gazzogs
Member
A question arose at Conwy Marina this weekend...........is it best for maximum battery life to leave mains battery charger on all the time whilst in the marina, or to charge only when the batteries have discharged? Any ideas?
Batteries...Charge or not to charge?
- Thread starter gazzogs
- Start date
Mymobo
Well-Known Member
I don't leave the batteries charging when we are not there. But when we are at the berth they are on charge. Don't know if it right or wrong.
elton
Well-Known Member
Tricke charge with a small solar panel (<5W) permanently connected.
sarabande
Well-Known Member
depends on the type of battery. If they are designed as deep discharge ones, you can leave them till they are well down. Other, less sophisticated batts will die permanently if allowed to go low several times.
Do a websearch on "battery university" for some light bedside reading on the subject.
Do a websearch on "battery university" for some light bedside reading on the subject.
Kawasaki
Well-Known Member
I have an old 'Gunson' battery charger
It must be 20 years old
It has a 'position' that enables it to chuck in when the battery needs charging
I leave it on all the time.
The problem with some Marinas is the level of electrolysis
IE
Some say that if shore power is left permanently connected to a vessel
Anodes will degrade more rapidly and 'metal attack' can be a problem.
Conwy does not seem to be affected more than most imho.
If your charger is 'smart' I reckon I would leave it connected
Then tother question is
How often do you visit your vessel?
gazzogs
Member
Batteries are brand new deep cycle & 'smart' charger. We visit marina at least fortnightly during season. I,ll probably leave charger and mains disconnected purely from an electrolysis point. Thanks all for your input.
hlb
RIP
As Kwackers says, Electrolaloalolololassysis. is the problem (sorry did not know where to stop)
I'm also in Conwy now and the charger is on all the time. It mainly depends how educated you charger is. If it's a bit thick, then turn it off. If it's been to Eton, you can leave it on. Dunno about comprehencives. Though think even cheap ones have brains these days.
In Plymouth, they were forever welding, which fried anodes. Mind I still left it conected, I'm not keen on flat batteries.
We're in the river at the moment, with the little geni on the pontoon, 96 TV prog's to watch and the heatings making us sweat.
Mended the log today, which Kwackers had unplugged. So at least we can see when we are making progress, as before we were forever stopped.
I'm also in Conwy now and the charger is on all the time. It mainly depends how educated you charger is. If it's a bit thick, then turn it off. If it's been to Eton, you can leave it on. Dunno about comprehencives. Though think even cheap ones have brains these days.
In Plymouth, they were forever welding, which fried anodes. Mind I still left it conected, I'm not keen on flat batteries.
We're in the river at the moment, with the little geni on the pontoon, 96 TV prog's to watch and the heatings making us sweat.
Mended the log today, which Kwackers had unplugged. So at least we can see when we are making progress, as before we were forever stopped.
aquatom
Well-Known Member
We look after a Squadron 58 built in 2000. It has normal led acid batterys, the port/domestic bank have been continually charged by a mastervolt charger and the starboard have no charger. The starboard batterys were changed a couple of years ago and the port were changed this year (10 years old!)
The batterys have never been allowed to go flat.
The anodes have not been any different from any other boat. And there has not been any electrolysis to the stern gear.
The batterys have never been allowed to go flat.
The anodes have not been any different from any other boat. And there has not been any electrolysis to the stern gear.
CX54WEK
Well-Known Member
We tend to just leave ours on. We have a "smart" charger and a few lead acid batteries and they seem to be holding up just fine (until last weekend that was when we got a little drunk, left the radio and all the lights on all night, woke up next morning to not only a hangover but dead domestic batteries that would work the water pumps!!!!!)
They seem to have recovered now (the batteries that is, the boat crews where still suffereing yesterday)
They seem to have recovered now (the batteries that is, the boat crews where still suffereing yesterday)
Philiz
Well-Known Member
Depends a bit on how much stuff you've got taking current out of the batteries while you're not there. We tend to leave the charger off when we're not there, I'm not a big fan of leaving chargers on as if the battery gets to the stage where it's a bit 'iffy' it might well start the engine when it's been on charge for a few days/weeks, but if you spend a few days out you could find yourself with a problem.
Kipper
Well-Known Member
Left mine on 24/7 for 8 years, no problems with anodes and batteries lasted 7 years until thr marina power was off for two weeks and flattened them beyond charging, replacement ones are still loke new.. Mind you I had a mercathode fitted.
Renegade_Master
Well-Known Member
if you leave the charger on all the time smart or niot keep an eye on the dist water levels
enterprise
Well-Known Member
We have a sterling prodigital charger and up until last season left the charger permanently on while we were onboard, unpluging shore supply and so power to the charger when leaving.
It occurred to me that while alongside with shore-power attached if there was a fault with the batteries we wouldn't know and only find out when needing them most, either when starting or after a long period (4-5 days usually) away from shore-power.
So we decided to exercise them occasionally by turning the charger off for a couple of days, should we have a problem we can turn the charger back on and investigate while safely alongside.
I'm no expert but would think that batteries maintained at full charge for excessive periods would shorten their life, given a little exercise shouldn't harm them either as long as not running them too low.
Would be interested to here others views on this.
It occurred to me that while alongside with shore-power attached if there was a fault with the batteries we wouldn't know and only find out when needing them most, either when starting or after a long period (4-5 days usually) away from shore-power.
So we decided to exercise them occasionally by turning the charger off for a couple of days, should we have a problem we can turn the charger back on and investigate while safely alongside.
I'm no expert but would think that batteries maintained at full charge for excessive periods would shorten their life, given a little exercise shouldn't harm them either as long as not running them too low.
Would be interested to here others views on this.
sarabande
Well-Known Member
Enterprise
I know they have a different application, but large UPS battery banks in data centres are maintained at full charge for many years.
As mentioned before, it might be profitable to you to have a read through the Battery University pages
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/index.htm
It's well written and technically competent.
I know they have a different application, but large UPS battery banks in data centres are maintained at full charge for many years.
As mentioned before, it might be profitable to you to have a read through the Battery University pages
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/index.htm
It's well written and technically competent.
enterprise
Well-Known Member
Many thanks for the link, I will certainly do some research.
