Trickle charger

[caprice]

Anyone know a good way to store the house and engine batteries over the winter?

Should I keep both batteries hooked up to a trickle charger for the whole winter until it's time to reinstall them?

Are there chargers that accommodate 2 batteries at a time?

Thanks -

 

[DougM]

Just be sure that they are fully charged, disconnect them and leave them in the boat..

 

[Gunni]

I leave mine in the boat. Charge them well before haul-out, and plug up the boat to shore power at the yard, and turn on the house battery charger circuit when I visit. Throw the house load battery switches when you are not aboard.

 

[cymeyer]

I leave mine in the boat. Charge them well before haul-out, and plug up the boat to shore power at the yard, and turn on the house battery charger circuit when I visit. Throw the house load battery switches when you are not aboard.

I used to take them out of the boat and then realized it is not needed. Have left them on the boat for years. Just disconnect the cables from the terminals after they are fully charged.

 

[caprice]

Thanks, any downside to leaving the cables connected to the batteries throughout the winter?

 

[Maine Sail]

Thanks, any downside to leaving the cables connected to the batteries throughout the winter?

There is a very high percentage of boats with "parasitic loads" even with the battery switch in the OFF position.. Battery monitors, electronic bilge switches, propane sniffers, stereo memory etc. that can all drain off the batteries over the winter. Just charge to full then disconnect the positive or negative cable leads from the batteries.

 

[Tejas]

As Maine Sail describes apparently a paradoxical example of "parasitic Load" is a battery monitor -- sucked the batteries almost dry before we figured our what was happening.

 

[TropicalSeattle]

For boats left on the water, you typically need house batteries connected for the bilge pump to work. Any downsides of leaving the batteries permanently charging on shore power? Other batteries (like engine and bow thruster) technically do not have to stay connected, so there is a choice there.

 

[hewebb]

If you have power available, install a battery tender. Be sure water level is good. I have been using them for years on things that are stored for several weeks or months. Unfortunately, it takes one per battery or a double for two.

 

[Chief RA]

hewebb: What are you referring to as a "tender"? If its a trickle charger it will work on multiple batteries, but will split its charge current based on each batteries demand at a given moment. Of course there is a limit to how many batteries the trickle charger is capable of handling effectively. I commonly use one for 2 batteries and have never tried more batteries on it. Chief

 

[Beneteau 321]

Would a trickle charger be suitable for AGM batteries for over winter maintenance?

 

[Chief RA]

Beneteau 321> I have no problem with that but Maine Sail advocates only periodic recharge. I am gone for 3 to 4 months in the winter so I use a trickle charger across 2 ea 100 ah batteries. Have done this for years and my batteries last much longer than other sailors and RVers batteries. I think proper maintenance is the biggest factor in how long your batteries hang in there! Chief

 

[Grouperhound]

Do a search for BatteryMINDer, I use these on my car and boat batteries. The ones I use seem to have been discontinued but the replacement seems to be the Model 1500. I first heard about BatteryMINDer in Aviation Consumer, a periodical from the same publishers as Practical Sailor. They have tested a number of different battery chargers and these are the ones they like best. They also pulse charge for desulfication.

 

[Chief RA]

Grouperhound: What is the max amp draw on these chargers? The pulse aspect seems like it would be good. Chief

 

[Grouperhound]

Grouperhound: What is the max amp draw on these chargers? The pulse aspect seems like it would be good. Chief

Let me check but I seem to remember 1.5 amps. Sorry for the delay.