Do you keep Your Charger Plugged in all winter

[muskyed]

I agree that a battery would be fine all winter, if charged first, and unconnected. There are many accessories in my boat, and some have a draw, even when everything is turned off. I know my trollmaster has a draw, and warns you about it in its literature. I think my fish Hawk also has a draw, but not totally sure. Because of this, I plug in the built in charger about once a month, for a few hours. It's simple for me as boat is in my garage, so no timer needed. I've had two 5th wheels with built in chargers, and ruined batteries in both with the chargers working all the time. I think your new boat chargers are better though at not overcharging, but old habbits die hard. Couple hours a month works fine for me, with no fear of ever overcharging. Also if disconnecting the wires, that was a great suggestion to tie up the wires for each terminal. Had a second boat once, in addition to my larger boat, and no room in the garage for two boats in the winter. Took the boat to my friends poll barn for the winter storage, and as there was no electric, I disconnected all the batteries wires, and thought I would remember where they all went. Big mistake.

[GBS]

For those in cooler climates - generally Walleye country, Google "battery self discharge". Yes, they do slowly loose charge, and the rate is temperature dependant. The colder, the longer it takes. The only ones that need to worry over a winter are a) those keeping batteries outside in south Florida, deep Texas, or other locations where it gets pretty warm and b) those that decide to keep batteries "inside".

Prior posters have noted their start and end states of charge when they "disconnect and forget". Same results that I have seen over many winters with my boat batteries. I'll add that for my RV I put it away in Sept of 2017. Family health issues resulted in our leaving it in storage all that winter and the next summer. Over 1 year later, in Oct, I remembered the batteries and retrieved them from the outdoor storage facility. I was pretty sure I had killed them. Nope, even with with the added stress of a very hot summer (many 90 deg days), they still tested at 80% SOC. I topped them off, put them in my unheated garage, and got very heavy use out of them this summer.

Just top them off, fully charge, disconnect, leave them in the cold, and forget about them till spring.

Only if your boat is in heated space should you then start thinking about some way to maintain or topping them off.

[MarkG]

I would agree with those NOT leaving on the trickle charge or maintainers.

Continuous charge is of zero benefit and though the risk is low, not without some risk, as others have indicated. In cold storage, since a battery's chemical reaction slows, self discharge is negligible for a fully watered, fully charged, healthy battery. If an AGM, self discharge even less than a flooded battery. Plus a discharged AGM, won't even freeze.

For storage, Disconnect the negative lead of all circuits. (If an onboard charger is installed, you can leave that one.) Plugging in your charger about once a month for an a couple hours is really all it takes. If your storage situation is off site,such that you have no access to the boat, if were me, I still would not keep them on continuous charge. Fully watered, fully charged should make it through just fine. If they don't, was because not healthy to begin with, or some circuit with leakage current was left connected and drew them down.

[SLE]

My boats spoiled and sits in the heated garage all winter. since it's accessible and easy to plug in even tarped up, I usually plug it in for a few days each month to keep the batteries topped off and yet ensure I don't have a charger malfunction which I have had happen on a previous boat.

Before I had the ability to keep my boats in heated garage, I used to storage them in cold storage and they weren't accessible or easy to plug in. back then, I charge the batteries before storage and disconnect the all the leads so there wasn't any chance of a unintended draw. that always worked well also. now I'm just a little lazey'er and the boat is a little more spoiled, lol.

[Snowking]

I do as others have posted. Plug it in overnight maybe once every 4 to 6 weeks. I do not see any reason to keep a battery charger plugged in 24-7. During summer I charge the battery’s up after fishing. If I have not gone for awhile. I will plug the boat in overnight before going fishing. Just to make sure I have max charge.

[REW]

For those folks who want to plug in their battery chargers during the cold season, try using an interval timer to automatically disconnect the charger from the wall power after the interval is complete.

For example:

https://www.amazon.com/Century-Mecha...36&s=hi&sr=1-5

Just set the time from 1-12 hours and when the timer times out the charger turns off. The charger will remain turned off, until the timer is reactivated by turning the dial.

This is to protect the boat, battery and charger in case of a malfunction in the charger that may end up cooking the batteries:

[clawman]

I use my boat throughout the year about weekly so long term drain is not an issue. My shop has heated floor so stays @ 62 deg. boat is always plugged in.

Question for those of you who have your own recipe for charging and maintaining your batteries. Why?
My guess is 90% of all boats have either a Minnkota or Dual Pro battery charger. Both companies recommend plugging the charger in and leaving it. If you check anything it would be fluid levels in flood acid batteries.

[peter8]

After my Lund Pro 345 charger fried 2 sets of batteries in a 4 month (March-July) period in my 219 I switched it out for a Minn Kota. I have a 17 & 10 year old MK that are still working in other boats and I used to leave them plugged all winter. After the experience with the Lund charger I now plan on fully charging and then unplugging for the winter like others have mentioned.

[Bobby Winds]

Per Minn Kota....

https://www.minnkotamotors.com/blog/...ODgxMzE0NjEyS0

[David Anderson]

For every "I leave it plugged in" story and it malfunctioned there are situations like mine where I lost power and froze 3 batteries on storage season after assuming the parasitic current draw emptied the charge. Luckily one was an AGM and after thawing it was fine. The other 2 flooded cells were destroyed. The modern charger manufacturers all recommend keeping them plugged in for a reason. Yes, there is always a risk of malfunction but that is extremely rare but that has happened as witnessed here, and yes we all have very long memories! My wife complains that I don't unplug the Keurig Coffee maker as she thinks it's going to start a fire. I point out that the microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher, radio, TV are all plugged in, go figure but somewhere she's has it in her head that a news report claims a fire was started by a coffee maker. Modern chargers also act as a battery maintainer , I have maintainers on all of my little used battery equipped toys, saves me about $300 year in new batteries, my fault as I am getting lazier each year. On board charger technology not only maintains your battery at a given safe voltage, it also injects a high frequency pulse across the plates at a set time period to reduce the sulfation build up on the plates, another major battery killer, and this process helps extend the life of a battery. Do what you are comfortable with but I liken it to a time when we didn't have the technology. Like my truck, the manufacturer recommends changing oil every 7500. Well it wasn't to long ago it was recommended to change at 2000 miles. Some people still insist on changing oil more frequently even though the technology has improved significantly through cleaner engines and synthetic oil. Change your oil at 2000 miles, put your chargers on a timer, remove your batteries and store them in the basement, all of these things will not hurt anything. Just remember at some point leave your charger plugged in to utilized their anti-sulfation technologies. As stated the older I get the more lazy I've become. It sure is convenient to add stabilizer to the gas on my last boat fishing trip of the year, hit the Winterize icon on my Evinrude G2 while it's still on the trailer in the water. Park the boat in my pole shed, turn off the main battery switch to eliminate parasitic currents (you can disconnect the cable, same thing) and plug it in for the winter. Been doing this for 20 years now and no issues in the spring.Otherwise pull your batteries, rig up a timer, and make sure you unplug your coffee maker every morning!