Last Battery Question ??
from T-Boy  
11/7/2009 11:06:19 AM

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 I pulled the dead battery out of the boat and charged it up.

It held the charge overnight and was still full the next morning.

Its at least 3 years old. Is it worth trying again or just go ahead and get a new battery.

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   life span from MikeF  11/7/2009 11:14:44 AM
 If it's a standard lead acid battery it has a life span of 350 charge-discharge cycles. That's assuming it wasn't damaged by vibration on your boat. As long as it's full of water and kept charged the number of years doesn't make much difference but there's not much that can be done to increase the number of cycles it can stand. The problem with a starting battery is it's normally not fully discharged so it's hard to pin down how many equivalent full cycles it's been through.

Short answer is I would replace it and I would use the biggest AGM that you can fit in the compartment.

   try this from Randy B  11/7/2009 11:51:51 AM
 you can get it load tested at a local auto store (free), but all the bad batteries that I have seen fail a load test could be determined as follows (assuming its a flooded battery).

Remove the caps. Check the voltage from water to water for each cell. If they consistently have ~2 volts, it's probably okay. If one is much less, that cell is bad or going bad and the battery would probably fail a load test.

Lastly, take all your connectors on that battery apart, clean them, put them back extra tight (don't torque the bolt out though), and go fish.

   Randy from T-Boy  11/7/2009 7:52:11 PM
 I think that was my problem. The battery tested out good.

The surface under one battery post was croded fairly bad.

I cleaned everything and I will see how it goes. Guess it could be something in the motor charging system if it keeps going down.

   that's happened to me three times from Randy B  11/7/2009 9:00:37 PM
 on different vehicles. Now a days, I take my battery wiring apart every year and clean and tighten everything. I like to spray something like lithium grease on them after they're back together.

   CRC from 5keepers #10346  11/7/2009 11:05:41 PM
  makes a battery terminal protector that is great stuff.
Most good auto parts stores have it or can get it over night.
It doesn't cost much either. I don't remember exactly how much but something around $6 for a spray can that probably last most a couple of years. This stuff is hard to believe how good it works.

Edited 11/7/2009 11:06:07 PM

   dielectric grease from MikeF  11/8/2009 8:25:38 AM
 You can used just about any kind of grease but they make a specific grease for electrical terminals. You need to coat all of the terminal and connector before you hook them up. It will not interfere with the electrical connection and will prevent all the corrosion. The brand I use is Electri-Guard.

   if you don't have built in charger-you need to charge your cranking battery also from Beartrap  11/8/2009 8:59:05 PM
 ....your engine will not keep your cranking battery charged unless you run long distances and I'm talking 15 miles or more on the way in and that's really not enough if you been runing pumps and electronics all day and have cranked your engine several times during the day...again if you don't have a built in charger,you need to charge that cranking battery up after every fishing trip......