BATTERY QUESTION

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ROLAND
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BATTERY QUESTION

#1 Post by ROLAND » Sat May 19, 2018 1:07 am

Gotta a question for you guys...Last december I bought a battery tender plus ( 12 volt / 1.25 amp charger ). At the time I bought the battery tender plus, my battery ( only one year old Deca marine master ) had been sitting on my boat for 3 to 4 months without being used. Anyway, hooked up the battery tender to the battery, a short time later I got a green light which indicates all is well.. so there I let it sit for 5 months.. and evertime I looked had a solid green light... disconnected it yesterday, put the battery back in my boat and nothing... dead as a door nail.. Took the battery back out and just for grins, hooked it back up to the battery tender plus and immediately got the green light... then I connected my battery to a little old cheap shumacher battery charger.. display said the battery only had 11 % charge. well it's in the garage charging on the shumacher now and in fact it's back to 100 %. I have a couple of questions for you - any idea why the battery tender plus didn't do it's job even though it gave me the green "good to go light ". also, is it possible that the battery was so deeply discharged from 3 or 4 months of non use that the battery tender wasn't ablt to charge it back up... which makes me wonder, could a virtually new battery ( 1 season old ) be that deeply discharged after just 3 or 4 months in a southern climate. True we did have a week or two in Dec when the temps were down in the mid teens and low 20's.. fyi... while the battery sat connected to the battery tender, it was in my garage ( not heated ) and the battery was sitting on a wooden work bench, not a concrete floor. any thought?
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

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steve1313
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#2 Post by steve1313 » Sat May 19, 2018 2:45 am

Sounds like you've got a bad battery. There's absolutely no reason why a battery shouldn't be able to hold a charge sitting around for a few months, even if some of those days were cold. I've had both regular wet cell batteries and AGM batteries on my boats. I've never connected any of them to any kind of a charger, and they always survive the winter just fine. I leave them in the boat (outside in a covered slip on a lift), connected with the battery switch off. I'm in Virginia and the boat typically doesn't get used from late November to late March. Temps drop to the low teens or even lower. When we get a decent day in March or whenever, I go to the boat, turn the battery switch on and everything fires right up.

Personally, I think most boat owners worry too much about the possibility of the batteries going dead and overcharge them. :2cents
Steve
"Serendipity" - 2017 Sweetwater 2286 WB Tritoon w/ 150HP Yamaha
Slipped at Lake Anna, Virginia
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Coldbrew
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#3 Post by Coldbrew » Sat May 19, 2018 11:16 am

I agree with Roland. I disconnect my battery in late October when I wrap the boat and I just leave it in there for the winter. I'm in New Hampshire. Along with our seasonably cold weather....this season we had a stretch of 3 weeks it barely got over 0. I connected the battery last weekend and the boat cranked over like it was brand new. I've done this for 4 years.

Unless you've got a maintenance free battery you might want to check the water level. I had that happen to one of my snowmobile batteries this season. Even though I run a battery tender on those (they're no marine battery) I had one die on me and I noticed that a cell was dry. :hammer
2014 Premier Gemini 201
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ROLAND
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#4 Post by ROLAND » Sat May 19, 2018 11:37 pm

well looks like you guys were right.. bad battery. I let it charge on my shumacher charger overnight.. a total of about 16 hours... I disconnected it from the battery charger this afternoon and immediately used a volt meter on it and it read 11.44 volts ( which is already too low ). I waited 2 minutes and tested it again and in just two minutes it dropped to 11.33 What ticks me off is the battery warranty expired last month. I guess the one thing I didn't know was that a "battery tender" will not recharge a battery. I thought it would so I was thinking no matter how much the battery had discharged, that the battery tender would recharge the battery. I believed it would take awhile since the battery tender has a charge rate of 1.25 amps.. but I knew it was going to be hooked up for 4 or 5 months.... apparently ( and I'm just guessing here ) a battery tender will keep your battery at or around the level of charge that was there when you hooked it up... it will not take a battery that is at 11% charged and run it up to 100. And I assume the battery, which was only 1 year old had lost a lot of iit's charge from sitting around unused and uncharged for 3 to 4 months.... another lesson learned... but here's the thing... When I bought my boat in 2010 it came with a continental 1000 ca battery. Used it for 4 years, never disconnected it.. never charged it up... and every spring she fired right up. This year I went with the Deka ( supposed to be a great marine starting battery ), use a battery tender and when it came time to put the battery back I got nothing.. oh well, live and learn. lol
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

