How best to winterize a two battey/one charger O'day 272?

Pat

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Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
I need advice on how to secure the batteries and charger for the winter lay-up....I have access to my charger, two batteries and an electric outlet within a two feet of the boat....should I run an
extension cord to the post, plug it into the boat, and what about leaving them on during the winter
lay-up? Thanks for the advice, Patrick Coulter
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,727
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
I have 2 batts on my O'Day 322 but I don't leave a charger on over the winter. If I have acces to 110 volt power, I will put some trickle chargers on occasionally. But last year I kept an eye on the voltage (nothing hooked on the batteries over the winter) and they were fine all winter with no charging. Cold weather actually helps keep the voltage up (MaineSail did test on this).

I suppose you could leave the charger plugged in over the winter, but I woul be leary of leaving it on all the time when not at the boat much.

Greg
 
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Oct 8, 2016
53
O'DAY 22 East End Yacht Club
Another thing you can do if your worried about leaving the charger on 24/7 is to just use a trickle charger or get a 7 day timer and set it to turn on the charger once or twice a week for a couple of hours each day or any combination that your comfortable with. If your charger exceeds the amperage rating of the timer you can also use one of those timers that people use on hot water heaters etc. Adjust the pins to give a short daily charge. Even still as with any other valuable item that needs maintaining I still make it a point to check in on things periodically. Electrical things have a habit of burning out especially if there is a severe storm that may cause spikes or interruptions in service.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
The only occasional draw from the batteries would be the clock/station memory in the CD / Radio in the boat....how much draw there is from the batteries to keep the clock running is unknown...I'm not sure how to kill the clock that is part of it.....it's been in the cabin since we bought the boat in 1986....thanks for the advice; it is what I shall do when I go out there once or twice a month....Patrick
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
[QUOTE="Pat, post: 1416911, member: 69521...I'm not sure how to kill the clock that is part of it...[/QUOTE]

There should be a separate wire to a battery, with an inline fuse. pull the fuse to kill the memory. Just remember to put it back in in the spring.
 

Pat

.
Jun 7, 2004
1,250
Oday 272LE Ninnescah Yacht Club, Wichita, Ks.
We did find the wire to a battery....I should have thought of that....thanks a million! Pat
 
Aug 17, 2010
311
Oday 35 Barrington
Disconnect the negative leads to the batteries. Then connect a 2-battery DelTran Battery Tender (~$100) - accept no substitutes - and plug it into the outlet.