Let Talk Batteries....

[petrey10]

yep my charger is on its way... I ended up giving basspro's 2 bank (5amp to each bank) charger a try... its a got warranty so if it dies on me I will send her back.... Now for winter storage will I want to keep it plugged in at all times? Will I want to take the batteries out of the boat (storage gets very cold, soemtimes below zero)?

[petrey10]

o ya and I checked out my local hardware store that has batteries but they only had durabrand starting batteries. I am going to try and go to walmart and see if they have more selection there. Would autozone or NAPA be a good place to check to? Or would they just have car batteries?

[fleetpaint]

The ProMariner in boat chargers are good ones. Just make sure all your batteries are of the same make, either gel or standard. The charger cannot accept two different kinds of batteries.
I have had one for a year and it has been stellar.

Hey carter, Just hooked one of theese up in my friands supra. He has one of each type of battery!...any idea what will happen?

[petrey10]

http://www.napaonline.com/Search/Det...331_0056217756

saw this battery on NAPA's website... we got one here locally so I know I could get it ordered if needed... you think two of those babies would be sufficient?

nvm these were 250 some bucks!!!!!!!

[petrey10]

Hey carter, Just hooked one of theese up in my friands supra. He has one of each type of battery!...any idea what will happen?

I didn't think you were supposed to have different types of batteries hooked up to a charger but you might want to go back to the manufacturer's instruction booklet

[ajholt7]

Hey carter, Just hooked one of theese up in my friands supra. He has one of each type of battery!...any idea what will happen?

It will shorten the life of the batteries due to charging rates is what I have been told. I know my charger had a switch to select between the two types.

[Ewok]

Good reading here. I'm looking at getting an on-board charger and I ran across this one:

http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-...l/GU16202.html

It says each bank is programable to each specific type of battery so I can set a profile for AGM and lead acid on each bank individually. Anyone have any experience with this brand of battery charger?

If you remember from my previous battery problems my house battery was dead and I needed a house battery to use my boat. While waiting for my dealer to get back to me about my battery issues, I bought an optima marine deep cycle battery because I read about it on the Tige website that they offer the optima as an option for the house battery (I know now that they are a rip off), and they had one at autozone on sale. I still have the interstate starting battery.

Also, how many volts should the alternator put out? I'm heading to the lake now to figure out of my starting battery is bad or if the alternator might be bad. After 3 hours surfing and cruising yesterday my engine had trouble starting and the volt meter on the instrument cluster read 10.6. Took the battery to an interstate dealer and they charged it, tested it and said it was just weak. I bought a volt meter and I'm going to run the boat to see what voltage is charging the batteries at different rpm's, what numbers are good? The volt meter on the dash says it's putting 13.8-13.9V into the system and I think that is about right but I'm going to check with an independent meter.

Thanks

[talltigeguy]

Good reading here. I'm looking at getting an on-board charger and I ran across this one:

http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-...l/GU16202.html

It says each bank is programable to each specific type of battery so I can set a profile for AGM and lead acid on each bank individually. Anyone have any experience with this brand of battery charger?

If you remember from my previous battery problems my house battery was dead and I needed a house battery to use my boat. While waiting for my dealer to get back to me about my battery issues, I bought an optima marine deep cycle battery because I read about it on the Tige website that they offer the optima as an option for the house battery (I know now that they are a rip off), and they had one at autozone on sale. I still have the interstate starting battery.

Also, how many volts should the alternator put out? I'm heading to the lake now to figure out of my starting battery is bad or if the alternator might be bad. After 3 hours surfing and cruising yesterday my engine had trouble starting and the volt meter on the instrument cluster read 10.6. Took the battery to an interstate dealer and they charged it, tested it and said it was just weak. I bought a volt meter and I'm going to run the boat to see what voltage is charging the batteries at different rpm's, what numbers are good? The volt meter on the dash says it's putting 13.8-13.9V into the system and I think that is about right but I'm going to check with an independent meter.

Thanks

I like the charger. Can you make sure that you isolate the batteries from one another during charging?

Remember that the batteries will be combined when charging with the boat. Never an optimal situation to mix and match batteries, but a good idea to try and isolate them as much as possible. What type of isolator/perko/relay do you have?

[chpthril]

I like the charger. Can you make sure that you isolate the batteries from one another during charging?

