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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Battery Question

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Jared
1st Mate

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USA
70 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/04/2003 : 07:50:08

I have a question regarding batteries since I really don't know much about them even after reading about them. I brought the batteries home off of our boat for the winter to charge them and opened them up and they appear to have plenty of liquid in them. We had just bought the boat a couple of months ago and the batteries have never worked very well (though I was only refreshing them with a trickle charger).

I charged one overnight last night with a 10 amp charger (the Walmart marine/RV battery charger) and the voltage of the battery only increased from around 10v to 12.2v. The charge meter on the charger actually went down away from the "done charging" green light. I would think that 9 hours or so would be enough to charge the battery. Also, aren't batteries supposed to charge up to about 14v plus?

Do I need to suck it up and just buy a new battery? If so, is there anything wrong with buying the Walmart boat deep-cycle battery? Seems like those are less than 1/2 price than the West Marine ones for no difference in Amp-hours and all that?

Thanks.

Jared Jamison
86 C25 #5354 FK/TR "Saba Rocks" Richmond, VA

Edited by - on

sdaly66
Navigator

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USA
143 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 08:00:34

Jared,

I don't know what your budget is, but on my 250 which I bought used this year, the lead-acid battery wouldn't hold a proper charge. I bit the bullet and got a gel cell from WestMarine and it is a dream. I run my anchor light all night and in the morning one push starts the engine. It recharges quickly and has a ton of amp-hours.

Just my advice. Beats the heck out of not having power when you really need it.

Edited by - on

bear
Admiral

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USA
909 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 08:05:18

Jared,
A better indication of the state of your batteries is to measure the
specific gravity, much like the anti freeze in your car. I'm not sure about a 12v battery reading 14 volts either. The other indication is how long your batteries will hold a charge, that to can be measured by checking the specific gravity of each cell after time, off the charger. Remember your dealing with sulphuric acid and take necessary precautions. "Bear" on the hard in upstate N.Y.

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 08:21:12

Jared, nine hours maynot be enough to recover the total battery output. The PO of your yacht maynot have kept them at a fully charged state so you may have to charge them for 2-3 days. The electrolite in a battery will tend to settle in the bottom if the battery is not used for a while or kept on a trickle all the time, once it is in a fully charged. I would take the caps off the batteries put a folded paper towel over the fill holes, this allows battery gas to escape, and put it on the charger for 2-3 days. This will bring the electrolite to a boil and stir it up. Be sure and check the fluid level daily and add just enough distilled water to reach the bottom of the hole if needed. It has taken a week sometimes for me to get my smug pot battery fully charged, since we don't use it much in the winter. I have had a Walmart battery in the smug pot for three years now and have had no problems once I charge it. It is only used for starting so I don't know how they would preform in a house keeping function over the long hall.

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Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2984 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 09:37:34

If the charger has an auto cut off, and if the battery is charged adequately for the cut off to function... the battery is likely ok, though its productivity could be diminished.

When a charger with a cut off fails to cut off and continues to try to charge the battery, that means that the desired voltage can't be reached and the battery is either going bad or needs replacing. If your charger did cut off, then I would suspect the meter reading to be slightly off or the cut off setting of the charger to be slightly low.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 13:13:17

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Also, aren't batteries supposed to charge up to about 14v plus? <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

12 volt batteries are really 6 individual batteries(or cells) connected in series within the battery case and when added together produce the desired voltage output. Depending on the cell rating, the output can and does vary. If the cells are rated at 2.1 volts each, then total output would be 12.6 volts(2.1 volts x 6 cells). If the cells are 2.3 volts each then the output would be 13.8 volts.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Do I need to suck it up and just buy a new battery? If so, is there anything wrong with buying the Walmart boat deep-cycle battery? Seems like those are less than 1/2 price than the West Marine ones for no difference in Amp-hours and all that?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If you are unsure of the batteries that came with your boat, then I think you should just replace them for the piece of mind. As for Walmart gel cell batteries, they will be just fine. I purchased mine from Walmart(Sam's Club) and the only difference between it and a West Marine battery is the price.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 19:27:06

Your battery should come up to 13.6 volts when fully charged. Monitor the voltage carefully when you are using the battery with a digital voltmeter. 12.25 volts is fully discharged.

