Battery and storage question

[jb]

I put two cars and a travel trailer in the barn for the winter.I usually put a trickle charger on each battery for the 5 months they are in storage.
Question, should I leave the trickle charger on all five months or maybe just hook it up a month or two before I take them out of storage.

[Buckrub]

Battery Tender, Jr.

All the time.

[Bwana]

All I have ever done is disconnect the battery cables, charge the battery, and let it sit in the camper or boat all winter. If we get a warm spell in mid-winter I might charge them again but if not I wait until late March or April and then charge them up for the start of the season. Haven't had any problems so far though there might be better ways to maintain them.

[Thumper]

Move SOUTH and you won't have to worry about it. Sheeesh ... Yankees! :D

[BarryBobPosthole]

I don't live in the great white nawth, so it doesn't get as cold up here as it does up yonder. I thought the reason you left them on a trickle charger was to keep them from freezing. Is that not true? Older type cells will get warped plates if they're left flat for too long, not sure why, but the newer type cells don't have that as an issue so much. Personally, I'd leave them on a trickle charge all year long if I lived up there. Here, I just make sure they are all fully charged, pull them from the boat, and store them in my garage on my work bench (I still believe that old wives tale that sitting them on concrete is the worse thing you can do to a battery).

BKB

[Buckrub]

I plug the camper up in the driveway, so the lights will work........or the refrig if I want.......and that trickle charges the batteries automatically.

P.S.
If I had to hibernate for 5 months, I'd jump off a bridge.

[Thumper]

Must be nice to afford TWO cars that can only be driven a few months out of the year! ;)

My hunting partner in Ohio always had a car covered up in his garage. In the early days, I simply assumed it was some sort of "project car" he had buried in there. One year I asked him what sort of project he had under the cover and asked if he was ever gonna get around to finishing it. He looked at me with a blank stare and told me it was his Mustang convertible (newer model, not a classic) and he doesn't take it out until sometime around April or May!

[Niner]

Barry, I'm right there with you on not putting a battery on the ground. There's no electrical or physics reason for it that I know of though. But that was drilled into my head as a lad almost as much as checking the oil in the mower every time I used it.

[Buckrub]

Mine too, but it's a myth.

[Thumper]

I was "taught" the same thing, BUT .... I'm so old, it was TRUE when I was told to never store batteries on a concrete floor. I always laid a couple of 2X4's on the floor. Now-a-days, it no longer holds true, but the old-timers still avoid it.

Actually, the OLD batteries were encased in hard rubber (instead of today's plastic cases) and would "leak" voltage through the case into damp concrete and drain the battery. I was also "taught" that once a battery drained that way, it would never again hold a charge. I'm not so sure that was correct.

[johnboy]

For long term storage a battery tender is the tits. Just hook it up and forget it until you want to drive the car (or whatever). They 'exercise' the batt to keep it in prime condition and there is no chance of overcharge. Gonna hooknup the 'stang pretty soon myself.

[Buckrub]

http://www.thebatteryterminal.com/TechTalk_Batteries_on_Concrete.htm

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yeah, I know it doesn't apply these days, but old habits are hard to break. And I'd just as soon have an excuse for doing it right and storing them on my work bench and keeping a charger on them all winter. Since Birddog and I fish all winter, they get used ever so often in winter too so its a good reason to keep a full charge on them.

Speaking of.....I just finished up the SEVENTH season on two of my Optima batteries and the third one is four years old. Pretty unheard of for marine batteries, at least of my generation anyways. They cost almost $200 apiece now, but they've got a lifelong convert in me now.

BKB

[Buckrub]

Remember the battery "issue" I had in my boat? Well, I put blue tops Optimas in there. They did fine, but lately, after about 4 hours of fishing, my TM has to be cranked up about 50% more just to get same speed out of it. I don't get it.........

[BarryBobPosthole]

I don't recall if you had a 24v or a 12v system in there. seems like it was 24v. Unless you've just got your foot in that dang tm all the time, you should get a lot more that out of them before you see the amps taper off. I'm wondering if you've got the right gauge of wiring in there. I'd say 10 ga at a minimum and if its a long run from battery to motor I'd make sure its at least 8 ga or 6 ga. You're gonna be drawing 30-40 amps on a 24 V motor. Prolly wouldn't hurt to check and retighten all the connections on your tm circuit too.

BKB

[Gunther]

Optimas need an Optima charger. Check it out, so far IT is the tits.

[BarryBobPosthole]

First I've heard of that, Gunth. What's the difference? I've been charging mine with my regular old charger. I do typically charge them at 2 amps when I can just so I don't heat them up but hadn't heard of an Optima charger.

BKB

[Buckrub]

I use a Minnkota 315D.

[BarryBobPosthole]

One ofthe things that Birddog and I have found a need for is a way to just add enough resistance to add a half step in between the trolling motors speeds. We fish out of skinny boats so we use five speed motors. The thng isn't calibrated for Oklahoma winds. You need 2.5, not 2 or 3. Its tye cause of many near-Crazy Ivans.

BKB

[Gunther]

The optima charger is the only thing that will completely charge an Optima battery. Or so Optima says. What I do know it has brought several batteries, Optima and others back to new condition in a few hours. I've had other "smart" chargers and none of them are even 1/3 as good as this is so far. It ain't cheap. $200.00 or so and it won't boost, runs 10 amps max I think but batteries that show 400 cca's fully charged before conditioning show 800 + after. And so far they seem to hold it.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Wowsers. that's worth looking into.
BKB