Winterizing batteries. Yeah, getting WAY ahead of myself here...

[SoSound]

But, I'm working and reading and thinking about batteries and electrical projects right now, and if I don't ask the question now, I'll lose the context.

I'm going to end up with three new FLA batteries this week. The batteries have all been purchased, two deep cycle G31 as my house bank, and a dual purpose G24 (?) engine battery. I was pretty negligent of the previous trio, but I hope to take better care of the new batch. I've been reading a fair amount lately, as I try to complete a couple of electrical upgrades, and also in an attempt to learn more and do a better job of maintaining the health of my batteries.

What motivated this question was a piece by @Maine Sail on Marine How To on winter battery storage written in 2012. It was prompted by a scenario where a client had left his batteries onboard and connected to a charger all winter. This has been my practice for the entire 10 years-ish that I have had a sailboat.

My situation is that, "I" leave, and the boat stays here and in the water for six months... I have great live aboard neighbors who keep watch, and tend to lines and, make sure that all is secure when weather is expected. But WRT my batteries and electrical, I want to have a functional bilge pump if necessary and that runs on DC. Otherwise the only other item on the boat is an AC heater to use if it gets extremely cold. I can't think of anything else on the boat that needs DC current for the entire winter.

What comes to my mind is to just buy a cheap 12v anything battery on sale, and connected that to the charger and DC system on the boat for the entire winter. Leave my regular batteries disconnected (after some preventive maintenance as the season comes to an end).

Sounds reasonable to me, what do I not understand?

 

[NYSail]

Why not just stay plugged in and let you charging system keep them charged?

 

[dlochner]

A case can be made for not leaving the boat connected to shore power all winter, mostly due to fire danger is something goes awry. In which case using a sacrificial battery to power the bilge pump might be a good idea. However, if the boat is going to be connected to shore power and the battery charger is on, I don't see any advantage to the sacrificial battery other than improving the battery manufacturer's profit.

 

[shemandr]

I don't know of a marina on the East End of LI that doesn't have a "No power cord..." rule for boats in storage. If I owned a marina I would not allow any over wintering boat to remain plugged in. Most marinas I've been in disconnect your battery for layup. No option for the owner. PNW is different, I guess.

 

[jviss]

I don't know of a marina on the East End of LI that doesn't have a "No power cord..." rule for boats in storage. If I owned a marina I would not allow any over wintering boat to remain plugged in. Most marinas I've been in disconnect your battery for layup. No option for the owner. PNW is different, I guess.

The OP stated:

My situation is that, "I" leave, and the boat stays here and in the water for six months...

So, it's at the dock, not in storage.

 

[jviss]

I don't know of a marina on the East End of LI that doesn't have a "No power cord..." rule for boats in storage. If I owned a marina I would not allow any over wintering boat to remain plugged in. Most marinas I've been in disconnect your battery for layup. No option for the owner. PNW is different, I guess.

With my previous boat and outdoor storage, I used to rig a solar panel to keep the batteries up.

 

[odaydokay]

I guess I am the rogue of the group. My boat goes on the hard, no power connected, bilge pump master switch off and I leave the two batteries in place. Put them back on the trickle charger in the spring, check water level after charging and away I go. I get 5-8 years our of a battery; buy marine types at Costco, Johnson Controls if I recall. The labor to pull the batteries off the boat and reinstall every year is not worth it to my old bones.

 

[Ron20324]

...The labor to pull the batteries off the boat and reinstall every year is not worth it to my old bones.

Maybe you need to hook the charger up to your toes?

 

[Davidasailor26]

Since you’re leaving the boat in the water and have access to shore power I’d just leave the regular batteries connected to the charger. The practice of disconnecting the batteries is necessary when you don’t have access to a charge source, but that’s not your situation.

One other tip - If Beneteau wires the 34 the same as the 37 the stereo head unit has an always on power line to keep things like the station memories. Unfortunately they put that wire on the same branch as the bilge pump, after the glass fuses. So if something goes wrong in your radio (like say nearby lightning causes an internal short) then it blows your bilge pump fuse. So if you’re leaving the boat in the water for an extended period I’d consider unplugging the wiring harness from the back of the stereo.

 

[Maine Sail]

In water storage should not be treated the same as on the hard. You will need bilge pumps active and thus a charge source. Just make sure it is a good quality charger..

 

[odaydokay]

Maybe you need to hook the charger up to your toes?

No....to my pacemaker.....LOL

 

[Ken Cross]

In Everett, WA (similar or identical winter conditions, Hi neighbor!) Like most people I know, we leave her in the slip connected to the charger on shore power. We've never had an issue. I do however climb aboard and check things out on occasion. Normally we only miss about 3 months of sailing.
One thing, you may want to look at your charger specs and make sure it's really a 3 stage charger.

