grouperjim
Well-known member
on an overnighter i was using an underwater light that drew a lot of amps. the deep cycle batt went down to 5 volts. i am charging it now. did i do any damage to its ability to charge or retain its capacity?
Took a deep cycle batt down to 5 volts. will it come back?
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sparky
Well-known member
I'm not sure how you measured the ampacity remaining in the battery, but its a deep cycle, its meant to be discharged and recharged repeatedly. I've outright killed our deep cycles at least 20 times, and they all still charge up no problem.
:edit: \/\/ Ah, makes much more sense. 5V is dead as a doornail. So long as you full charge it immediately, it shouldn't hurt the battery much at all. Doing a partial-charge, however, is a no-no.
:edit: \/\/ Ah, makes much more sense. 5V is dead as a doornail. So long as you full charge it immediately, it shouldn't hurt the battery much at all. Doing a partial-charge, however, is a no-no.
grouperjim
Well-known member
whew......that's good to hear. i think i meant 5 volts. Thanks.
MaxOut
Well-known member
You should be fine as long as you charge soon. The worst thing you can do to a wet cell battery is leave it dead, especially in sub zero weather. Freeze it one time and its trash. I noticed in another post you are considering an AGM battery. Good choice but if you do not already have one I would suggest adding a dual bank battery charger that will charge AGM and wet cell batteries and mount it on board. I got the MinnKota 12amp dual bank charger at WalMart for $129.00. I did this last season and I think it was the best money I spent on the boat yet. I would not run your motor in the "both" position with two different batteries. I would charge one at a time or get the dual battery charger. Another option would be to add a battery isolator that will isolate the two batteries from one another for charging. Either way you will be happy with the AGM once the sticker shock wears off.
grouperjim
Well-known member
hey guys.....thanks for the replies. right now i've got the AGM sitting next to the factory Interstate. it was the Interstate that i took way down.
i've got it hooked up to a little 2 amp/1 amp West Marine battery charger........been hooked up overnight and still not fully charged according to the lights on the charger. i'll keep an eye on it.
i've got it hooked up to a little 2 amp/1 amp West Marine battery charger........been hooked up overnight and still not fully charged according to the lights on the charger. i'll keep an eye on it.
Catfish
Well-known member
Grouper Jim
This is only my opinion and I dont want to affend any other members, but if you ask alot of people you are going to get alot of answers. Dale is correct in what he is doing and saying. I however have sold Interstate Batterys for over 25 years and I dearly fly their flag. But do yourself a favor and match up another AGM, an onboard charger system, and forget about it. Your previous thread about the Spot tracking was excellant I might ad. But this proves how you are depending on everything going well, especially by yourself. Not every battery will last the life time it is suppose to. Not all are constructed perfectly. Their is a lot of vibration offshore shaking the plates to where the sediment builds up in the sediment tray at the bottom and shorting out the battery. That said, with the age you said your OEM Interstate is replace it, you dont know how old it was before the boat was sold. They could be up to six months older than you think. Interstate rotates their batterys well but how long did the dealer have the boat in inventory before it was sold. If however you are insistent on keeping it, clean it, and check the alpha-numeric burn stamp in the battery near the negative post, maybe on the side or corner. This will tell you the month and year it was constructed. A being Jan, B being Feb etc.. Over 3 years retire. :wink:
This is only my opinion and I dont want to affend any other members, but if you ask alot of people you are going to get alot of answers. Dale is correct in what he is doing and saying. I however have sold Interstate Batterys for over 25 years and I dearly fly their flag. But do yourself a favor and match up another AGM, an onboard charger system, and forget about it. Your previous thread about the Spot tracking was excellant I might ad. But this proves how you are depending on everything going well, especially by yourself. Not every battery will last the life time it is suppose to. Not all are constructed perfectly. Their is a lot of vibration offshore shaking the plates to where the sediment builds up in the sediment tray at the bottom and shorting out the battery. That said, with the age you said your OEM Interstate is replace it, you dont know how old it was before the boat was sold. They could be up to six months older than you think. Interstate rotates their batterys well but how long did the dealer have the boat in inventory before it was sold. If however you are insistent on keeping it, clean it, and check the alpha-numeric burn stamp in the battery near the negative post, maybe on the side or corner. This will tell you the month and year it was constructed. A being Jan, B being Feb etc.. Over 3 years retire. :wink:
TheOtherLine
Well-known member
Catfish":3q2a3jfv said:
Uugghhh! Now I have to go look at my batteries again :?:
...It never ends does it.... :roll:
sparky
Well-known member
grouperjim":2mp7yhpm said:
You needed to charge it with a much higher ampacity charger, something like a 10 or 20A. A small trickle charge just won't charge it quickly enough to keep it from losing charge. You might have gotten lucky, but when I said to charge it immediately, I meant get it up to full charge ASAP. I'm sorry for not being more clear, hopefully the battery will come back 100%.
As far as how old they are and how likely they are to fail, I have to disagree. You have 2 batteries for a reason. If one fails, you'll be able to get home on the other, and swap out the bad one. IF you are really paranoid, you can run a 2+1 system, where 2 batteries run the house, and one is a dedicated engine battery (I'd use the newest as the engine). If one dies, you still have 2 to get you home. Using Catfish's reasoning, you should change your VHF, GPS, and EPIRB every 3 years because who know how well they were made to begin with. You have to choose the level of paranoia that fits your style. I know people that only run one battery, one VHF, no EPIRB, and carry a deck load of fuel to get out to the canyons and back (in a 25' DLX Carolina Skiff, no less). I know others who run only 4 AGM batteries in a 2+1+1 configuration, 2 EPIRBs, 2 PLBs, 2 VHFs plus a handheld, and a much larger than needed liferaft, and they only cruise the ICW.
To each his own, I guess.
grouperjim
Well-known member
my original plan was to follow Dale's idea and work in a fresh battery. then i killed the non fresh one with the windlass and underwater light on a long range multi day trip.
i ended up charging it for two days and got it up to 12.5 but a day later it was down to 10 so i guess it won't hold a charge. got 2 group 31 AGMs in there now and also a portable starting battery (like Kevin's) with the built in cables. that's what i'm going to run with.
with the FL heat i would top off the Interstates a couple times a year, now i don't have to worry about that anymore. plus, although these cost a little more, they are supposed to last 5 yrs with average use.
as far as my level of paranoia, i always need to know what my weakest link is, and if something is going to fail what it will likely be. for instance, with the battery issue now resolved, the next item (in my mind) that may give me trouble is the impeller/water pump as they are comming up on 300 hrs.
thanks for all the help guys.
i ended up charging it for two days and got it up to 12.5 but a day later it was down to 10 so i guess it won't hold a charge. got 2 group 31 AGMs in there now and also a portable starting battery (like Kevin's) with the built in cables. that's what i'm going to run with.
with the FL heat i would top off the Interstates a couple times a year, now i don't have to worry about that anymore. plus, although these cost a little more, they are supposed to last 5 yrs with average use.
as far as my level of paranoia, i always need to know what my weakest link is, and if something is going to fail what it will likely be. for instance, with the battery issue now resolved, the next item (in my mind) that may give me trouble is the impeller/water pump as they are comming up on 300 hrs.
thanks for all the help guys.
gray duck
Well-known member
Grouper Jim I like your style. I've been thinking about a portable starter - what do you have/use? What are the built in cables? Is that the portable thing you can get at autozone? Thanks
grouperjim
Well-known member
Megabyte (Kevin) has a pic of it somewhere around here. let me look.
couldn't find his but here is the link to it at West.....
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=14919
couldn't find his but here is the link to it at West.....
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=14919
