Name:	Mack -	Reply
Subject:	Battery Maintainers..Good or Bad??
Date:	5/15/2017 7:57:51 PM

My boats remain stored at least 5 months each year. What is the general feeling here about using battery maintainers (trickle chargers) to keep batteries fresh, or is that a waste of time/money??

Name:	Shortbus -	Reply
Subject:	Battery Maintainers..Good or Bad??
Date:	5/15/2017 10:12:48 PM

A lead acid battery discharges about 1% per day.

5 months is 150 days.    You do the math.

I like a solar cell maintainers for outside and trickle chargers around juice or inside.

100% charge on a battery is 12.6v. Charging is 13.8 to 14.4v.

50% charge is 12v.  You can boil a battery dry at 14.8v or so.

A battery that is allowed to have low voltage will sulfate and lose the ability to put out full power.

I like the lithium batteries.  My road and water scooters have one.  Starts next year like it was the next day.

All the above is out of the brain.  Your voltage may vary.

Name:	Tall Cotton -	Reply
Subject:	Battery Maintainers..Good or Bad??
Date:	5/16/2017 8:53:01 AM

I keep them on my engine crank batteries as well as the house batteries on the houseboat. There is a regular onboard charger but the trickle chargers are less likely to cause the batteries to boil dry, in my opinion. Also, when the house batteries are dead, so is the water pump and the head. Momma isn't happy when that happens!

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Battery Maintainers..Good or Bad??
Date:	5/16/2017 2:08:34 PM

Harbor Freight version: bad.  Bought one for a seadoo battery about 6-8 years ago.  Boiled the battery dry as a bone.  Ya don't get what ya don't pay for.

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Battery Maintainers..Good or Bad??
Date:	5/16/2017 10:45:45 PM

  I would not use one that does am"continuos" charge as some do. They are the ones that will boil a battery. The best one I've ever used had timer and would put a full load on the battery for 15 minutes every 21 hours. Why 21 and not 24 I never figured out but it never failed to maintain a battery. Unfortunately I can't remember the brand and I let it go with the big boat last year because I had mounted it in the engine compare the. The on board one came with the boat failed to maintain a battery one winter so I quit using it. I miss that one.

Name:	Summer Lover -	Reply
Subject:	Battery Maintainers..Good or Bad??
Date:	5/21/2017 6:05:02 PM

I have a couple of Battery Tender Plus's - one on a PWC battery during the off-season, and one that I use on my wife's seldom used car.  I recommend them highly, the PWC battery is an AGM, most of the cheap maintainers are not made for them...