Tried to start the boat today...

[NANUK]

I am with irishfield for battery charging, I don't trust any charger left hooked up to the battery, seen too many cooked batteries by "smart" chargers,

I use a portable automatic charger and charge them till fully charged, disconnect charger till next time.

[Mister G]

An onboard charger is not a "maintainer". It's designed to charge at high amps and shut off when done. As batteries get older they have a very bad habit of not shutting off and continuing to boil away with the last "count down" light still on and not shutting off.

 

Maintainers, at least older models, have a bad reputation of sulphating batteries 'til they short out.

 

I do nothing special, charge the batteries properly (after a load test) and let them sit for months. Repeat. Has worked for 40 years or so for me.. My plow trucks batteries are now both 13 years old, still both pull 1100 CCA as of yesterday when I checked them, then a full charge overnight so the truck can sit until Fall.

Most modern day on-board chargers have several modes and a maintainer mode is one of them......

 

Maybe you should read the manual from this manufacture that I have on my boat and it's plugged in ALL the time I'm not fishing and I have one 9 year old battery and one 7 year old battery.

 

http://promariner.com/products/waterproof-on-board-marine-battery-chargers/prosport-series/

[Mister G]

My understanding is that along with the radios maintaining memory, the internal or external puck antenna to the GPS graph will also draw current if left connected. Even though the unit/s are switched off.

This is true on the older units that have a external puck antenna that is powered by a network or units that have a separate power wire to power the external puck antenna without a network like a Lowrance LMS unit for a example. Now with the new HDS units that have built in GPS antennas all the power is controlled by the power button on that unit. However, if that unit is hooked up to a NMEA network system, then that network must have it's own power supply and MUST be controlled with a switch or you will have a drain on the battery and it's not good to have the network powered all the time the boat in not being used. If that network is powering say a Point 1 puck antenna because this is a much better GPS antenna then any built in antenna you could burn out this puck antenna if it's constantly powered and of course drain your battery.

[Sinker]

I think it's a push, I'll buy if both you guys come out.

I think we need Mr. Brock to join in the bogie trip.

 

Either way, we definitely need to hook up!

 

Btw...battery life has a lot to do with how much you use them. I pretty much kill my deep cycles everytime im on the water because i do a lot of slow trolling eyes with my bowmount. I get 4-5 years out of them on a good one. I charge every time i use them with an automatic deep cycle charger on 10 amp setting and check the water level every couple months. If you dont drain them flat every time they will last a lot longer. I should really invest in a small gas kicker.....

 

S.

[BillM]

My understanding is that along with the radios maintaining memory, the internal or external puck antenna to the GPS graph will also draw current if left connected. Even though the unit/s are switched off.

 

Any electronics should be hooked up to a main power 'kill switch' to avoid exactly this.

[irishfield]

Mister G, if I can get 13 years and going out of a pair of plow truck's batteries (truck sits 8 months of the year), 11 years out of my last airplane battery and heading into season 10 on my boat batteries, I'm not sure I need to read anything about battery maintenance.

[Shloim]

I think it's a push, I'll buy if both you guys come out.

I think I deserve an invite out too! After all if I wasnt such a numbskull, newbie, stoner this thread would have never happened...