yearly battery replacment

[MH Hawker]

bruce I do have a switch that's turned off when not in use, and its gets a 2 hour run once or twice week. the motor has a 4 amp charging system and I have a 15 watt solar panel to top it off... its been like this for 6 years, and I have tried several things over time. the batteries have all died with a open cell, its a 10 hp lake

i have one of the HF load testers and i am not the only one its a stream of batteries going to and from the charging shed` all summer the worst discharge is 80 % on a night fishing trip and that's once a week when its hot and no power at the slip, however the marina staff will take it out of the boat and charge it for you

its a 4 amp charger built into the motor I tried running it to charge the first year and that takes about 8 hours of run time and 9 gallons of gas sort of time consuming and it was still dead by year end and i added a battery switch

second year I added the solar panel that kept it at full charge


third year to now i just enjoy it and except it as the cost of boating on a 10 hp lake what i save on fuel and the aggravations from jet fleas and bass holes is worth it all though most of the common marine battery's i have found have a 12 mouth warranty, i am trying a AC delco this year that has a 18 mouth warranty

 

[alldodge]

A battery should be able to sit for two weeks without issue. With a 4 amp charger there should be no issue even more so, unless there is something wrong with the charger.

So you have a 4 amp plug in charger and a solar charger on this battery?

You could use a non-marine battery, your not going to see the vibrations where you boat. After checking everything that may be draining the battery, the next thing would be to pick up an AGM

Woops :facepalm: should have read the post better

 

[ondarvr]

The motor has a 4 amp charging system, when the boat sits it has a 15W solar panel.

​ I'd say that adds up to almost no charging being done, 2 hours of 4 amp max charging, plus some discharging, then maybe 1amp max from the solar charger on a clear day at noon equals almost nothing.

 

[dingbat]

You don't mention what size battery your using.

I suspect your problem is a combination of to deep of discharge and not enough charger.

80% is about as deep as you can go. I would suggest increasing your battery size by 25% or so.

A 4 amp charger isn't doing you any favors. If your discharging 80% twice a week, you need A 10 or 20 amp charger with deep cycle charge mode

 

[MH Hawker]

yes its a bad situation but how it is, and i have thought several times about using a car battery and may do that when the delco fails, i use a group 27 due to running the lights and stereo and live well , the live well is on a adjustable timer for power consumption, night fishing pulls it down to around a 80 %, i use a percent of charge meter to monitor it

i understand what going on due to slow charging it allows crud to build up on the cells till it fails,` i tried having the marina charge it once a month but it didn't make any difference by seasons end but it really isn't all that bad the benefits of being on a 10 hp lake out weights the cost, my fuel use is around 1 gallon a hour so like this season i clocked 68 hours so that's 68 gallons of fuel so that's a huge amount of lake time, due to the hp limit no jet fleas buzzing around and pissing me off and no 300 hp bass holes, i can let my grand kids wander around the boat while its under way in safety and have a pleasant ride with out having to be on guard ever second

 

[MH Hawker]

i am using a group 27 and yes i am sure the lack of or slow charging is killing them

 

[alldodge]

Can get a 500 watt generator with a 12V output for around $150, or 1000W for $400. The 500 weights around 20 pounds and can run for 7 to 8 hours on a gall of gas.

 

[roscoe]

Remove and take home after every outing to give it a proper charging.

Or you could install a charging connection in your car/truck.
Set it in, connect charging plug, let your car charge it between outings. That is if you drive your car enough during the week.

Make everything quick-connect, and it will only take 30 seconds to remove/connect.


Other options are to kill the stereo, and convert all lights to LED.

 

[bruceb58]

Next time you go out(probably next year I imagine) measure the voltage at the battery(after 20 minutes of no charging) and see what it's getting up to and compare to this chart.

You want it to be fully charged. Don't measure it with your solar charger connected.

Just so you know, your solar charger is delivering around 1/2A which is nearly nothing in the scheme of things.

Can you buy a higher current stator for your outboard?

 

[bassman284]

I'm not sure why you think a car battery is going to do any better. A battery is a battery and if you don't get it fully charged after every use (and you're NOT getting it charged) it's going to die pretty fast. The 4 amp charger on the motor ain't gonna do it and the 1/2 amp (or so) of the solar charger ain't gonna do it. You need to take it out of the boat and put it on a real charger every time you use it.

 

[bruceb58]

the worst discharge is 80 % on a night fishing trip and that's once a week when its hot and no power at the slip

If you mean you have used 80% of the battery capacity, that's one of your huge problems. You should never discharge a deep discharge battery past 50%. If it's a starter type battery, you shouldn't discharge it past 10%.

 

[MH Hawker]

the marina offers free charging they will pick it up from the from the boat and bring it back on my next trip out so i don't need a gen or any thing else and i can set it up with Anderson connectors, i just haven't, ever week when i go out its back to a full charge

the only difference i expect from a car battery is the warranty period, most marine battery's are 12 months and a car is 24 to 60 months i get the 12 before they die, i have no idea if it will help

i am trying a AC delco voyager right now it has a 18 month warranty so i may get 2 seasons out of it

the way i am looking at it is a battery is a consumable just like oil and gas and and bait with the low cost of a battery ( 125.00 ) and i get a full season out of one, March to November that's 32 weeks and i go out fishing once a week, it costs me around 2000 a year so that's not much in comparison to most slip kept boats, slip rental and insurance is 1000.00 fuel for this last year was 200 lol and bait was 800

 

[bruceb58]

If you use a car battery, you are lucky to even get a year out of it the way you discharge your battery.

 

[alldodge]

The amount of discharge appears to be the main issue, might want to think about installing two batteries in parallel. Should help from discharging the battery so low that its damaged. Either that or change to a 4D or 4DLT, but there heavy

 

[MH Hawker]

this is what i use to monitor the battery condition when its down to 80 % its used 20 of the storage capacity the voltage is around 12.4 its not draining by 80 % only 20 %, my fault i didn't mean to be mis leading

 

[MH Hawker]

my question is their any battery's out there will stand the low and slow charge, i am petty sure that's a no but i thought i would ask

 

[ondarvr]

my question is their any battery's out there will stand the low and slow charge, i am petty sure that's a no but i thought i would ask

It's not the low and slow charge, it's virtually no charge. Batteries can't survive that.

 

[johnson89]

I use a car battery for starting,it is a $48.00 wal -ma battery it now 5 years old and going strong, my 2 trolling motor batteries are 4 years and going strong,I justed checked them yesterday with a hydrometer....... the deep cycle batteries I put on a charger after every trip and my starting battery every other trip....keeping them fully charge keeps them in good shape

 

[fishrdan]

Poor to no charging is killing the batteries. Try to figure out a better solar charger solution (100W?) or, pull the battery and charge it at home. roscoe mentioned using a quick disconnect, add a battery box to a collapsible wheeled cart and it shouldn't be too much of a hassle hauling the battery back-forth. The downside to taking the battery out is, forgetting it at home and only remembering it when you get to the boat... A solar panel that will push 100W isn't going to be small, so that would be a pain also.

Someone mentioned a generator, but I think that would need to be coupled to a 120->12V charger to properly charge a battery as the output from the generator will probably be 12V flat, and not the 13-14V needed to re-charge the battery properly. I could be wrong on that though.....