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rancherlee
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#5 Post by rancherlee » Sun May 20, 2018 5:29 am

I use a different brand of battery tender that is a 1.5amp max unit and it will recharge my trolling motor batteries from 25% to full, just takes a week or two. I hook all 3 batteries over winter and it keeps them topped off nicely at -30*f
1988' Kennedy 20' "Haley's Comet"
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SamiGuy
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#6 Post by SamiGuy » Sun May 20, 2018 8:57 am

I've used the same Battery Tender Plus for years now on PWC, Harley, lawn tractor and two pontoon batteries. Mine will take a "dead" battery and bring it back to life. Guess it depend on several different circumstances. At such a small charge amperage, it does take days for it to bring it back, but it has worked well for me. Glad you got yours working. Nothing worse than a battery system that lets you down when you want/need it. Thanks for the update!
Sami
2013 Sweetwater 2286 Yamaha F115LA

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Coldbrew
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#7 Post by Coldbrew » Sun May 20, 2018 1:23 pm

Thanks for the update. I hope i didn't confuse you when I agreed with you. I meant Steve. :lol3
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smltooner
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#8 Post by smltooner » Sun May 20, 2018 3:18 pm

steve1313 wrote:
Sat May 19, 2018 2:45 am
Sounds like you've got a bad battery. There's absolutely no reason why a battery shouldn't be able to hold a charge sitting around for a few months, even if some of those days were cold. I've had both regular wet cell batteries and AGM batteries on my boats. I've never connected any of them to any kind of a charger, and they always survive the winter just fine. I leave them in the boat (outside in a covered slip on a lift), connected with the battery switch off. I'm in Virginia and the boat typically doesn't get used from late November to late March. Temps drop to the low teens or even lower. When we get a decent day in March or whenever, I go to the boat, turn the battery switch on and everything fires right up.

Personally, I think most boat owners worry too much about the possibility of the batteries going dead and overcharge them. :2cents
I am, also, in Virginia. My pontoon w/ 2 batteries hangs in my covered lift for 5-6 months every year and starts the first time every spring. These batteries are 11 yrs. old and I have never had them on a charger.
Guess I'm very lucky. Don't know how much longer they will last, but I figure that I've gotten my moneys worth out of them.
SMLTOONER
Ted & Emily
2019 Bennington 21SL Tri-toon
2019 Yamaha 150 HP
Smith Mtn. Lake, Virginia

Steve7
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#9 Post by Steve7 » Sun May 20, 2018 9:47 pm

I believe the Battery Tender should have kept your battery, or charged it to 100%, unless a cell or more dried up. Did you ever check your fluid levels after you had the issue? Once dead, you can’t bing it back, just wondering for a cause...
Steve & Sue (pups: Sky & Sierra)
2018 G3 SunCatcher V322FC Yamaha 150
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ROLAND
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#10 Post by ROLAND » Sun May 20, 2018 11:53 pm

Hey Steve.. yeah I checked the cells.. all were fine... I'm going to call over to the place where I bought it and see what, if anything theyll do for me... I bought it in April of last year.. warranty ran out last month.. but it wont cost me anything to call and ask.. worst case.. I'll have to pony up for a new battery... As far as the battery tender charging the battery all the way back up, well I'm hearing conflicting things. some say it will charge it back up ( but it will be slow since it's charging at 1.25 amps ) other say you should use a regular charger and make sure the battery is charged up, then go to the battery tender to "maintain" that charge. I actually have sent an email to battery tender to see which is the case. btw, I appreciate everyone's help with this. Thank you all for jumping in with your advice..
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

SamiGuy
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#11 Post by SamiGuy » Mon May 21, 2018 8:14 pm

Please let us know what Battery Tender tells you, if you would be so kind. Good Luck !!!
Sami
2013 Sweetwater 2286 Yamaha F115LA

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ROLAND
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#12 Post by ROLAND » Tue May 22, 2018 1:09 am