Remember that the batteries will be combined when charging with the boat. Never an optimal situation to mix and match batteries, but a good idea to try and isolate them as much as possible. What type of isolator/perko/relay do you have?

Being an 09, it should have a diode type Iso and a main ON/OFF switch.

i'm not familiar with that particular model as my distributor doesnt stock that one, but if the boat does have the factory Iso, they will not combine while charging.

[chpthril]

Good reading here. I'm looking at getting an on-board charger and I ran across this one:

http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-...l/GU16202.html

It says each bank is programable to each specific type of battery so I can set a profile for AGM and lead acid on each bank individually. Anyone have any experience with this brand of battery charger?

If you remember from my previous battery problems my house battery was dead and I needed a house battery to use my boat. While waiting for my dealer to get back to me about my battery issues, I bought an optima marine deep cycle battery because I read about it on the Tige website that they offer the optima as an option for the house battery (I know now that they are a rip off), and they had one at autozone on sale. I still have the interstate starting battery.

Also, how many volts should the alternator put out? I'm heading to the lake now to figure out of my starting battery is bad or if the alternator might be bad. After 3 hours surfing and cruising yesterday my engine had trouble starting and the volt meter on the instrument cluster read 10.6. Took the battery to an interstate dealer and they charged it, tested it and said it was just weak. I bought a volt meter and I'm going to run the boat to see what voltage is charging the batteries at different rpm's, what numbers are good? The volt meter on the dash says it's putting 13.8-13.9V into the system and I think that is about right but I'm going to check with an independent meter.

Thanks

By what method did they test the battery to determin it was week Batteries are either good or bad, or charged or discharged. In all actuality, if they used the proper tester, they could have deternined it's state before charging to determine is was bad - and toss it, or good - and either disharged or charged.

At idle, you should see a voltage level that is above the level of the batteries static (engine off) voltage level. As the RPMs increase, so should the voltage level from the alt. 13.5+ and even as high as 14.5 is normal.

[Ewok]

By what method did they test the battery to determin it was week Batteries are either good or bad, or charged or discharged. In all actuality, if they used the proper tester, they could have deternined it's state before charging to determine is was bad - and toss it, or good - and either disharged or charged.

At idle, you should see a voltage level that is above the level of the batteries static (engine off) voltage level. As the RPMs increase, so should the voltage level from the alt. 13.5+ and even as high as 14.5 is normal.

They hooked it up to a hand held battery tester with a load button that they pushed. Napa used a similar tester but it was more of a computer and it said the battery was bad. I bought a volt meter and checked the readings on the lake with the engine running and off.

The battery read 12.5 when I left the interstate dealer and a few hours later was the same when I started the boat at the lake. At idle I was getting 13.9-14 V on the starting battery, 13.8-9 on the house battery. 13.9-14.0 on the lake at @3K rpm. 12.7-8 with the engine off after I pulled it out of the lake. I think these numbers sound about right and I guess the alternator is good. I just can't figure out what discharged the starting battery so bad and why the engine didn't charge it up enough to have a normal start the second time yesterday. All switches were off, and they are off now, I tripple checked. I'm going to be checking the voltage at least everyday and I hope it stays good.

[Nobody]

Might help to calculate an RMS wattage output to put it in perspective. I am running about 1900 Watts RMS. To me, that is a good midsize system.

What about 5000 watts RMS?

[Ewok]

For those who have mounted on-board charges, where did you mount them? I'm going to order that guest charger and I don't want to re-invent the wheel. Also, did you flush mount a plug of some type or just reach into the boat to find a dangling plug and attach the extension cord?

[petrey10]

its hard to describe where I mounted it but basically its the side of the pass. side storage that the opening is on... i no i no bad explaination but it fit perfect and is easy to reach and is still out of the way for storage of towels and vests.

[Fiveflat]

Personally, I like the sound of a permanent onboard charger, but for the cost I'd rather just plug in my portable each evening.

I just setup my stereo system and my boat only had 1 battery. I installed a second, a Perko and that second battery ran dead pretty fast just tuning the 12" sub.
I put it on my charger, watched it charge it back up to 100% and tested the sub. I let it hit hard and with each hard hit I could literally see the guage on the charger fall 5%. I hit it hard until the guage fell to 85% (so 3 hard hits lol) and turned the sub all the way down, turned the towers down and the in-boats up and the 2A trickle let that battery still climb...