Get a specific gravity (battery meter) at Pep-boys or any car parts place for about $5. Stop charging, let the battery rest about 1 hour, and check the fluid in each cell. Be careful - this is STRONG acid and one drop will destroy your shirt or pants (although it will take a couple of days to do so).

There should be little variance between the cells. If one cell is significantly lower then the others, that cell is bad and the battery is junk. No amount of charging will bring up the overall voltage.

I use 2 gel batteries. These are great for sailboats. They don't lose charge when sitting unused as rapidly, have no water to add, can't spill acid when heeled, but can't take a rapid charge and can't be charged at a voltage over 14.1 volts. I have a 3 amp charger to power them both up. I use a voltage regulator on my solar panels for overvoltage protection.

Keep batteries charged. Sitting for a long time at 12.25 volts or lower will ruin a wet cell.

If a wet cell has low specific gravity on one cell (as I suspect in your case), the battery can be "equalized" which means charging it for 4 or 5 hours at 16.5 volts. It will boil like crazy (do this outdoors, in a fully vented place and protect from acid spills). Sailboats wil BIG BANKS of expensive batteries have chargers to do this. I do not. My 2 75 amp hour gels will run the boat for 2 weeks. Not worth investing in an equalization charger (DON'T EVER EQUALIZE A GEL).

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 12/04/2003 : 20:37:00

Only 'knock' I've read on gel cells is that in extremely hot weather they can perform very poorly... this was from a report by a cruiser spending a Summer the Sea of Cortez.

He had to abandon his new (and expensive) gel cells and go back to flooded batteries.

Edited by - on

Jared
1st Mate

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USA
70 Posts

Response Posted - 12/05/2003 : 07:28:30

Thank you all for your insight. I think that I should go out and buy a specific gravity meter and check out the batteries. If they are bad then I just have a meter for checking my new batteries down the road. Is there any really good source like "Things you need to know when you have a boat for Dummy's" book out there that anyone recommends (or maybe I'll just keep asking here)? It is especially hard to know the condition of things that someone else owned for 17 years and you have no idea how the maintained things.

Edited by - on

Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 12/05/2003 : 10:05:02

Jared,

Re: "Is there any really good source like 'Things you need to know when you have a boat for Dummy's' book out there that anyone recommends"

If you don't already have them, I'd suggest any or all of the following:

"This Old Boat" by Don Casey (and any of his other boat upkeep books that strike your fancy, I think he has one out now on surveying classic plastic sailboats),

"What Shape Is She In" by Allan Vaitses,

"Surveying Fiberglass Sailboats" by Henry C. Mustin,

"Boat Owner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual" by Nigel Calder, and

"The Boat Repair Manual" by Geogre Buchanan.

If you are considering a major project, feel free to ask again for more specific titles.

Also, every boater should be familiar with Chapman's "Piloting, Seamanship and Boat Handling", usually refered to as simply "Chapman's". Read it cover to cover. Memorize it.

Re: "(or maybe I'll just keep asking here)?"

That works too. But remember, you don't know what you don't know, and neither do we. You might have a serious blindspot in your knowledge that you don't even know to ask us about. Since we aren't there looking over your shoulder, we might not realize that you need to know a lot more about that topic. so read the books and ask questions both.

-- Leon Sisson

Edited by - Leon Sisson on 12/05/2003 10:06:18

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 12/05/2003 : 10:14:10

Google yields a great site with most everything you'd ever want to know about batteries... browse through it and you'll be an expert.

http://uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq.htm

BE SURE TO WEAR SAFETY GLASSES WHEN YOU'RE WORKING WITH BATTERIES !!!

Over the years, I've seen 2 lead-acid batteries explode. One exploded during the charging process (spark + hydrogen gas), and one from having a dead short across the terminals.

They make a pretty good bang and acid goes everywhere. Sulfuric acid + eyes = blind.

Edited by - on

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