Ken

 

[SoSound]

...(like say nearby lightning causes an internal short) then it blows your bilge pump fuse...

One of the great things about PNW, lightning here is a rare occurrence, and extremely rare for about 8 months of the year.

 

[SoSound]

I don't know of a marina on the East End of LI that doesn't have a "No power cord..." rule for boats in storage. If I owned a marina I would not allow any over wintering boat to remain plugged in. Most marinas I've been in disconnect your battery for layup. No option for the owner. PNW is different, I guess.

A situation where I didn't know what I didn't know. We've lived in many different regions, but never owned a boat before we moved to WA. We did haul our first boat out the first year we owned it, and ended up with freeze damage. That was probably the first time in more than 10 years that that boat had been out of the water over the winter.

In water storage should not be treated the same as on the hard. You will need bilge pumps active and thus a charge source. Just make sure it is a good quality charger..

It never occurred to me, when reading the How To article that the comment about not being a "huge fan" of the practice of running a battery charger on the boat all winter was anything other than a technical comment. Do you mean you're actually a real person, you have real non-technical thoughts, you don't actually just think in volts and amps?

I will also include in my electrical research and on my projects list, learning more about chargers to see if I should replace the one that came standard on the boat. I've seen another comment that says you're not huge fan of the charger that I have. Thanks, again!

 

[Mark Maulden]

Several yrs ago, a dockmate removed his batts and powered the boat‘s DC side with an electronic power supply to Save the batts. I didn’t know until it was too late and he had to revert back. Do not do this. It won’t work as the power supply will see the pump windings as a short and will crowbar. (Drop out)..Some chargers, such as Sterling Pro can work as a power supply but I do not know if it’s compatible with pump motors..Maine might comment here..

 

[Davidasailor26]

I will also include in my electrical research and on my projects list, learning more about chargers to see if I should replace the one that came standard on the boat. I've seen another comment that says you're not huge fan of the charger that I have. Thanks, again!

Probably a Xantrex like mine? Mine made it almost 6 years, then two of its capacitors looked like this -

I really wanted to replace it with a Sterling from Maine Sail, but this was right when COVID lockdowns were starting, so we got another Xantrex instead as a drop in replacement. I figure where the Xantrex is installed might just be enough space for the Sterling ProCharge Ultra Lite. The full size Sterling would probably need to be installed somewhere with more space, maybe the hanging locker. At the time I didn’t want to be stuck short a screw or something and not able to buy one anywhere. Next time around I’ll probably switch.

 

[SoSound]

Probably a Xantrex like mine? Mine made it almost 6 years, then two of its capacitors looked like this - ...

I had to laugh! I was plugging away at my computer at work one day (a long time ago), when I heard a "Pop!", my monitor went blank, and several little black fragments of a transistor came bouncing across my desk. I called the help desk and said, "I can tell you exactly what the problem is!"

Yes, I have a Xantrex. Yes, I've just figured out that bumping my house batteries to a pair of G31s means my charger is now under powered. Yes, I was looking at the ProCharge Ultra on Maine Sail's site. And, yes, I think there is not enough space to mount it where the Xantrex is currently located. I think that you have quite a bit more room to work with there than I do. The hanging locker is out for a location because when we cruise, we jam it absolutely full. I'm starting to feel, once again, like the guy who ended up spending thousands of dollars to have his classic sports car repainted, because he decided to get a curb scuffed wheel repaired... B.O.A.T.

 

[SoSound]

@Davidasailor26, I just checked the dimensions on the spec sheets. I think the Pro Charge Ultra Lite would fit in a smaller footprint than the Xantrex. As long as it can be mounted in that position... I may go ahead and do that. Cool!

 

[Davidasailor26]

@Davidasailor26, I just checked the dimensions on the spec sheets. I think the Pro Charge Ultra Lite would fit in a smaller footprint than the Xantrex. As long as it can be mounted in that position... I may go ahead and do that. Cool!

Let me know how it goes. I’ll probably be going down that path in a few years depending on my luck with the replacement Xantrex.

 

[SoSound]

@Davidasailor26, it's in... super easy installation. I had almost no wiggle room for the DC lines, so the Pro Charge Ultra Lite is squeezed a bit farther forward (to the right in the photo) than I would have liked. Those DC lines are also the minimum AWG recommended for the charger... since one of the reasons for the upgrade was to increase the charger output to the two new G31 house batteries, I could replace the charger output cables with something larger. OTOH, with the solar also providing current, the increased capacity from the Pro Charge Ultra Lite is more of a contingency than necessity, what do you think?