Maintaining batteries state of charge

[stevemid]

I've been keeping the batteries for my build on a little Arlec charger, but it stays at 14.4V and never drops to float level. I saw this advert (daily email ) for a charger that maintains a float voltage of 13.4V. Now that I know they exist, Ill look for one in Oz. Just what you guys with a boat in the garden need to keep your batteries ready to go. You could leave this on full batteries for a year without a problem.
http://shop.sailnet.com/promariner-prosport-portable-maintainer-p-52128.html

[Fed]

Depending on the size of your Arlec hooking all your batteries up at the same time could pull it down to float charge levels.
Have to do something Steve it's looking like the boat might be a few more years. ;)

[Chimo]

Steve

Have you tried plugging your charger into a timer and just giving the batteries a charge for an hour or so a day?

Iv'e been doing this with a couple of chargers on three batteries; one motor and one house through an auto battery coupler and a second motor just on its own.

Sometime for a bit of variety I switch the chargers to do the other battery , batteries, but still only run them for an hour or so. Batteries are getting on for 6 or 7 years old now. Best life Ive had to date is around 9 yrs for a motor battery before it started to get a bit suss got changed.

Bit hard if you don't have 240v on your jetty / pontoon like on a mooring but then there is solar.

Cheers
Chimo

[stevemid]

The best thing about solar is not the free juice, it's that solar keeps your batteries 100% topped up. There's nothing harder on batteries than to be only partially charged.

Chimo, yep I've been managing manually but the charger should hit a float level, that's why the little 'float' charger caught my eye.
Fed, these are new batteries, so its just a matter of keeping them topped up until I get the boat out of the shed, then the solar can take over. Won't be long now!

[Chimo]

New batteries are an interesting animal. I just replaced a battery from a a 40 year old car we don't use very much after about 6 yrs. Anyhow after the new battery arrived at the ranch it was placed on a charger for a day then spelled then this was repeated a few more times and it took about 3 or 4 sessions to get it up to 14 plus volts. Did the same with the Patrol battery that only lasted about 6 yrs too and it behaved the same. Took a few sessions to get the new battery up to where I wanted it.

Makes me wonder about the age and treatment of these before they get to the customer.

[fisho64]

buy a Ctek charger, an MX5 will do it all for $80
There are no better chargers

[Bros]

Makes me wonder about the age and treatment of these before they get to the customer.

I don't know about your particular battery but some have the manufacture date on the case somewhere. It's like tyres 4 digits month then year

[Midnight]

With your solar set up Steve, go for a quality DC-DC charger. It will charge your batteries fully and then float.

Cheers,
Myles

[Midnight]

http://www.redarc.com.au/index.php?/

This mob make quality gear and are very good to deal with.

Cheers
Myles

[stevemid]

New batteries are an interesting animal. I just replaced a battery from a a 40 year old car we don't use very much after about 6 yrs. Anyhow after the new battery arrived at the ranch it was placed on a charger for a day then spelled then this was repeated a few more times and it took about 3 or 4 sessions to get it up to 14 plus volts. Did the same with the Patrol battery that only lasted about 6 yrs too and it behaved the same. Took a few sessions to get the new battery up to where I wanted it.

Makes me wonder about the age and treatment of these before they get to the customer.
Chimo: Same here, I ordered a full river dc150 and a HC64 start battery. The 150AH was 12.4 volts when I got it. Must have spent some time on the shelf.
Midnight: now you got me googling! Initially I'm Not sure I see the cost benefit of the dcdc charger for my application. Batteries are 2m from the solar panels and the engine alternators. Educate me?

Steve

[Midnight]

Damn! Just lost my reply!

Try again....

Steve the benefits are twofold.
The dc-dc charger will charge your house batteries to 100% and then float. You alternators will never get them above about 75-80%.

The charger also isolates your house bank from the cranking batteries in the same way a VSR does.

I guess a third benefit would be, that you can use proper deep cycle house batteries of any composition, gel, agm etc and have the dc-dc charger set accordingly for the type, and know that they are being charged to their best potential. You could stick with normal lead acid etc for your cranking batteries which will be charged by the solar or alternators.

But best to speak with someone like Redarc for the best options, I am no expert.