SamiGuy wrote:
Mon May 21, 2018 8:14 pm
Please let us know what Battery Tender tells you, if you would be so kind. Good Luck !!!
Sami
Okay, the more I get into this crap, the more confused I get. So I took my 13 month old Deka marine master battery back to the place I bought it. Warranty is 1 year. They tested the battery and told me it was bad.. no kidding.. well anyway I was hoping to get a free replacement even though it was 1 month past the warranty. I was thinking that since I had it on a Deltran battery tender plus for the past 5 months they would just pony up a new free battery.. didn't happen...they said that since I was past the warranty they would let me have a new one ( manufactured last month ) at 30% off. Not nearly what I was expecting, but the truth is my battery was bad and I was going to have to buy a new one anyway, so I said okay... put a meter on the battery when I got home and it read 12.7 Volts... well because of family obligations / grand children visits / vacation etc.. doesn't like we will be using the boat for at least 2 to 3 weeks so I decided to put the new battery on the battery tender just to keep her topped off.. as soon as I plugged it in the red ( charging ) light came on... no biggie so I go back in the house. Come out to the garage about 90 minutes later and the charging light is still on. Now I'm wondering why is the damn thing still charging if it was at 12.7 volts to begin with.. not only that, the battery tender itself was pretty damn warm ( almost hot ) to the touch.. when I used it on my previous battery for five months, it never got a bit warm, but then again, that battery was bad and I didn't know it at the time. So anyone who has used a battery tender plus: does your's get warm / hot when in charge mode and does anyone have an idea as to why it wasn't showing a green charged light after 90 minutes. Not knowing what was right, I just unplugged it and said screw it for the rest of the night... Now what Deltran told me earlier in the day before I got the new battery. They told me that the battery tender should completely charge a battery to capacity, as long as the battery has at least 3 volts charge in it. Anything less than 3 volts the battery tender will not charge it. When I discovered that my first battery was bad after having it on a tender for the winter, I put it on a shumacher charger and it told me my battery was at 11 %, which I think comes out roughly to about 1.4 volts, well below the 3 volt minimum. Guess I'll call them tomorrow and look into this "hot" while charging issue... I'm about ready to to to walmart, buy a cheap ol battery, go out in the middle of the lake and use the tender as a lightweight anchor. Maybe I can get some use of it that way.. LOL.
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

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guy48065
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#13 Post by guy48065 » Tue May 22, 2018 9:56 am

There is much I don't know about batteries & charging but IMO 50% isn't 6V because a battery with only 6V won't do a thing for you except light a dim bulb. Battery output is plotted on a curve and it drops off into "useless" pretty fast. I would consider a battery "dead" (0%) at 9V.

A couple years ago I needed to replace a B&D battery tender that had died and I considered the Battery Tender Plus but didn't like the lack of lights or a gauge to tell me what was going on. I talked to the guy in the battery store who sold it and he talked me out of that brand & into a Noco "Genius" G3500 tender for about the same $$. That charger analyzes the battery to see what type it is (mine is for Maintenance Free & AGM batteries), and state of charge. LEDs tell you what type it is and your progress.
Mark
1996 Sweetwater 180EX + Johnson 40
Rush Lake, Atlanta, MI

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ROLAND
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#14 Post by ROLAND » Tue May 22, 2018 10:12 am

guy.. thanks for letting me know about the Noco Genius... I'm going to look into that. I appreciate your help. Have a good day
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

Steve7
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Re: BATTERY QUESTION

#15 Post by Steve7 » Wed May 30, 2018 8:14 am

I brought my battery tender with me to my seasonal. Had it hooked up for an hour or more, and it was still solid red. I plugged it into the outlet the other direction and it went green. I can’t recall which red, solid or blinking means charging and which means plugged in wrong or connected to battery wrong. I’m guessing the solid red since that’s what mine said. FYI

Edit: okay, I reread your original post and see you had green. Maybe the tender went bad??
Last edited by Steve7 on Wed May 30, 2018 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Steve & Sue (pups: Sky & Sierra)
2018 G3 SunCatcher V322FC Yamaha 150
Minn Kota Terrova 80 trolling motor
Grand Design tt Reflection 297RSTS
2016 Ford F250 6.7
Grizzly Flats, Ca

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