Boat battery storage

[anchor man]

Until about a week ago, I had left my boat batteries in the boat in subzero temps and didn't top them off at all since early November. When I finally got them indoors and started to charge, the starting battery showed "charge complete" after about 30seconds on the charger which seemed a little weird. Is it possible it could hold a full charge for over 3 months in the cold?

Thanks

[Eric Wettschreck]

Yes.

[BobT]

Mine do. If your battery is well maintained and in good condition it should have no problem with this. Not the best practice but I have parked cars and motorcycles for the winter without removing the battery and they still have charge and start the vehicle in the spring.

The safest thing to do is remove the batteries and store them inside just in case they lose their charge. If this happened outside the battery could freeze and then you would be replacing it for sure.

Bob

[Northlander]

Yes. I check mine weekly and only had one time where the light wasnt still green on my on board charger. I plugged it in and it only took about 20 minutes for it to go green again. If the batteries are in good condition and charged regularly they can maintain a charge in some pretty hot or cold conditions. Its really amazing how well batteries do these days with so little maintanance.

[eyebjim]

If the are frozen they can appear to be charged. Wait until they are fully warmed up and then charge again. If they show fully charged then they should be OK. I have had them freeze solid and come around once thawed. It is possible that they held the charge over the 3 months in the cold.

[anchor man]

Thanks for the info. I did verify that they were not frozen and gave them about a day indoors before charging. Sounds hopeful that they'll be in good shape for April...that leaves more money for boat gas!!!