Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

Another question:

I don't want to pull my batteries. They are hard to get to, and I plan on moving the boat around Thanksgiving anyhow, which means I will have to have power to lift the drives.

I don't want to leave the on board charging system on. It puts too much juice into the batteries, and I have heard/seen the charger fire stories.

Can I SAFELY turn the power switches for the batteries to the off positions, and attach aligator clip trickle chargers to them while they are in the boat? I will leave the compartment open for them to breath. I just don't want to risk any damage with current through the electrical system of the boat.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

the safest thing to do is trickle charge the batts before you know you will use them. you cannot charge for a very long time, and you should not charge with the hatch down and the cover on for anything over night. second you should always have the power switches off when charging, why would you have them on. your asking a lot of questions these days, i thought you have been around the block a few times.......

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

:D :D :D

Brian,
I never take my batteries out of the boat. I usually charge the batteries once in the middle of the winter and then again in the spring and I've never had a problem. If we lived in Minnesota, or someplace that it gets really cold, a different strategy might be required!!

C

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I use one of these http://www.iotaengineering.com/dls.htm their made to be left on all of the time just make sure you use their IQ4 smart controller which monitors the batteries.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I store my boat indoors and never remove the batteries. While there is an on board charger, I never use it to top off the batteries indoors. I attach your typical 10 amp charger to a battery ( the way they are wired, you charge both at the same time ) and run the cord out one of the engine compartment vents. During the winter, I stop by once a month and let the batteries top off while I'm putzing around. These are 'starting' batteries. They usually won't take the abuse that a deep cycle battery would take. With starting batteries, the only thing worse than letting them go dead is to leave them dead for an extended period of time. Overcharging is just as bad. I've run gel and conventional wet cells. My on board charger is from Charles. In my conversations with them, mine is calibrated to charge gel batteries properly yet can be used with conventional batteries. The last time I looked at their literature, they had two numbers for the same charger (gel vs wet). They didn't recommend charging gel batteries with a charger calibrated for conventional batteries but said it was not a concern to doing it the other way around. I've got some literature somewhere on this, but am trying to keep this brief. I gave up on the gels and just change the conventional batteries every couple of years. The short boating season here is tough on any battery. Just one persons opinion.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I've been around the block several times and then some. I just am trying to take care a few things differently than in the past, and am bouncing them off of my OSO friends.

Of course I would have the battery switches off with the chargers attached. I did not explain that I did not want to remove the battery terminal wires either. I have to go to Europe for a couple weeks on business. As soon as I return, I am taking the boat to Florida for the winter, which is why I don't want to do a full winterization if I don't have to. I already have a pair of trickle chargers for pulling batteries and putting them in the basement for the winter. In the past, I have pulled my drive (used to have a single) for the winter, and also stored that indoors. This year, everything is staying intact.

Anyway, we may end up pulling all the batteries anyhow, and upgrading to 4 Optimas for more stereo juice.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

Sydways rule of thumb but don't tell my interstate battery rep but turn them off and charge them at thanksgiving and valentines day and they'll last a lot longer.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I used a "battery tender".. it is only 1.5 amps at the max... and when the batteries are fully charged... it turns itself off and only sends just a fraction of an amp to keep them fully charged... I used them on customers cars when they are here for a while... that way the battery doesn't sulfate and go bad from being left dead.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I do the same thing. I leave it hooked up all the time except for when I am using the boat.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I've been leaving mine in for 4 years now. I use the on board charger one day a month. Usually the first Saturday reminds me...so far , so good :D

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I turn the battery switch off and hook a trickle <1amp charger to each one and leave it on for the winter. The batteries are from June of 2000 and still going fine. We only get about 4 months of running time here, the rest of the time the batteries are on the chargers... Just checked chargers for ratings and they are output of 600 millamps. These have little clamps on them to go around the terminal and I tie wrapped them around the regular wiring(never take the chargers out of the boat), connected them to a small extension cord which I secured and ran up through the boat and to the side pocket in the cockpit where I'm easily then able to plug into an extension cord going to my house power outlet. So I've got 4 years on them so far, no problems. Good luck!

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

Youu need to check these out.

Call Ron @ Cell Mate: www.batterycellmate.com
He has a patent on his chargers. They are the only ones that don’t “cook” your batteries. All the other advertisements say they shut off but they DON’T.

I had them repackage the circuit board to fit in my Billet Battery Box posts. We are also making a "Billet" stand alone case.

Check out ours at: www.getrealperformance.com

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

http://batterytender.com/includes/la...rproof_800.pdf

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...&RS=PN/3963976


http://www.batterymart.com/pdf_files/batteryminder.pdf

I use the BatterMinder and have got good results, unlike other chargers it did not boil down the water levels in the cells, the batterytender will give similar results

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

Sorry to burst your bubble. All of the chargers you mentioned are “float charge” chargers. They turn off the High Amperage but still keep a slow charge that can harm the battery.

I have researched "EVERY" one the market, I would like to know if you can find one that compares to the CellMate.

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

Looks like Cellmate is a good unit too. at least for keeping battery from going dead.

The Batteryminder has a desulfinator/Freqency pulse charge

Batteryminder does not...boil down or damage.. I have used them for all my toys with no boil down
it actually improves slightly sulfinated cells "patented".
I learned the hard way with the el cheapo 12-20.00 trickle chargers and found 1/2 of the water missing from batttery
I have 2 fluke DVM's and put one in series for current and one across to get voltage. I do agree that most put out too much float current and voltage
http://www.batterymart.com/pdf_files/batteryminder.pdf
so far I have used them on Bike, ski, boat and tractor. Battery last longer for me

Re: Winterizing and trickle chargers...
 

I never remove the battery, a group 27 or 29 marine deep cycle Die-Hard best one, I simply make sure it is fully charged after I put the boat away, leave it be for the northern New York winters and got 11 seasons out of my last one, 6 out of current one so far.