Battery Longevity and Winter Storage

Dr. Teeth

Dr. Teeth

Club Member
So this fall I picked up a little fishing boat, and it has 3 Deep Cycle batteries to it, all seem to work OK. They all have Date tags on them, 2 are 08/06 and the other is 10/05. Before putting the boat away I charged them up with an automatic car charger, pulled them, and I am storing them on a shelf, off the floor, of my basement with a couple of those cheapie Harbor Freight trickle tenders on them.

Questions for the BAttery gurus:

1. How long do these batteries typically last?

2. Am I storing/treating them correctly for longevity?

31 series marine batteries are expensive to begin with and I fudged up the 3 on my big boat. I'd like to keep these as long as possible. Any thoughts?


Brian.
 
I was told by a guy that owns one of those battery shops that sell new and reman'd batteries how to store batteries for the winter since i have went through quite a few on my Harley....He said charged them to full....Pull them....Bring them in your house....Forget about them for the winter...Do not trickle charge them....when you are about to re-install them...throw them on a 10amp charge for about 30 mins and you are good to go...
 
Yep, I've heard to store them on a piece of wood rather than on the concrete floor or metal shelf.
 
Yeah dont store them on metal or concrete....Peice of wood...Milk crate somthing of that matter...I was going through a battery almost every year and i kept it on a trickle charger all winter....He said it fries the battery slowly....and at $70+ for a sealed battery for a Harley it was getting pretty expensive
 
dont leave the trickle on all the time. maybe an hour or two a week.
even the really good onboard chargers will boil the water out. I have to watch the batteries in my bass boat cause i cant fill them. My boat uses 31's (4) in his bass boat and goes through about 5 gallons of water a year in them
store on wood. the 05 batt is getting old. 06 i kinda old too. they may need replaced soon depending on use and treatment
I normally get 3 years out of mine.
 
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Dr. Teeth said:
So this fall I picked up a little fishing boat, and it has 3 Deep Cycle batteries to it, all seem to work OK. They all have Date tags on them, 2 are 08/06 and the other is 10/05. Before putting the boat away I charged them up with an automatic car charger, pulled them, and I am storing them on a shelf, off the floor, of my basement with a couple of those cheapie Harbor Freight trickle tenders on them.

Questions for the BAttery gurus:

1. How long do these batteries typically last?

2. Am I storing/treating them correctly for longevity?

31 series marine batteries are expensive to begin with and I fudged up the 3 on my big boat. I'd like to keep these as long as possible. Any thoughts?


Brian.
Click to expand...


thats how we store our inventory batterys. should be just fine as long as the trickle charging can monitor voltage and keep from cooking the battery to death. I approve
 
It does matter for the how long do these battery's last question. Marine batts take alot more abuse. Plates come loose, constant full charge/discharge. The quality between some deep cycles is huge
 
Sean said:
still lead in a electrolyte solution. it only matters if they a agm batt's.
Click to expand...

even AGMs are lead in an electrolyte solution, the electrolyte just happens to be suspended in an Absorbed Glass Mat


same with gel cell batts
 
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They're Everstart Marine Maxx batteries-- Walmart house brand.

I have them on a metal shelf with a piece of wood underneath so they're not touching the metal shelf. I believe these are flooded batteries.
 
Dr. Teeth said:
They're Everstart Marine Maxx batteries-- Walmart house brand.

I have them on a metal shelf with a piece of wood underneath so they're not touching the metal shelf. I believe these are flooded batteries.
Click to expand...
those are actually pretty decent. I have them in mine this time. didnt have $120 per batt the last time. My buddy told me to get them. He tournament fish's a few times a week and said some of his buddy's like them. So far mine have been doing good
 
1BADAIR said:
those are actually pretty decent. I have them in mine this time. didnt have $120 per batt the last time. My buddy told me to get them. He tournament fish's a few times a week and said some of his buddy's like them. So far mine have been doing good
Click to expand...


Maybe I should just pop for new ones. The PO of the boat told me they were old, and although they worked fine I might as well just replace them.

Insofar as storage I have always charged them up on an automatic charger and left them in the basement, off the floor, and I had one battery that lasted 10 seasons before I screwed it up and left it on the boat and it finally cooked. I just wondered about the trickle charger.

On that note, what about the onboard chargers? No good? I have read a ton about which ones to avoid, but certainly don't want to boil up a bunch of batteries. I'd be just interested in the trolling motor batts so would probably get a 2 bank charger and plug 'er in.
 
The onboards will boil too(the Tech has changed a bunch since i last checked so they are better now). Just dont leave them on for a long time and your set. When i come back from fishin i plug in then unplug the next morning.
i use a 3 bank(2 troll, 1 engine) cause the livewell, aerators, and stuff use the engine batt and are always drained too because the engine doesnt run long enough to charge it.
I would post in the tournament section of LSCN.net and see what everyone is using. What kinda of boat do you have. If you put the charger in the boat dont mount it flat. I was told by many that the boats flex enough to hurt the circuit boards if you flat mount them. Everyone said to stand them up on their side if your using a bigger 2/3 bank
 
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