Question on charging batteries

dburne

dburne

New Member
Jun 8, 2012
590
Nashville TN
Boat Info
2013 Sea Ray 190 Sport
Engines
4.3 MPI Mercruiser Alpha One
Hey gang,

Due to declining health, I am unfortunately faced with needing to sell my boat. I can no longer drive, and we have sold our home and are moving to FL next week. I have a guy that was wanting it, we talked yesterday and now he wants to come tomorrow morning and take it to the lake to make sure it fits their needs. I can understand that, but is kind of a pain as the boat is winterized currently and of course running it will negate that. And with our move next week, got our hands full right now as it is.

But on to my question, going to pull the boat up in the driveway this morning and get it cleaned up some. I have two batteries in the boat with the selector switch, which of course is in the off position. I was going to hook up my dual charger to them, to get a charge on them today. Previously when I did this last winter, I had the batteries out of the boat and just left them on trickle maintenance charge.

Is it ok to hook up the charger to the batteries while they are in the boat and wired up and charge them that way? I am assuming so, just want to be sure. I am partially blind now, and would be difficult for me to try and unhook all those cables...

Thanks for any advice,
 
Sorry to hear about your situation. Best wishes for a smooth transition to your new home.
 
Thanks blaster!
I underwent a surgical procedure to have part of my colon removed, that part of the surgery went very well. Unfortunately, I woke up after surgery half blind. A condition known as homonymous hemniopia. After the doctors in the hospital finally realized I could not see anything to my right, they did scans. A neurologist came in and told me my condition was permanent, and I would never be able to drive again. Turned out I suffered a large stroke during surgery, which killed of a significant section of my brain in the left rear. That part controls the vision in the right half of each eye. So the right half of each eye is dark, a gray void. I see nothing to the right of center in either eye. I can never drive a vehicle again. And a few months later, I knew something was not right, so they did more tests. I was diagnosed as having vascular dementia - another affect from the stroke. It nailed me, but I am very blessed to still have what I do have. And a wonderful wife who takes very good care of me!
I am very thankful I got to enjoy boating while I did!

So I have now officially retired from a wonderful 36 year career with my company, and we are moving to FL next week to begin a new chapter of our lives. I am very blessed , and looking forward to what lies ahead.
 
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Very sorry about what happened to you Don; best of luck.Trust Florida will bring you good health I'm sure. Be positive.
 
Ok guys quick question:
I have the battery tender hooked up and plugged in to my two batteries. It is an International Battery Tender. On the tender, one battery shows it is charging ( solid amber light) , the other battery shows not hooked up properly ( indicated by a flashing amber light).
I have confirmed positive and negative connections.

Could it be I should have crossed the connections between the two batteries? Currently I have one connection to one battery, the other connection to the other. But the batteries are still in the boat and wired together. Why would it be telling me that other battery not hooked up properly?
The battery selector switch in the boat is in the off position.

Would much appreciate any thoughts/advice!

Edit: I called the dealer, he confirmed I had them hooked up right and they should be charging - will give it a while and see if that flashing light turns solid at some point...
 
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Best of luck in Florida. And remember, you can still boat, you just sit in a different seat now.
 
Hi Don,
Very sorry to hear of your troubles. You take care of one issue & end up with another. It sounds like you have a great attitude & outlook to move forward. Sometimes we forget that everyday we can wake up & take a breath is a gift. I wish you the best on this new chapter on your life. Be well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Todd
 
Sorry to hear about your health problems, hope all works out well for you.
Getting old sucks.

If you do have a bad battery just disclose it to the buyer I'm sure he'll understand your situation.
 
Thanks so much for the very kind words everyone, I really appreciate it!

All went well today, the batteries were fine - one was flashing because they were hooked up in parallel I assume, ended up disconnecting the one and just letting them charge through the other one. The boat started up fine today, we went to the lake and it ran beautifully like it always does.
My friend fell in love with it, gave me a check on the spot and took the boat with him.

Really kind of bittersweet for me, I so loved boating - but like my wife says we can just rent a pontoon or something at a nearby lake if we ever want to go out. I can no longer drive hence can't trailer a boat, so that would work out best for us - plus I would have had no place to store it either. Extra cash coming in handy as well at this time.

It has been awesome being part of this community since I began boating, and am very blessed and fortunate that I did get to own a boat and enjoy it for the time I was able to. Do cherish your health, cause it can certainly change in the blink of an eye, when you least expect it.

I will continue to look in on you fine folks here from time to time and keep up with what is going on in the community here. This community has been a great asset for me from the time I started boating. Have a lot of spare time on my hands now anyway.
Now, if we can just get through the next few days I will have it made. Movers coming Wed to pack everything left to pack up, then Thursday to load out. We will be departing here first thing Friday morning for our new home.

And again, thanks to everyone for all the well wishes!!
 
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Hey Don,

So sorry to read your news.... having a 185 sport very similar to yours i always looked forward to reading your threads as they were so detailed and i learnt so much from them.

I had noticed you werent around in a while was wondering where you were.... must have been difficult watching your boat drive away... but im sure you will get out on the water lots down in FL.

You can be sure of some fine weather not like the wash out of a summer we had last year here in ireland.... i remember talking to you last year about your BBQ setup was looking to do something similar but still havent go around to it. Hopefully this year.

All the best with the big move and heres wishing you good health for the future.

Hope to see lots more posts from you here.

Niall
 
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