Battery maintenance

[cjac]

Hi all,

Just crawled into the basement closet this weekend (I live in a town house) and did my mid-winter battery charge check and put all three on the charger for a boost. Just wanted to throw this out as a reminder.....

Check your batts and give them a kick, either run the extension cord out if stored on property or to the utulity room. I'm going on my fifth year with the same batteries, and I fish quite a bit, and I'm sure my battery longevity is a result of mid-winter maintenance.

Counting down until open water.......

Chris

[PerchJerker]

Good advice

[LoonASea]

I got 11 years out of an old GNB action pak 105 by doing similar maintenence and I typicaly get 7 years on My harleys batteries too ,,,timely maintenence is the key

Randoid

[bassphish2005]

Maintain them batteries,it is easy and will save money/headaches in the spring when the waters open up

great reminder

[prov1900]

I also put that Minn Kota brand equalizer stuff in every Spring as well. It seems to make a huge difference in charge times/battery longevity.

[fishanytime]

What is that equalizer struff?

[prov1900]

Liquid stuff that goes in your battery, in conjunction with the water. A certain amount, measurable on the bottle, goes into each battery. It extends the life/run time of the battery as well as lessening the charge time. I swear by it. Kind of spendy, and the bottle is small. You can buy it just about anywhere, Walmart, Cabelas, etc. Minn Kota brand.

[livintofish]

An alternative to a regular charger to maintain batteries is an onboard charger. I just got one of these units last spring and it is great I never have to lug the batteries in and out of the boat. I have it hooked up to both my starting/electronics and my trolling batteries. Leave it plugged in all winter it will fully charge and then float charge it after that. I go out fishing run my trolling batt down to nothing and just run an extension cord and it will quick charge and then trickle charge until you unplug it and trailer it out to the lake again. It was around $100 for the charger and cord to run to the other batt.

[mulletwalleyes]

is there a way to charge your trolling motor battery with an alternator type of a setup?