Bill, you are correct, but for Mike's boat and the manner in which it is used, I think the batteries will probably get him through the summer quite nicely, or be obviously bad to the point of needing replacing. A tester will not tell him if they will satisfy his needs, even if they are somewhat reduced in capacity. Save the money. Buy more beer!
Rich Knowles Indigo. LF38 Halifax On 2013-04-15, at 11:29, Bill Bina <[email protected]> wrote: They likely have reduced capacity after that treatment. All 6 cells may still be working, which is why you can get what appears to be a good voltage reading. Unfortunately, a good voltage reading is only half the battle.When a battery is that dead, it starts to sulfate immediately, rendering portions of the lead plates non-functional. That reduces how much f a charge tthe battery will really take, and how much run time you get from them after fully charging. The only real way to know the capacity of a battery is with a test using a battery load tester. They are not very expensive. http://www.harborfreight.com/100-amp-6-volt12-volt-battery-load-tester-69888.html Most autoparts places that sell batteries will use one of these to check your batteries for you, but you would have to take them to the store. Bill Bina On 4/15/2013 9:45 AM, Hoyt, Mike wrote: > Our boat has two Group 24 deep cycle batteries with 140 min reserve. I also > have a Guest 1, 2, Both, off battery selector switch. As we have an outboard > motor with alternator (6 amp) and therefore do not need a > starting battery. The batteries are to power lights, instruments, etc .. > only and are charged using a Guest Charge Pro 3 stage electric charger and > when the Outboard engine is running. Charge goes into whichever battery is > selected on the battery selector switch. > > Last Fall while motoring two hours back to my mooring I had the battery > selector switch on BOTH to put some charge in each battery. It was cold and > wet and I did not turn off the instruments (Speed, Depth, Chartplotter, VHF) > on leaving the boat. The next weekend on arriving I had two completely > discharged batteries. Temperatures were +5C and above in the intervening > week. > > I motored to the club where we were racing and then plugged in the battery > charger for just over an hour and we had sufficient charge to race on Battery > 1 for 2.5 hours and some time at dock listening to stereo before that charge > started to run out. Then I plugged in charger and started recharging > batteries. That was last week of season and the batteries appeared to be fine > > I have been since told that once a battery is fully discharged it will never > be the same and may be ruined. I have left the batteries aboard all winter > and approximately every six weeks plugged in the Guest 3 stage charger to > keep them topped up. They never seemed to become discharged. This past > weekend I measured the voltage and each seems to be at 14 volts. They had > not been charged for a period of two weeks and the stereo had been on for a > bit > > Am I correct in assuming that these two batteries were not seriously harmed > by the complete discharge last Fall? Note that they are 2 and 3 seasons old. > > Mike > Nut Case > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > [email protected] _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com [email protected]
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