temporary charging, and risk over charging if left unattended.<br />2 - Regulated transformer chargers - prevent over charging, can be left unattended. Regulation on these varies between brands. Commonly this type charger may not charge batteries to 100%.<br />3 - Simple regulated primary switch mode chargers - are small and lightweight and have electronic circuitry to provide simple charging, shut off or switch to trickle charge, but they may not charge the battery to 100% if input current fluctuates.<br />4 - Advanced primary switch mode chargers - are fully electronic with adjustable charging for every type of battery. There is no risk of over charging and it will not be affected by changes in input current. This type charger should be used with the newer Gel type (solid electrolyte) batteries.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

I have heard that if there is a power failure for a long enough duration, the battery will discharge completely through the charger, even on an auto-shut-off charger. True or False, anyone?<br /><br />thanks,<br />jtw

 

[ThomWV]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

I was getting ready to give you exactly the same answer that Mr. Bill did, except that he said it a lot better than I could have. So I'm just here to reinforce his perfectly good answer.<br /><br />It wouldn't hurt a thing for you to put one of those little trickle chargers on the battery and walk away for a day, or two, or even maybe 4, but you wouldn't want one hooked up much longer than that. They WILL cause the rapid loss of electrolite compared to no charger at all. By contrast one of the smaller smart chargers could stay on, hooked up, and running for a year and it wouldn't hurt a thing. I say that as a guy who as had an on-board charger running on a trailered boat virtually every minutes it wasn't in motion for the last 9 years. These chargers in a size suitable for a pair of the ever so common Group 27 batterys will cost you just over $100 if you look around. Two of the very best are the Xantrex True Charge 10 and the Guest series 2600 chargers (completely encapsulated charger that could be operated in a very wet boat). Of course with any of them you have to check your electrolite levels regularly. I get down there into mine 4 times a year and I go through just over a gallon of water a year (distilled water in the bottle).<br /><br />So that's some background and a suggeston for you. Those chargers are for sale all the time on E-Bay by Boater's World, I think it is, with a buy it now price of $104.<br /><br />Thom

 

[Boatist]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Choctaw<br />If it is a cheap unregulated 2 amp charger then due not leave it on. <br />If it a smart, automatic, or 3 stage charger then will work fine and not hurt your batteries.<br /><br />Jtexas<br />If it is a real old charger that uses a leaky retifier then it could run it down. Most if not all charger today have good quality retifiers and if power was off for two week would not hurt a thing.

 

[Hooty]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Here's the hot ticket.<br /><br /> Battery Tender <br /><br />c/6<br />Hooty

 

[choctaw]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Lots of good advice. Thanks to one and all. I'm pricing the smart chargers.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

There is one at Wal-Mart, a 12/6/2 amp smart charger for 49.99. It can recondition all 12volt batteries, and it has autoshutoff and has a "full" indicator. It works great. I have two and wouldn't settle for anything less. It's in the automotive department. Go check it out! It's made by Vector.

 

[wrh3]

Re: Leaving a Charger on Battery

Originally posted by choctaw:<br /> I live almost 2 hours from my boat. Although I use it year round, someitmes it is a few weeks between trips. The cold weather is hard on the battery. Keep a bilge heater with a thermostat in it at all times, but wondering about keeping a trickle charger (2amps) on the battery. Will it damage the battery long term? Thanks!

What type of bilge heater are you using? I was at the boat show and saw this bilge heater that just came out and that was one of the selling points, keeping the battery healthy, www.xtremeheaters.com .