charging battery

[rnc725@comcast.net]

do ya'll take the vent caps off during a trickle charge (12-24 hours) or leave them on, or crack them a bit?

thanks

 

[Justin_NSA]

They don't call them "vent caps" for nothing. Leave them on. They are removed for maintenance only. If you need to, open them to check the water level.

 

[v3n0m]

I was told not to use wet battery but gel battery or AGM. Is this right?

 

[walt]

What would seem to be a good read on batteries is here:
http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/01.Type/index.html

Lots of people use wet cell batteries in the type of boats on this forum just fine (including myself) but the AGM are certainly a good choice.

If you do go with AGM, make sure you have the proper charging equipement for the battery. AGM's can be ruined by overcharging. This mostly means dont use a 20 year old transformer type battery charger but most of the modern charging methods such as about any three stage "battery maintainer" or temperature compensated solar panel charge controllers will work fine.

 

[oldiesrocker2001]

You would want to take a look in each cell for proper level. If needed, add distilled water not simply tap water. distilled water can be obtained from an auto parts store but I collect if from my house dehumidifier. If you leave the caps off you can see which cells are bubbling(even on a trickle charger) and if one is not bubbling during charge it could be a "dead cell" suspect. Other than that, they're perfectly fine as vented with the cap on and won't splash corrosive acid as much onto the top of the battery. Make sure the area in general is vented if the batt is secured inside the boat, I do a full charge at the end and beginning of the season with the battery already removed from the boat.