Marine Battery Maintenance

Marine Batteries Gold Coast

Boat Batteries can have reputation for being short lived and unreliable.  The reality is that in most cases Marine batteries don't die, they are murdered by their owners!

Incorrect charging is the number one cause of premature death of a boat battery.  Choosing the right battery for the job and properly charging it should result in a dependable battery with a long life.  Understanding of how batteries work and how to charge them will not only save you money but can also prevent those embarrassing calls for help when you can't start your engine.  And lets face it.  A failed marine battery is not just inconvenient and embarrassing.  It can be life threatening.

Lead-acid batteries have lead/lead-dioxide plates submerged in sulfuric acid.  When the battery is discharging, a chemical reaction transforms lead dioxide to lead sulfate which unfortunately is an insulator - meaning current can't flow well through it.  The result is the battery voltage drops. A lead-acid battery will also slowly self-discharge leading to the creation of that same lead sulfate. When you recharge a lead-acid battery the lead sulfate is converted back to lead dioxide and the voltage goes back up. A 12 volt battery will read about 12.7 VDC when charged and is flat when the voltage drops to about 10.7 VDC. These numbers change a little depending upon temperature, acid strength and how recently it has been used or charged.

When a battery is not immediately recharged, the lead sulfate slowly hardens and it becomes more difficult to charge and discharges more quickly. This faster discharging causes more lead-sulfate to form and the problem gets worse until the battery becomes useless.

Tip Number 1 for Longer Marine Battery Life

Fully charge your marine battery and to keep it charged. Many boat owners have found out the hard way that is you store your boat for the winter and ignore the battery charge you can be up for new batteries come springtime.  This can be avoided by keeping the battery fully charged at all times.

Tip Number 2 for Longer Marine Battery Life

Another reason for premature battery death is deep discharges. The service life of standard batteries is severely shortened if discharged below 50% of capacity. Some car-type start batteries can be destroyed by discharging them completely only three or four times! To prevent damage from deep discharges you must purchase deep cycle batteries that are designed for this type of use.

Car batteries are designed to provide a lot of amps very quickly for starting the motor. This is accomplished by building in many thin porous plates, thereby increasing the surface area allowing the battery to supply a high level of current, but only for a very short amount of time. The sulfates soon reduce the effective surface area limiting the battery's ability to deliver more current. In a car this is not a problem because the alternator quickly recharges the battery.  In boats (especially yachts) it is more important for a battery to be able to supply a smaller amount of current for a long period of time in order to run refrigerators, anchor lights, auto-pilots, etc. For this application a deep cycle battery with its thick plates is clearly superior.

Tip Number 3 for Longer Marine Battery Life

Properly charging a marine battery dissolves the soft sulfates and keeps them from hardening into sulphur insulators. Unfortunately typical car battery 13.8 VDC fixed voltage regulators do not charge batteries very effectively. A car type voltage regulator is a trade-off between manufacturing costs and battery life.  To completely dissolve the lead-sulfates your lead-acid battery should occasionally be "equalized" or charged to about 16 VDC. Clearly a fixed 13.8 VDC regulator will not do this. After you have fully charged your battery, the voltage of the charging source needs to be reduced below 13.8 VDC to prevent overcharging and the resultant loss of electrolyte due to gassing.  This is why multi-step marine chargers are so important to proper battery charging and battery life. They will recharge your battery more quickly, requiring less engine run time, and simultaneously prevent overcharging of your battery on long trips. They usually charge your lead-acid battery to 14.4 VDC, delivering the bulk of the charge quickly. By now your battery is about 60-70% charged. Multi-step chargers then keep the voltage constant at 14.4 VDC and allow the battery to charge to about 90-95% of capacity. Switching to a lower voltage float mode then safely charges the battery to it's maximum capacity.

Reliable Batteries For Marine Batteries Gold Coast

Reliable Batteries are experts in Marine Battery selection and also stock accessories including chargers and testers.  Call Reliable Batteries for advice on Marine Batteries. Gold Coast boat owners depend on us.