Deep Cycle Maintenance

[OzarkFishman]

I have heard that a deep cycle battery should always be on the charger if not in use. I have a relatively cheap charger, but it does have a maintenance stage that puts out 12.9 to 13 Volts (I read somewhere the maintenance stage should be between 12.8 and 13.1 Volts). I use my battery on average once a week and during the winter I will use it less.

Should I keep the battery on the charger all the time? Or charge it to 100% and then if I don't use it for a week put it back on the charger to maintain 100%?

I need to know, so when I buy a bigger trolling motor with a better deep cycle battery I can get the most life out of the EXPENSIVE (for me) battery.

OzarkFishman

[Dutch]

Most garage and consumer (automotive) type battery chargers are bulk charge only, and have little (if any) voltage regulation. They are fine for a quick boost to low batteries, but not to leave on for long periods. Among the regulated chargers, there are the voltage regulated ones, such as Iota Engineering and Todd, which keep a constant regulated voltage on the batteries. If these are set to the correct voltages for your batteries, they will keep the batteries charged without damage. These are sometimes called "taper charge" - as if that is a selling point. What taper charge really means is that as the battery gets charged up, the voltage goes up, so the amps out of the charger goes down. They charge OK, but a charger rated at 20 amps may only be supplying 5 amps when the batteries are 80% charged. To get around this, Statpower (and maybe others?) have come out with "smart", or multi-stage chargers. These use a variable voltage to keep the charging amps much more constant for faster charging.

[OzarkFishman]

Thanks Dutch, but I really want someone to tell me if I should keep it on the charger at all times or just charge it to 100% and then top it off if I don't use it for a few weeks.

I have the Ship-n-Shore charger from Wal-mart. It is a deep cycle charger and has a 15 Amp charge rate (also has a 10 amp and 2 amp setting). It has a maintainer stage. Is this maintenance stage meant to be a short-term maintenance or a long-term maintenance?

My battery is just a 75 Ah (maintenance free) because I only use it for my 30 lb thrust trolling motor. I know you all are the masters of all spectrums of fishing. Fill me in, I am ignorant when it comes to boating and battery maintenance.

OzarkFishman

[Dutch]

OK don't leave the charger on all the time.

Even many of the high dollar built in charger mfgs. will tell you not to leave them on for long periods of time. It only takes a few hours to charge them and they only need to be topped off every few weeks if not in use.

[OzarkFishman]

Thank you Dutch. I probably messed my battery up by keeping it on the charger for the past month (I have used it 6 times during that period), but at least it is a small battery that is inexpensive for a deep cycle.