Battery maintenance

[Gary Fowler]

I check my boat batteries about every 3 months by hooking the charger to them. Most of the time they show fully charged and that is without a tender. We dont have subzero temps here but it seems to work ok like that. Without any electronics draining the battery, they should stay charged a long time.

 

[MikeInMaine]

Well, my tractor battery is 11 - 12 years old. I just make sure the water level is right and, if it will be left unused for more than a month, I put a float charger on it to maintain the charge. Cold does not harm a battery, it discharges slower than in warm temperatures. The best advice is to make sure the battery is fully charged.

Keeping the battery charged is very good advice. A battery "tender" or "maintainer" usually means it has some more advanced circuitry that adjusts the small charge to the state of the battery. A "trickle" charger usually means it keeps charging at a trickle, no matter what the state of the battery.

If you decide to use a battery blanket, a good accessory would be a plug-in thermostat such as the DuroStat. It is waterproof for outdoor use, will handle 2,000 watts, and you can adjust the temperature setting. Otherwise, the blanket will be heating 24/7, and your electric bill will be higher than it needs to be.

 

[JJZ 109]

Only problem with that is with us retired folks, we forget what day of the week it is.

So I said the heck with it and picked up a 6/12 volt tender yesterday to dedicate to the (4) six volt batteries of the boom lift.
The bike/Mustang/mower batteries will be lined up on a bench for the other tender.
Someday I'll get to be a retiree! :thumbsup:

 

[pat32rf]

Cold weather won't hurt a battery IF ITS FULLY CHARGED. If not it can freeze. Which WILL hurt it.
Sitting on a cement floor won't hurt a battery, but acid leakage WILL hurt the floor.....and a battery up off the floor will warm up faster if you are heating the room/shop
Cold temperature WILL reduce the output of a battery.
I have my battery heater on the same cord as my block heaters, plus its next to the radiator, so a warm rad = a warm battery