Minnkota Battery Chargers - leaving plugged in on Boat

[WolfpackFishNGuy]

I have a 3 bank charger installed on my boat that I leave plugged into the dock at my campground.

My understanding that the maintence mode allows me to leave this plugged in for indefinate amount of time without causing damage to the batteries connected to the charger.

is this correct?

I was planning on leaving my batteries in the boat this winter and just keep my charger plugged in if this was the case.

[kg2]

Safety first.

I wouldn't leave it plugged in more than a day or two unattended.

[PerchJerker]

My on-board charger is not a MK but I leave it plugged in all the time during the open water season. In the winter I store the batteries in my basement and check them or top them off about once a month.

[Northlander]

I leave my batteries in the boat in the garage and use the on board charger twice a month to make sure they are fully charged. If my boat sat outside I would bring all batteries in and charge once or twice a month as needed.

[dfv87]

I am sure you could leave them all winter if your storage is heated enough that they wouldn't freeze... Otherwise bring em in and chareg them once a month. JMO

[Whoaru99]

I left the batteries in my boat all year, with the MK charger plugged in most of the time. They lasted 8 years.

[Surface Tension]

Safety first.

I wouldn't leave it plugged in more than a day or two unattended.

Ditto,

I would not leave any charger plugged in for an extended amount of time no matter what it claims.

An electrical device at some point in its life time will fail.

Charge the batteries up, pull the plug and disconnect the charger from the batteries.

In two months times charge them up and do as above.

[SteveD]

I bought my boat at Warner's Dock in New Richmond. I've got a 75 hp Evinrude E-Tec. The motor has a self winterization that is pretty cool - right before you pull it out of the water the final time just run the motor through the winterzation and shut it down. I shrink wrap my boat and leave it at the Marina over the winter.

Warner's Dock Maintenance guys told me told me that my batteries will not freeze up - just leave them right in the boat in their battery compartment and they would be fine. They advised me to disconnect one battery terminal. I've got a MinnKota 2 bank battery charger on my trolling motor batteries and I just plug it in right before covering the boat and charge up the batteries to a full charge and then pull one battery cable on each battery so that nothing can drain the batteries. On my battery for the motor I just pull one battery cable. I've done that the past two winters and my batteries were fine and ready to go in the spring and I had no problems..

[Whoaru99]

Originally Posted By: kg2

Safety first.

I wouldn't leave it plugged in more than a day or two unattended.

Ditto,

I would not leave any charger plugged in for an extended amount of time no matter what it claims.

An electrical device at some point in its life time will fail.

Charge the batteries up, pull the plug and disconnect the charger from the batteries.

In two months times charge them up and do as above.

Well, by that same logic, the failure could occur in the day or two that you do have it plugged in. So, being a smarty pants, one could extend that say it's unsafe to charge your batteries any time if you're not there 'round the clock and watching.