marine battery charging

[newhunterette]

I am looking for information in regards to charging our marine batteries on our jet boat.

We winterized our boat properly at the end of our boating season and Peter has a battery charger that he kept hooked up to the batteries for the past month.

When we went out fishing yesterday morning, the boat was dead. No turn over, no charge to the batteries. We jumped the boat and had a great day on th river, it ran perfect after it was jump started.

My question is, how or what should we be doing to ensure a complete charge of our marine batteries, when the boat is not being used? Our batteries are only 2 years old.

[Poguebilt]

you should take the battery right out of the boat and store it on wood..

then you need to go buy one of these from Canadian tire

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/BatteryChargersAccessories/BatteryChargers/PRDOVR~0111522P/CTEK%252BMulti-use%252B3300%252B3.3A%252BBattery%252BCharger.jsp

CTEK Multi-use 3300 3.3A Battery Charger



I use it for my quad battery all winter long at it worked flawless... I know a few guys that use them and not a bad word...

You can get them at Lordco too... id wait till they go on sale!

[oldtimer]

YUP. but always remove the Batteries from whatever. RV's, boats, etc. and as mentioned store on wood. Mike

[Brett]

As it worked well after a jump start, perhaps you had a bad connection between the charger and battery terminals. I have a charger I use when really needed but there is possibly a better set up I'm planning on going to. A trickle charger, something to keep a slow steady charge to the battery over long periods of inactavity. This seems to be a good plan for seasonal equipment like your jet ski, motorcycles, quads and ride on lawn mowers.
see above......

[Charlie]

Storing batteries on wood is not necessary. Way back in the day it was, because battery cases were wood, and inside were glass containers.

Modern batteries obviously are not made that way.

As stated, pull the battery and keep it trickled. Having it sit dead is a quick way to destroy your battery.

Use a good charger that will apply required charge. i.e. 3 stage. Having a 14v charge on your battery for long periods will boil it dry.

[SAVAGE300]

is the electrolyte level topped, have you done a hydrometer reading on the cells, min 1225 and do all the cells have the same reading plus or minus 50, do the batteries load test OK, marine/automotive batteries don't like to sit around dormant, if they sit around to long they might not come back they like to be used, and never store on bare concrete for the concrete will start a surface discharge and render it dead in no time. personally I would start with the above test and start from there, hope this helps a little

[Triggerman]

Battery tender jr is the answer.

http://batterytender.com/battery-tender-junior-12v-at-0-75a.html


You can buy them from www.jerzeecustoms.com (http://www.jerzeecustoms.com). I bought them for about $24us each plus shipping and they arrived fast - via USPS. That way you don't have to pay $45 to a customs broker. To save shipping have them throw out the packing and just ship the units with the manuals and accessories.

You can use them on cars, motorcyles Seadoos, everything. They maintain the battery level year round and keep them from freezing etc.

[spreerider]

I would take the batteries to a store with a load tester and have them tested, leaving them in a boat and letting them die can cause them to lose their ability to charge, i think its called sulfication, and a load tester will show this and then a battery shop should have a reconditioner that can reverse the sulfication.
A quality battery charger/maintainer should be on a battery when not in use.
dont keep batteries on concrete as a slight amount of acid can seap out and damage the concrete, wood is prefered but plastic and metal are fine.