Do you leave your batteries in over the winter?

I agree with Henry! I use AGM's and the batteries stay om board & connected. The boat is stored outside so once or twice a season I will plug in to top off the charge!
 
Read the article referenced in the "What are the best batteries" thread. AMG and Gels loose 1-3% of their charge per month while in storage. This is not a big deal. Just plug in the charger for a few hours when you begin to perform your spring time work and your batteries are right back to where they need to be in very little time. No muss no fuss.
 
Mine comes out fully charged and then put on the trickle charger all winter in the basement on a wooden board.
 
On past boats when I only had 2 or 3 batteries to deal with I pulled them every season and stored them in the garage on wooden planks with a trickle charger. Now with 5 batteries to deal with, that Sea Ray saw fit to tuck in a back corner of the ER, the batteries stay in. All of the breakers are switched off except the battery charger and the one that controls the hatch. I leave a power cord sticking out thru the shrink wrap and plug it in occasionaly during the winter lay up.
 
Batteries stay in the boat. Disconnected. On a lift, not concerned about bilge pump. Re-connect them in the spring and turn the charger on.
 
widowmaker said:
Is there any chance of freezing in the dead of winter, with no load attached?
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The freezing temperature of the electrolyte in a fully charged battery is -92.0 F. At a 40% state of charge, electrolyte will freeze if the temperature reaches approximately 16.0 F. So keep your batteries charged and you should be OK
 
Alex F said:
I always take mine out and charge them about 2-3 times during the winter. If I leave them in there's no way to charge them (if the neg. or pos. is disconnected). The way to prolong the life of a battery is to keep it charged. So, my advice is if you don't have access to 110v to keep them charged then take them out.
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This is what I do. Batteries pulled and stored at 55-60F, charged every 6 weeks. Granted, I don't drain my batteries hard, but I just got 5+ out of my batteries. I am replacing them this year.

frozen with salt said:
Alex, if you take them out how do you lower the hatch ? manually? i leave mine I dont know how to close the hatch except pull the pins on the arms, and i hear it's very heavy????
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My mechanic pulls the pin on the arm. The hatch is heavy. .. but (on my boat at least), not too heavy to lift manually. . especially if you only do it once or twice. I like the "jumper through the accessory plug" idea.
 
tpetpe said:
No, I pull mine, charge, then store in heated basement prior storing boat.
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I do the same however a fully charged battery should last the cold season with minimal voltage drop if disconnected.

Remember that newer boats may require a small drain even when the key is off to keep the memory in electronical equipment so disconnection or trickle charge may be needed to keep your batteries up to charge.
 
I store my batteries in an unheated garage and our winters are pretty cold. I have been trickle charging them once per month. Should I be concerned about storing them in cold conditions? I live in the Northeast between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
 
You should store your batteries in your boat if possible and on a float charge if you want them to last a long time.

Keeping them on a hunk of wood is an old wise tale...

NEVER store a battery in a Less then full charge Condition; It will sulfate, And although it will take a charge It will not be at full cranking amps. Because some of the cells will be filled up with sulfate that can not absorb the electrolyte...

You may find the following link valuable to read through it...

http://www.flyingbeet.com/electricg/batteries.html
 
I used to take the battery out of my 2150 Regal and my Zodiac 380 Yachtline, but on the big boat with 5 Batts they stay in there. They have been in there every year since 1994 and I usually get 4-6 years out of every set, and at 6 years they usually aren't bad yet I just don't want to tempt fate!
 
Stay in the boat connected to my Xantrex True Charge. Batteries are checked once during the winter, have never needed to add water but good excuse for boat run and to check them anyways. I got 6 seasons out of my last set. That set was Sear Diehards btw.

On my first boats with the factory charger, I had it set up with a good commerical duty timer and set it to charge an hour per day at 4 am. That worked well also.
 
My batteries are put into heated storage fully charged with negative lead disconnected. The engine room lift is closed with a battery connected to the 12v plug on the dash. I replaced the batteries after 5 1/2 years and they were still good.
 
Jim M said:
My batteries are put into heated storage fully charged with negative lead disconnected. The engine room lift is closed with a battery connected to the 12v plug on the dash. I replaced the batteries after 5 1/2 years and they were still good.
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Can you explain how you do this? Is this a special feature? I ended up having to leave one battery behind and connected.
 
sfergson727 said:
On SR boats with electric hatches, there is a circuit from the accessory socket at the helm that allows you to open and close the electric hatch. You need a power source, I use a jump pack, and a simple harness that connects the battery to the male accessory plug. You can make one with the parts available at Radio Shack if your's was lost, or more likely, never sent from the guy you bought your boat from....probably still with the bimini cover.
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Ha!!! Classic. Basically you're plugging the male adapter into the 12v accessory/"cigarette" plug and supplying power to it. I assume same can be done with a battery I remove to close it?
 
When putting batteries away for the winter, if they're staying on the boat should you disconnect the negative or positive lead? I always thought positive, but maybe it doesn't matter....???

Jim M said:
My batteries are put into heated storage fully charged with negative lead disconnected. The engine room lift is closed with a battery connected to the 12v plug on the dash. I replaced the batteries after 5 1/2 years and they were still good.
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At my indoor rack storage, the rack storage agreement states that you must pull your batteries for the winter. I think it must be a liability issue. Just think if the boat above you had an issue and affected your boat below.....
 
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