charging new deep cycle - help!

[ilario]

Hi there:

 

 

There are 3 settings on the charger I have. No Instructions on how to use it:

 

6V 10A

 

12V 2A

 

12V 10A

 

My new deep cycle battery is a Kirkland 700 MCA, 85 AMP hours (doesn't say how many volts on the battery)

 

 

Thanks in advance...

[Sinker]

12V 2A setting.

 

If its really dead, charge it part way on 10A, then switch to 2A for the remainder.

 

Assuming its a 12V battery of course.....

 

Sinker

[ilario]

Thanks!

 

I wonder why it wouldn't state on the battery what voltage?? bizarre...

 

well i guess it's most likely a 12 volt?

 

thanks again...

[silveradosheriff]

I'm with Sinker on this one!

[fishindevil]

I would be 100% sure that its a deep cycle/ boat /rv battery and the lower setting is what guys refer to a trickle charge,which in some cases will take up to 36hrs to fully charge,but like it was said already,you can get it started with a 10amp charge,also take the top caps off the battery and check the water levels...very important if its low and you charge it you can cook a cell,it will boil and your battery will be permenatly screwed....so if it needs water.....USE ONLY DISTILLED WATER....NOT TAP,OR SPRING WATER..... do these steps and you should be ok...if not take it to canadian tire and they can LOAD TEST IT....so let us know good-luck

[John Bacon]

How many holes does it have to add water? Each cell needs a hole to add water; a twelve volt battery will have six cells and six places to add water. If you have a maintenance free battery you may not be able to determine how many cells it has.

[ilario]

As far as adding water, i wouldn't know where to begin... I'm not sure if it's a 'maintenance-free' battery. Doesn't say. And if it were, doesn;t that mean it doesnt require adding water? What the heck do I know...!

 

 

Ok. I'll let you guys know how it goes... the first time I tried (last week) it worked when I hooked my troling motor to it.

 

Now, as far as the cranking battery goes, does that have to be charged as frequently? I know that the deep cycle has to be charged after every use...

 

 

Thanks

[Dutch]

I always keep my batteries fully charged.

[John Bacon]

Assuming that you have an alternator on your main motor and you are using the motor on a regular basis; your cranking battery should keep its charge for the summer. It will need to be charge periocially over the winter and if you haven't used your motor for seveal months during the season.

 

If you battery doesn't say that is maintenance free then it probably isn't.

 

If it is a regular wet cell battery; there should be two plastic caps that can be pried off with a screw driver. Each cap will cover three holes where water can be added. You should be able to see metal plates if you look down the holes; make sure that the water covers these plates.

[ilario]

my motor is an 18 hp tiller manual start...no alternator

 

 

How often does the distilled water need to be added?

 

thanks again

[Sinker]

???

 

If its a manual start, why do you have a cranking battery?

[fishboy]

now I'm confused; thought he said it was a deep-cycle...

[ilario]

???

 

If its a manual start, why do you have a cranking battery?

 

 

guy i bought it off had the finder, lights and bilge running off that battery and the deep cycle for the trolling motor

[Terry]

does it say automatic on the charger?

 

 

and you should charge on 10amps till it's 85% charged then 2 amps for the rest of it..

 

 

2 amp can take days to charge a battery

2 amp means it adds 2 amps to the battery every hour

so if you had a 400 amp battery and it had half it's amps used and need charging thats 200 amps it needs to add at 2 amps per hour you do the math..if it's a automatic charger at 85% charged it will drop the amps all by it'self