Vexilar battery charging

[traveler]

I have a fl8 and just charge it overnight after useing it all day. Is that cool, ot is it too little/too much? I can't find my manual, and thats how I've been doing it for a couple years, but I'd like to know whats recommended. Also, how long will the unit run on a single charge?

[Old School]

The manual can be downloaded from Vexilar.

It's in PDF form, you will need Adobe Reader to view it.

[gjk1970]

Well one thing you could do is buy the smart charge that connects to the battery and charge it thru that and that way you do not over charge and damage the battery. The smart charge is only around 15 dollars and is made to shut down the charging unit after battery has fully charged. Now for how long a battery lasts all depends on how cold it is outside, how good is your battery, where you store it during down times. If you keep the battery inside your home while not fishing and your battery is somewhat new you should have no problems getting a good days worth of fishing out it and then some.

[Giant_Jackpot]

Greetings. Below is the text I have posted anytime a battery question comes up out here. Bottom line for the original question is that overnight is the best way unless you get a smart charger as suggested in one of the other replies. Happy reading.......

Here is the scoop on the Vexilar type batteries. Since I used to work for a company that made smart chargers for these types of batteries, I can say the info I am giving you is good stuff.

First of all, the batteries are sealed lead acid and just like the battery in your car, they like to be charged. Charge the battery after each use and you can get them to last 4 or more years. The worst thing you can do to a lead acid battery, is run it down and not charge it as soon as possible. Also charge the battery every month or so during the off season.

With that said the cheap chargers that come with these batteries will cook the battery and shorten its life if you leave charger on the battery for extended periods. The advice someone was giving Ebass about leaving the charger on the battery for 3 days is poor advice (unless the charger is a smart charger). If you really want to take care of the battery, connect a voltmeter to the battery during charging. When the battery reaches about 14.8 volts disconnect the charger. Otherwise don’t leave the charger connected for more than 24 hours.

The smart chargers are a good idea if they are doing the right thing. They should charge the battery to about 14.8 volts and then drop into a maintenance or float mode at about 13.2 volts. The next time I am at Gander I will check one of the Marcum chargers out and see if it is really a good thing.

As far as the LED battery indicators go, don’t believe everything you see. The components used in an inexpensive device like this can have tolerance swings of up to 20%. On a properly charged battery, one indicator may read fully charged while another might say ¾. Just something to keep in mind.

Let me know if you have any other questions.........

[shorefisher]

The charger that came with my FL18 has a red light on it that turns on when you plug in the charger. When you clip the charge to the battery the light will go out. Once the battery is charged the light will come back on. When the light came on today I check the battery and it was at 14/15 volts. I just got my FL18 in December and this was the first time I saw this type of charger. Others I know that have had there Vexilar's for awhile do not have this. I would think you could buy one from Vexilar. It sure takes the guess work out of it for me. I charge mine after every time I use it. My brother runs his down until it is almost dead then charges it. He had to buy a new battery after about 1 year.

[MetroEye]

What about a gel pack battery? Does it have different charging requirements? Some battery chargers have separate settings for gel packs. Just wondering.

[traveler]

Thanks for the help guys. Sounds like what I do is OK, I store it inside, charge overnite after each use. If it ain't broke...

[Giant_Jackpot]

Shorefisher,

Sounds like they have taken the guesswork out of when to disconnect the charger so that is good. The only charger you should leave on the battery continuously would be one of the smart chargers that automatically switch into float mode. And yes, your brother is doing it the wrong way. Ni-Cad batteries like to be run down but not lead acid. I know we are not talking much money to replace the battery each year but why not save the $15 for something else?

MetroEye,

I got out of the charger business before there were a lot of the gel cells on the market. I do know that some of the on board style chargers for gel cell trolling batteries have separate settings as you said. I’m not sure what they do different but it is my guess that it has to do with how long they hold the charger in absorption mode. With that said, even with gel cells, my advice posted above will help keep those batteries in good shape for a long time. In other words, if you are not using a smart charger then don’t leave the charger on for days at a time and always charge the battery after EVERY use.

Hope this helps…………….

[Finlander]

Has anyone ever used a cigarette adapter and charge the battery that way?

Does this charge the battery too fast in other words does this type of charging hurt the battery?

[Giant_Jackpot]

The cigarette chargers do work but keep in mind that when your engine is not running, the car battery is at about 12.6 volts so the battery you are charging will never get above that voltage and will never get fully charged. With the car running you can probably get a full charge at some point. As far as hurting the battery, it depends on if the cigarette adapter has some type of device in it to limit current.

If you really want to get a full charge and not hurt the battery then go buy one of the power inverters that are sold just about everywhere these days. It converts the car’s 12 volts DC into 120 volts AC and then you can just plug your regular battery charger into that.