I need Battery Help

[The Quadfather]

Everyday your battery loses a certain percentage of its charge. The only way to avoid this is charging it daily. Only one problem. You will overcharge your battery leaving it on the charger – even with a trickle charger. I suggest you go to one of your local RV centers and pick up a “Battery Minder”. Its simple to hook up and will monitor the charge constantly and add juice when needed.

I have to get my 2 cents in also... Like was said before, I swear by a charger which shows you the percent of the charge. You will see right away when you turn it on, what percent level of charge you have (or the the voltage) Then you can peak in on it occaisonaly and see what percent it is at while charging. bottom line is there is no more of that screwing around you do with the charges that have a needle which shows you a rough estimate of where the process is at.

[Anglinarcher]

Good answers, from good people.

I would like to put my two cents worth in though.

First, when you buy a new battery, get a maintenance free battery. The technology is such today that the new maintenance frees can stand far more pounding if your boat is wave hopping, far colder winter time temperatures, and far hotter summer time temperatures. Do they cost more? YES. In the long run, do you save more money? Absolutely.

Second, they make excellent on board chargers for boat batteries, designed for deep cycle boat batteries. I got one from Cabela's, a three bank system (three on board batteries), that is top notch, and not that much money compared to the cost of battery replacement. I wired it up so when I get home I pull out a plug on the boat, plug it into an extension cord, and charge all three batteries, each only as much as needed, automatically. The charger then checks the battery and 'tops it off' as needed. This system keeps my batteries living long, strong and powerful, ready at a drop of a hat.

I have lost a lot of money using so called bargain batteries, and so called deep cycle battery chargers used for RVs, and would never go back.

Check out Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, or West Marine. All three have on line service and catalogs. Then, when you know what you want, see if your local dealer has the same item.