This mob have the chargers at a good price

http://www.homeof12volt.com/shop/index.php/page/shop/browse/category_id/54cb89307a7e4b3dd4c502242fa8aef2

Cheers,
Myles

[Axl]

I've been keeping the batteries for my build on a little Arlec charger, but it stays at 14.4V and never drops to float level. I saw this advert (daily email ) for a charger that maintains a float voltage of 13.4V. Now that I know they exist, Ill look for one in Oz. Just what you guys with a boat in the garden need to keep your batteries ready to go. You could leave this on full batteries for a year without a problem.
http://shop.sailnet.com/promariner-prosport-portable-maintainer-p-52128.html

From what I have read I think that you only want to keep them maintained whilst they are in the shed? If this is the case get yourself a C-Tek as fisho64 has said, these units not only charge but they maintain as well.

If you keep pumping 14.4V into any sort of battery without discharging them you will soon ruin them (hopefully you havent already). There is alot of info here http://www.myswag.org/index.php?board=9.0 these guys know what they are talking about when it comes to maintaing and charging batteries have a read through.

A dc-dc charger is a waste of money your alternator's (two 70h/p motors?) will do this for you, simply put a VSR in between the house and crank batteries and Bobs you uncle, as Midnight has said they may not fully charge the battery but your solar will do the rest.


I've seen from your build thread that you have solar, you will have an MPPT or a PWM regulator off the panels which will keep them charged nicely as long as you have sunlight once you get your boat on the water. When there is no sun around get a small generator to run the C-Tek 8 stage smart charger and depending on your amp/hr draw overnight (you say you have a 150amp/hr battery so you have 75amp/hrs avaliable to use before you should recharge) you will have all your bases covered.

I dont know the size of your panels but lets say they are 120W you will get around 6amps/hr from them (average) times this by 6-7 hours of sunlight a day (average) thats 36-42amps (average) you will be putting back in a day. If you are using more amps/day than this then you will need more storage (another battery) and bigger panels.

I too am no expert but since buying a camper trailer 12 months ago I have spent many hours trolling through the above Myswag forum on this subject, I hope this helps.


buy a Ctek charger, an MX5 will do it all for $80
There are no better chargers

Couldnt agree more with the above statement, although I would go with the MXS10 just to get the job done a bit quicker http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CTEK-MXS10-BATTERY-CHARGER-SUIT-CAR-CARAVAN-MARINE-AGM-DEEP-CYCLE-MARINE-BOAT-/321077187274?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ac1b112ca#ht_3115wt_1062. the rule of thumb for chargers is 10% of the batteries capacity, so with a 150amp/hr battery you really need a 15amp charger however a 10amp will do the job just fine.

[stevemid]

OK, got the picture. Thanks very much guys.

Just to clarify my situation, the batteries are on the bench for a month and probably another month to completion (FFS) (that's For Fed's Sake.) So I will keep then topped up with my little trickle charger managed manually.

Steve

[Fed]

Good idea Steve turn it off for a Month then on for a day then on for another day at launch time.
Take a reading of Volts & Amps under charge now & at each top up.
What Arlec do you have?
Cardboard anchors and wooden bow rollers are very time consuming.

This thread is pretty much finished now so I'll waffle on for a moment.
Sorry for the jibe I didn't think you'd take it to heart due to the ;) I put at the end, I was duly notified of the disagree thanks for that. ;)

I've seen this 1000s of times & I'm convinced it's part of the human psyche to power on through a job they love doing then drag the chain at the end because they never want it to finish.

[stevemid]

Good idea Steve turn it off for a Month then on for a day then on for another day at launch time.
Take a reading of Volts & Amps under charge now & at each top up.
What Arlec do you have?
Cardboard anchors and wooden bow rollers are very time consuming.

This thread is pretty much finished now so I'll waffle on for a moment.
Sorry for the jibe I didn't think you'd take it to heart due to the ;) I put at the end, I was duly notified of the disagree thanks for that. ;)

I've seen this 1000s of times & I'm convinced it's part of the human psyche to power on through a job they love doing then drag the chain at the end because they never want it to finish.
Hi Fed,
I only disagreed with your time estimate. No offense taken at all.

I am loving it. I had reached a hump with the fairing that I never thought I'd get over. But I've pushed past it now and am ready to go on to the hi-build. From there we go pretty quickly into painting.

Steve