Battery Charging

[ordonyez]

Hi,

I just bought a bass boat which has three batteries and a battery charger onboard. One is for my motor and fish finder etc. The other 2 are attached by line and power my trolling motor, lights, live wells etc.

My charger lets you charge at 2A , 8A or 12A. Which one should I charge either battery on?

Does it affect the life of the battery if I chrge them before their dead? I know the alternator charges the one while the motor is running but I would like to have fully charged batteries every time I go out.

Thanks for your help.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Battery Charging

I will let someone else answer to the amperage but you never want to let a deep cycle battery go completely dead.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: Battery Charging

If time permits i always charge my trolling motor batteries on 2A

OPPS- your talking about ou onboard charger - I was refering to my "at home " charger- Sorry

 

[ordonyez]

Re: Battery Charging

Why is that?

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Battery Charging

Lead-Acid batteries do NOT have a memory, and the rumor that they should be fully discharged to avoid this "memory" is totally false and will lead to early battery failure.

 

[Starcraftguy1]

Re: Battery Charging

I have 2 batteries on my Bass Tracker and I keep my chargers on all the time,1 amp setting.They turn off automatically,and I hav never had a dead battery.I go out almost every weekend,and my batteries are more then a year old now.And are always on charge,when not in use.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Battery Charging

First thing is to understand any time a battery is discharged it is doing damage. Starting batteries shoud not be discharged more than 20 percent and deep cycles should not be discharged more than 50 percent.

When discharged the sooner you can fully recharge the better. If you wait even a day to recharge then you have shortened your batteries life.

I will not use a battery charged less than 10 amps. The most important thing is to get the battery recharged quickly. Also use a fully automatic battery charger. A fully automatic battery charger will charge your battery quicker and will not overcharge. The marine or other 3 stage charger are very good. First stage put the bulk charge back in the battery, Seconds stage tops it off and the third stage holds the battery at a Lower voltage then the first two stages but allows the battery to stay above the 12.6 volts range and finish the charge.

Many will say charge then slow but not me. My boat has a 65 amp alternator and I charge both batteries thru a battery isolator. Of course the alternator has a voltage regulator to prevent the battery from over charging just like a good automatic charger. My 1980 model boat has never had any battery that did not last at least 6 years.

Batteries also self discharge and need to be recharged even if not use for a month or two. In summer or warm to hot conditions batteries self discharge faster so should be charged ever month or so. In cold winter they dicharge much slower so you can skip a month or so.

I always say most batteries do not die they are killed by the owner.

Even thou my batteries are charged by a 65 amp alternator, the first thing I do when I get home is hook up the battery charger that charges both batteries thru a battery isolator. Then I unload all the gear and Fish. Clean and put away the gear then clean the fish and cover the boat. Last thing I do is check the battery charger and make sure the battery is fully charged before putting away the battery charger.

If you want your batteries to last then it is important to make your batteries easy to charge. Like on my boat I have a plug on the front of the boat to plug the charger into and it charges both batteries thru my battery isolator.
I can also charge from my truck while going down the road by connecting a plug from the trailer to the boat's plug. The trailer plug is connected to the trucks 100 amp alternator.

Many have a on board charger that they just plug in and forget it.
If it is easy to charge your batteries then you will do it more offten and your batteries will last longer.