Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Best way to care for a 12V battery?
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legendre.
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May 9, 2015 at 5:37 pm #1445
Hello to all;
What’s the best way to get the most life out of my 12V marine battery?
This issue came up when I tried to fire up my newly rebuilt starter, only to have nothing happen.
Turns out the battery was mostly dead. Funny, ’cause it holds what I was told was a, "surface" charge of 12.7 volts, which goes away very quickly when it’s asked to do anything. Not like, "ha ha" funny, tho!I bench tested it using the battery in my car, and the starter spun beautifully. Interestingly, I see that both batteries were made during the same month, of the same year, (2010). The one in my car is disreputable looking, and I’ve not babied it. Aggressive city driving, summers often exceeded 110 F, etc.
The marine battery I always stored in the garage, on a float charger. It looked almost new when I dropped it off for the core charge, this morning. Both batteries were from Costco, and I’ve had good luck with them in the past.
So, any care and / or storage advice will be welcome.
Thanks, and happy motoring!
SmokeyMay 9, 2015 at 9:48 pm #15613What I do is every few months when the battery is in storage is I hook it up to an inverter and run a fan. When the inverter sounds the low voltage alarm I disconnect the battery from the inverter. Then the battery gets recharged. My boat starting battery is 11 years old and is going to be replaced soon. It will still start my 40 hp Johnson but why take chances.
May 9, 2015 at 11:30 pm #15622always store on a piece of wood NOT ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR. charge it once a month.
May 9, 2015 at 11:45 pm #15628Sounds like you have tried to take care of your boat’s battery, might just be bad luck.
Like everyone has said, a nice slow charge (2 amps) a few times during the winter should maintain a good battery. Make sure the cells are filled properly with distilled water before charging, then clean the battery off with soapy water after the charge. A dirty battery can possibly create its own short circuit between the terminals helping it drain down prematurely as well.May 10, 2015 at 1:22 am #15638I add a little Baking Soda to the wash water to neutralize the acid. Dirt and dampness will slowly discharge them.
. . . . . 😉
May 10, 2015 at 1:25 am #15639
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This reply was modified 6 years ago by
The Boat House.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by
The Boat House.
May 11, 2015 at 1:23 am #15691I’m not a fan of keeping batteries on a trickle-charge for long periods.. it’s just one of those things. As a previous poster suggested, the best thing for them is to exercise them once in a while..
Hook up a good load, like a 60W car head light, and run it ’till the light starts to dim. Then put it on a 2A charge for a day and leave it for a couple months.. then repeat. If you can keep it slightly warm (like, 40-50F) that is ideal.
But some of them, despite the best care, just die early.. for any number of reasons. I’ve heard the "not on concrete" thing before, but I don’t know why it’s said or if it’s valid.
May 11, 2015 at 2:05 am #15692I agree that it is important to store a battery off of the floor. Brand new batteries sitting on a concrete floor will discharge in short order. That was a recommendation of Interstate Batteries when I owned an auto repair facility in Houston. One other thing to keep in mind, if the battery is maintained in a high evaporative climate and the electrolite evaporates down to the top of the plates, do not add distilled water (nor tap water) to the electrolite as it will kill the battery fast. You can buy electrolite at your neighborhood auto parts store. If the electrolite is a little low, distilled water can be added once a charger has been attached for a while and the fluid is bubbling. These are simple rules that may save you a headache in the future.
Tom
May 11, 2015 at 4:43 am #15697quote Indian Group Leader:I agree that it is important to store a battery off of the floor. Brand new batteries sitting on a concrete floor will discharge in short order. That was a recommendation of Interstate Batteries when I owned an auto repair facility in Houston.I took a moment to search on this topic, and here’s what came up.. if you’re willing to believe Snopes.com, the battery / concrete thing is an urban legend.
Now I’m not a chemist, nor do I design batteries – but based on what I know about physics, and electronics / electrochemisty, there’s no good reason that a battery stored on +concrete+ should be damaged, or even discharged at an accelerated rate.
It’s all a bunch of hooey, really.
May 11, 2015 at 7:00 am #15701I stand corrected due to my old age and the improvement of lead-acid batteries. I worked in my father’s auto parts store as a teenager and later owned an auto repair shop. There apparently has been improvement in the casings of lead acid batteries which do not allow discharge anymore; however, it was not a legend for the rubber cased batteries that we sold in those days and it would have been more elegant to point out that things have improved rather than calling our comments nonsense. Here is the quote from Snopes.com that you chose to overlook:
"Car batteries used to be encased in hard rubber, a substance that was porous enough that battery acid could seep through it and create a conductive path through the damp concrete, draining the battery. The cases of today’s batteries, however, are made of sturdier stuff that far better contains their contents than those of yesteryear. As well, time has brought technological improvements to the seals around the posts and the vent systems."
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/batt … fW1RLF3.99
Thanks for setting us straight with your rude comments. As for me, I still store my lead-acid battery on the shelf and not on the floor.
Tom
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