Somebody shoot me. I am beginning to think about winter storage. In the past, I think I have killed a couple of batteries because I let them completly discharge over the winter. This summer I put a solar trickle charger on my new battery and that seems to be keeping it very healthy over the summer. In the past, I took the battery off the boat, put it in the basement and forgot about it until spring. Since this is probably the worst thing anyone can do to a battery, what do others do? The boat lives outdoors under a blue tarp in the winter. Has anyone tried to keep the battery charged with a solar charger that gets light through the blue tarp over the winter?
Battery Storage
- Thread starter bleathen
- Start date
- Status
Indoors
I keep all three batteries on three steps inside the house on the back stairway. If your wife will let you get away with that, you'll keep your batteries charged just fine.
I keep all three batteries on three steps inside the house on the back stairway. If your wife will let you get away with that, you'll keep your batteries charged just fine.
Not through tarp...
I don't think the solar charger will get enough light through the tarp. Can you rig it on top of the tarp? As long as it starts the winter with a good charge and you have a solar trickle charger supplying a little current, it should be OK. I've left them on the boat with a good charge in the fall and still have a good charge in the spring, though it is not optimum. Without a trickle charge, at least slight sulfation will start to occur over time. Fair winds, Tom
I don't think the solar charger will get enough light through the tarp. Can you rig it on top of the tarp? As long as it starts the winter with a good charge and you have a solar trickle charger supplying a little current, it should be OK. I've left them on the boat with a good charge in the fall and still have a good charge in the spring, though it is not optimum. Without a trickle charge, at least slight sulfation will start to occur over time. Fair winds, Tom
as long as you keep the state of charge
up they can live outdoors or indoors. The panel won't keep them charged under a tarp. If you can get the panel out from under the tarp into the direct sun it will do fine. otherwise put a charger on them for 24 hours once every few weeks. disconnect the battery from any loads, either with a disconnect switch or pulling the connector from the battery. If you use a quality 3 stage charger, you can theoretically leave it on them indefinately. I have seen mixed results from this depending on the batteries and the charger. You can't go wrong charging the batteries every 2-3 weeks for a day with a low output charger.
up they can live outdoors or indoors. The panel won't keep them charged under a tarp. If you can get the panel out from under the tarp into the direct sun it will do fine. otherwise put a charger on them for 24 hours once every few weeks. disconnect the battery from any loads, either with a disconnect switch or pulling the connector from the battery. If you use a quality 3 stage charger, you can theoretically leave it on them indefinately. I have seen mixed results from this depending on the batteries and the charger. You can't go wrong charging the batteries every 2-3 weeks for a day with a low output charger.
Battery discharge
The gospel according to the guy at Batteries Plus is that as a rule of thumb, at room temperature a lead-acid battery will spontaneously discharge at a rate of 1 volt/month (that's with absolutely nothing attached to the terminals). Deep-cycles can handle deeper discharge without appreciable loss of capacity, but as a rule you don't want them dipping below 9 volts or your ability to recover them starts to really fade. I figure putting a full charge (bulk charge plus about 2 hrs of float charge) every 2 months will keep them healthy. Every month if they are connected to something.
The gospel according to the guy at Batteries Plus is that as a rule of thumb, at room temperature a lead-acid battery will spontaneously discharge at a rate of 1 volt/month (that's with absolutely nothing attached to the terminals). Deep-cycles can handle deeper discharge without appreciable loss of capacity, but as a rule you don't want them dipping below 9 volts or your ability to recover them starts to really fade. I figure putting a full charge (bulk charge plus about 2 hrs of float charge) every 2 months will keep them healthy. Every month if they are connected to something.
- Status