charging batteries over winter

[ilario11]

Hey folks,

 

Happy new year..

 

Question: should I be charging my batteries over winter? I have a deep cycle and a cranking battery that I use for my trolling motor and my sonar

 

I have a charger...they're sitting in my 14' in my garage.. i think I'm supposed to charge them once a month..any help would be appreciated!

 

thanks

[lew]

I store mine in the basement and top up the charge every 2 months.

 

Works well for me.

[nofish4me]

Just don't leave them sitting on a cement floor, place some scrap wood underneath them.

Will stop them from draining down.

Edited January 14, 2008 by nofish4me

[Sinker]

I hook up a small light bulb to mine so its not just sitting there......then charge it when I notice the light getting dim.

 

Just keeps the battery cycling all the time.

 

Sinker

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

I sent a question about proper battery storage to a well known Marine Mechanic during the fall ..here is his reply:

 

I get this question alot and found out that there are alot of myths and the concrete floor is one of them.

 

To stop the battery from discharging thus needing to be charged during the winter adding another cycle to its life put it in the COLD. COLD weather stops the battery from discharging and that stops it from freezing.

 

Alot of golf courses that have carts run into the battery dilemma on a big scale. Each cart has alot of batteries. Anyway they check the level of electrolyte and fill using only distilled water and then fully charge the battery and then put it out side and wait for the snow to come.

 

I check the fluid levels in my batteries and then fully charge them and then put the boat in the barn. Have had no issues using this method I will put the charger on them once to check the charge and it usually shows fullly charged in a couple of minutes.

 

Right now I am using and selling Interstate Batteries, I have used them for some years and have had good success with them. I know the battery show is sometimes a crap shoot but having been there and got the T-shirt I now know what's what with batteries and that's why I went with Interstate. There are only 4 battery manufacturers in North America. One in Japan and a couple in the EU. The difference is the performance specific to each battery brand but manufactured by the same company.

 

You get what you pay for and I found that Interstates 29 series deep cycle has the same perfomance specs as other companies 31 dc.

 

Big thing is the fluid level and fully charge before storage and everything should be fine.

[Gerritt]

Just don't leave them sitting on a cement floor, place some scrap wood underneath them.

Will stop them from draining down.

 

 

 

Sorry but that is an urban myth.... google battery myths... you'll see what I mean

 

 

Plastics and concrete dont react to one another and the acid in the battery is protected by the plastic case.

 

G

[Gerritt]

TroutnMuskyHunter beat me to it by seconds lol

 

Good post TMH

 

G

[Fisherman]

Get one of these and leave it hooked up all winter, my RV battery is a 1998, the boat battery is 2002, both 100%. http://www.vdcelectronics.com/batteryminder_12117.htm

[Squid]

I have left mine in the boat for 4 yrs now and they work just fine.

[ilario11]

well, I didn't fully charge them before winter (last tuse was Oct) and they've been sitting in my boat in the garage since then....

 

there's some conflicting info here; should I give them a good charge right now then jkust leave them sitting in the boat? since it's cold in there, it seems like a good environment.. everyone seems to agree here that cold is good for the battery life..

 

 

thanks again fellas!

[irishfield]

Cold is good for battery life...ONLY IF IT's FULLY CHARGED.. so it won't freeze. I'd suggest charging them up asap ! Even "after use" they aren't always fully charged. Mine were really low after last use due to draw being = or higher than the kicker was producing for 4 days of trolling BOQ in November.

[Bernie]

The myth started years ago when batteries were made in wooden cases. It was true back then because the electrolyte would soak into the lime in the cement neutralizing the acid in the battery. The cold temperatures slow down the chemical reaction in battery's, it's usually hot temperatures that will accelerate deterioration but the colder temps is where it shows its weakness. Most of my auto battery sales are in the fall during pre-winter inspections. The new style battery electronic testers are amazingly accurate but I still use the old style load test to verify. Got to say that I prefer the Interstate line of battery as well. Sell several brands but the least amount of problems with the Interstate.

[ilario11]

ok, looks like I'll have to run in the garage right now!!!

 

should I charge them on the 2 V setting or the 12v (i think that's what the voltage is...i know that there's 2 settings - a low and a high)

 

 

thanks guys! greatly appreciate the help!!

 

poacher

[Fisherman]

Use the lower setting, it's not as fast but doesn't cause a higher rate off gassing a water loss.

[Rich]

I trickle charge my deep cycle once a month in the winter. Seems to work well.

[Terry]

I am sure you mean 2 amp or 12 amp not volt

if you think they might be frozen or all but charged ,use the lower setting but if they are down a lot and not frozen then use the high setting, most chargers these days are smart chargers and will knock the amps down once they reach about 80% of full charge but after about 6 hours you can put it on the 2 amp setting to finish topping up the charge

[douG]

I hope no one believes the myth about placing batteries on a concrete floor being a myth. That's a myth for sure.

[irishfield]

Nope...definitely wasn't a myth in 1906 !

[TroutnMuskieHunter]

Nope...definitely wasn't a myth in 1906 !

 

lol....

[bassjnkie]

Got an onboard chargers 4 years ago, never failed me yet. It's the way to go. Or if you have the battery in the garage ebay has nice float chargers that plug in to the wall with 2 clips (12V 1amp). Oh, ya they are priced well.

 

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?f...&category0=

 

Daniel

OCH