Battery Question
 

I have left the Gladiator sitting for a few months and the batteries went down. I have an onboard charger that plugs into the shore power but the question is..... how long can you leave the charger going??? Will I cook the batteries if I leave it hooked up??? With fuel prices coming back down I might just use the thing!!!!!

Re: Battery Question
 

It will eventually cook them. A couple days is not going to hurt. However, before you plug in, check the fluid levels first (if you can) or you will really cook them.

The best thing to do is run it.

Re: Battery Question
 

They sit dormant too long and they will sulfate. Running really gets the silt up of the bottom and a good charge.

Re: Battery Question
 

Chargin, chargin, chargin...........

Re: Battery Question
 

u suk...it's 12* with 40mph winds now.... :p

Re: Battery Question
 

Hey Brett!

I've been waiting to here how you liked going back to side by sides (if you posted, I did not catch it).

Ironically, I had the same question n the charger. Interesting that there is absolutely no information on this in the paperwork binder supplied by the factory.

Di you part with your canopied boat yet?

Re: Battery Question
 

Not here. Just washed the car.

Re: Battery Question
 

u suk too :p go pick up your coconuts

Re: Battery Question
 

You need a challenge grill and a set of Tubis...........

Re: Battery Question
 

I feel challenged after dinner and now I have a couple extra Tubis around my waste!

Re: Battery Question
 

I've got an issue in my Cig with the stereo & ignition boxes being wired direct to the battery & killing it off in a matter of days, even with everything off.

I asked Tres about it before I dropped it off to him & he said that you shouldn't charge it for more than about 3 hours (assuming Optima batteries), he said much more than that starts to kill them off.

FWIW, when I first got it home, there wasn't even enough power to turn on cabin lights... 3 hours on the charger brought them up to 12v.

Re: Battery Question
 

Deep Cycle batteries need a long slow charge. Maybe not days but a long, slow charge. Putting them on full charge for a short time will actually promote sulfating, damage the plates and shorten battery life.

I gave Brett 3 days as an extreme example. Some batteries may take up to 12-24 hours to fully run a charge cycle which also includes cool down before using.

Re: Battery Question
 

Running anything (with exception of your bilge pumps) directly to your battery on a boat is a no-no. Parasite power is your worst enemy. That is why you always want to turn your batteries off.

You will also constantly be running (bleeding) power possibly promoting electrolysis on your exposed metal parts in the water.

Re: Battery Question
 

Oh yeah, I know...

This "10-12k" stereo system in the boat has some great features....... the piss poor wiring setup is not one of them. Of all the things not to run directly to the battery would be 3, 4 gauge wires from the amps.. freaking brilliant. :rolleyes:

One of several nitpicky things that Tres is taking care of for me.

Re: Battery Question
 

My old Cig had a constavolt system in it.
When the batterys were full it shut down.

LS

Re: Battery Question
 

I think that most Cigs have that. It is designed so that it can be plugged in all the time. When the battery level starts to get low,it turns on ,charges, and then shuts off when it is fully charged. Alot of guys leave theirs plugged in all the time.

Re: Battery Question
 

My TG has the system but I never use my shore power.

Was not sure all Cig's with SP were equipped with the charging system.

Re: Battery Question
 

While my boat is in storage,I put a adapter on the shore power cable and plug it into a regular house type outlet.It keeps the batteries charged up nicely.

Re: Battery Question
 

same with mine, plug in the shore power make sure to flip the charging switch in the control panel too:)

Re: Battery Question
 

i run a 2 amp trickle chare 24/7 with no problems hooked to four batteries i think the batteries lose in charge about what it gives back so its a wash. the batteries never get warm from such a small amp charge

Re: Battery Question
 

Here's my gossip:

Spoke w/ Phil L and his comment was that the onboard charger would kill the batteries if left on for more than a few hours. It's only there for emergency situations when you find batteries too dead to start the engine(s).

He suggested using the onboard only to get the boat to start and then run the boat to charge them fully.

Over the winter, I've hooked up a charger that only comes on when it "sees" the batteries drop from full power, and then automatically turns off when re-charged.

Joe