37 Sundancer - No electric on the boat after winter storage

[Twinbrook]

Winter storage in Maryland this year. Batteries are dead as I would expect so I plugged in shore power to Line 1 (this is a 37 Sundancer so there are two shore power connections). Line 1 meter show power so I turned the battery charger on and I see a little amperage draw but it's a long way to go to get them charged up.

However I can't figure out why with shore power I don't have cabin lights or anything? I just can't remember if this is how it was last year after the winter. Do the batteries still need to be charged up? I can't believe that I don't have at least cabin power on shore power. Any help would be appreciated.

• :huh:
  
  

 

[dvx216]

battery switch off

 

[Bt Doctur]

Do yourself a favor and remove the batteries for charging and testing.Going completely dead may have killed them. Trying to charge dead batteries may kill the charger too. Dead batteries can freeze and crack
" Any help would be appreciated."
Next time remove them or dont let them go dead

 

[gerryb]

lights are powered via 12v, which comes from the batteries. Dead batteries = <8 volts = no lights

 

[LG111]

Big bummer. Never let batteries fall below 50%. After that they are toast. Buy new ones and take them home in the winter in a warm garage with a constant trickle charge. You'll get 10 years out of them if the are topped off and ambiance warm.

LG

 

[480ces]

Big bummer. Never let batteries fall below 50%. After that they are toast. Buy new ones and take them home in the winter in a warm garage with a constant trickle charge. You'll get 10 years out of them if the are topped off and ambiance warm.

LG

You're right about the trickle charge, however storage temperature is best if somewhere just above freezing for maximum battery life. Even a little below freezing is OK, a fully charged battery has a freeze point well below water.

 

[dvx216]

Just ran into the same thing with my motorcycle battery would not build a charge on the charger set to auto flipped charger to manual for about a half an hour then back to auto to finish charging.

 

[RollerCoastr]

I'd actually advise against the trickle charger. Trickle chargers that don't "float" but constantly charge even a full battery often do more harm than good. (I learned this the hard way - I've killed batteries while trying to preserve them)

 

[Twinbrook]

Problem solved - I'm embarrassed to tell you all how I resolved the problem.