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Batteries During The Winter?


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After winterizing my boat I typically disconnect the batteries and bring them into the garage and put a trickle charge on them for the winter. But this year I'm thinking of merely running an extension chord to the trickle charger in the boat. Will this work? Or is the winter weather too hard hard on batteries (so they should be brought into the garage)? Also....is there ever a risk that the battery leaks onto my BU's floor?

Thanks.

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We have a station in the basement that we rotate the batteries in and out of...Boats and jetski batteries go there in the Winter, snowmobile batteries go there in the summer...

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After winterizing my boat I typically disconnect the batteries and bring them into the garage and put a trickle charge on them for the winter. But this year I'm thinking of merely running an extension chord to the trickle charger in the boat. Will this work? Or is the winter weather too hard hard on batteries (so they should be brought into the garage)? Also....is there ever a risk that the battery leaks onto my BU's floor?

Thanks.

Be safe and remove the battery from your boat. This past Spring, I had a float charger fail and caused a fire. Luckily, my boat was not in the garage, but my new ATV was completely destroyed. I am still waiting for a settlement with the charger manufacturer, but my best hope at this point is to get half of what I am out: Value of the ATV and the deductibles for the structure repair, personal property lost and trailer replacement.

After reading A LOT about chargers - trickle, float, power tool chargers, etc. - I am now paranoid about these. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra money to get a good charger (Battery Tender or Battery Minder) and put them on a timer. I have two of the 4-port Battery Tender chargers on a heavy duty outdoor timer (even though they are in the garage) and the timer only comes on once per day for 2 hours. This minimizes the chance of overheating and causing a fire. I also have timers on my power tool chargers. The timers I found are a simple countdown type. When I need to charge a battery, I put it in the charger and set the timer for 2 hours. The timer will then shut-off power to the charger after 2 hours; plenty of time to charge the battery.

Most inexpensive chargers do not have thermal protection or even a fuse to protect against spikes and brown outs. Even the "good" chargers can cause problems. In my personal opinion, it is worth the expense to create a safe way to charge your batteries. Believe me, you don't want to deal with the resulting damage. I lost A LOT of time - and still am spending a lot - dealing with the aftermath of the fire.

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I just take mine out of the boat and put it on a shelf in the garage. Come spring I charge it and put it back in the boat. Safest method I can think of, always get 3 - 4 years or so from my batteries. I don't see the point of keeping a charger on one all winter. Dontknow.gif If you leave it in the boat (disconnected I'd assume), it should be in a battery box correct? If it leaks it shouldn't get on the carpet, unless your BB is cracked or something.

Ed

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I'd put a float charger in the boat. That's what I've done for years.

I use this one.

Plus1.gif I leave mine in the boat and use the Battery Tender Plus.

Edit; It's also convenient for me to start my boat every few weeks.

Edited by bigD
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I remove mine from the boat, charge them, store in garage for winter, recharge again in spring and install back in the boat. I do this with my RV batteries as well, last set lasted 5 seasons.

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Charging all winter isn't necessary. Hell, out here in CA, for years we have pulled the battery out for the winter, haven't charged it, drop it in the boat in the spring, no issues ever!

On the older lead plate style batteries, i woudl take it off the shelf and drop on the concrete floor a couple times from like 1" up to try and break up the crap in there.

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I just take mine out of the boat and put it on a shelf in the garage. Come spring I charge it and put it back in the boat. Safest method I can think of, always get 3 - 4 years or so from my batteries. I don't see the point of keeping a charger on one all winter. Dontknow.gif If you leave it in the boat (disconnected I'd assume), it should be in a battery box correct? If it leaks it shouldn't get on the carpet, unless your BB is cracked or something.

Ed

This what I do as well.

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On the older lead plate style batteries, i woudl take it off the shelf and drop on the concrete floor a couple times from like 1" up to try and break up the crap in there.

That sounds like a great idea Crazy.gif

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FYI. The battery tender doesn't "Charge all Winter" after the battery is fully charged around 13-14 volts then the Tender switches to storage mode like sitting on the shelf in your garage, if it drops to around 12.5 volts or so it switches on, so my batteries are at 13+v and ready to go when I unplug the extension cord in Spring.

If your battery drops to 12v over the winter,Sulfation can occur especially if you have an old school lead acid battery.

*Sulfation of Batteries starts when specific gravity falls below 1.225 or voltage measures less than 12.4 for a 12v battery, or 6.2 for a 6 volt battery. Sulfation hardens on the battery plates reducing and eventually destroying the ability of the battery to generate Volts and Amps.

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On the older lead plate style batteries, i woudl take it off the shelf and drop on the concrete floor a couple times from like 1" up to try and break up the crap in there.

That sounds like a great idea Crazy.gif

Surprised.gif

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Does this make a difference if you have Optima gel batts? I was told you do not have to worry about them at all in the winter. Did nothing with them last winter, then charged them up just before I used it this summer and had no issues!

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If it gets cold where you are, you CA don't qualify, it is best to bring it indoors to your basement (CA guys still don't qualify). I have had supposedly good charged batteries loose that charge over the winter and then freeze. It's ugly after that.

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If it gets cold where you are, you CA don't qualify, it is best to bring it indoors to your basement (CA guys still don't qualify). I have had supposedly good charged batteries loose that charge over the winter and then freeze. It's ugly after that.

Yep. If you have a battery that seems good, you still may have a failing cell in it. If you use the boat a lot and charge it a lot you won't know it. Then you leave it in the boat, or put it in a cabinet over the winter. That cell that is failing has become a direct short, and over the next couple of months depletes the batery charge. Now it's February, and -20 degrees. Your battery has frozen, can crack, and leak that junk all over your boat or garage. So, if it's not in use, remove the energy source and put it in a controlled environment.

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Thanks everyone for your feedback. I ended up pulling my batteries from the boat and have them on a shelf in my garage with trickle chargers on both batteries.

Can't wait until next spring!

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For those of you guys using the Battery Tender Jr or some similar float charger, do you have it hooked up to one or two batteries? Is there a way to hook up one charger to handle both batteries? Or is it best to install two chargers?

I found an install diagram on the Battery Tenders website. But it doesn't show the Perko dual battery switch. I'm wondering if I just install the ring terminals on the Perko, will it charge both batteries when I have the Perko set to ALL?

series9.gif

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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Batteries don't like:

Discharge

Freezing

Overheating

Over Charge

So if you live in a climate where they batteries won't freeze over, just run a charge out to it. Make sure it is a maintenance or a float charger that will switch off when the batteries are full.

-Paul

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For those of you guys using the Battery Tender Jr or some similar float charger, do you have it hooked up to one or two batteries? Is there a way to hook up one charger to handle both batteries? Or is it best to install two chargers?

I found an install diagram on the Battery Tenders website. But it doesn't show the Perko dual battery switch. I'm wondering if I just install the ring terminals on the Perko, will it charge both batteries when I have the Perko set to ALL?

series9.gif

I use the Battery Tender Plus to charge both of my Stinger stereo batteries at the same time.When the boats not in the water it's plugged in year around. The pig tail that came with the charger is connected to a terminal block that ties the two batteries together.

If your batteries are the same type just turn the Perko to both.

I plug in a separate automatic automotive type charger from time to time for winter storage of my optima starting battery.

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I leave mine in the boat, connected, and hooked up to a Battery Tender float charger all winter. Only reason to remove it I can think of is the potential for fire, which I've tried to address by leaving the charger outside the boat. No reason to disconnect the battery that I can think of, no reason not to leave it connected to a float charger all winter.

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