Bob Using a Mastercraft 12 volt tester that was purchased in 1982 (approx) and spent 8 years on a 1981 C&C 36 and then some more years on a motorhome. It was still in original packaging and was $22.95 I believe at Canadian Tire at the time. Since the 36 is long gone from the family, along with the Motorhomes and sadly even my Dad I decided it would be put to better use on a boat again. My existing multimeter for some reason measures in scales of 10v, 250v and 500v for DC current which is pretty much useless for testing 12v battery. BTW - the last battery was purchased at GNB in Burnside in May 2011 I tested while sitting on the boat Friday evening I believe around 5:30 PM. It was approx 5+ degrees at the time and warmer inside the boat. I had charged 2 - 3 weeks previously by setting battery switch to BOTH and plugging in the Guest ChargePro 6amp charger for 12 hours. In the meantime I had run the stereo for 2-3 hours on one of the batteries while playing with my traveler .... (rebuilding after it exploded last Fall). To be perfectly clear there is very little load on these batteries. We seldom sail at night nor use the internal cabin lighting. The boat spent 24 years with only a single battery with no issue and only received a second after the crew insisted a stereo be installed. The batteries are almost exclusively for instrumentation. The outboard is pull start not electric start. My goal is to have a light use last for 18 - 24 hours without charge on each battery with minimal electronics use. On our former boat we managed 36+ hours on a single group 24 with continuous use in similar conditions before switching to battery two with no charging - so this should not be unrealistic. We also have multiple handheld backups for the VHF and the GPS as well. Mike http://users.eastlink.ca/~mhoyt
________________________________ From: CnC-List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robert Abbott Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 12:10 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Stus-List batteries Mike: 14 volts seems a bit high.....when are you taking this measurement? If you take your batteries over to Burnside to Maritime Batteries (or Great Northern Battery) not sure what they are calling themselves these days, they will do a 'load test' for you at 'no charge'....no pun, let me try again, at 'no cost to you'. Last year, I let the electrolyte go down in my batteries.....thought they might be toast....took them to Maritime Batteries and they rehabilitated them.....no cost to me......I gave the guy a good Cuban cigar....he was a happy guy. Bob Abbott AZURA C&C 32 - 84 Halifax, N.S. On 2013/04/15 11:29 AM, Bill Bina wrote: They likely have reduced capacity after that treatment. All 6 cells may still be working, which is why you can get what appears to be a good voltage reading. Unfortunately, a good voltage reading is only half the battle.When a battery is that dead, it starts to sulfate immediately, rendering portions of the lead plates non-functional. That reduces how much f a charge tthe battery will really take, and how much run time you get from them after fully charging. The only real way to know the capacity of a battery is with a test using a battery load tester. They are not very expensive. http://www.harborfreight.com/100-amp-6-volt12-volt-battery-load-tester-6 9888.html Most autoparts places that sell batteries will use one of these to check your batteries for you, but you would have to take them to the store. Bill Bina On 4/15/2013 9:45 AM, Hoyt, Mike wrote: Our boat has two Group 24 deep cycle batteries with 140 min reserve. I also have a Guest 1, 2, Both, off battery selector switch. As we have an outboard motor with alternator (6 amp) and therefore do not need a starting battery. The batteries are to power lights, instruments, etc .. only and are charged using a Guest Charge Pro 3 stage electric charger and when the Outboard engine is running. Charge goes into whichever battery is selected on the battery selector switch. Last Fall while motoring two hours back to my mooring I had the battery selector switch on BOTH to put some charge in each battery. It was cold and wet and I did not turn off the instruments (Speed, Depth, Chartplotter, VHF) on leaving the boat. The next weekend on arriving I had two completely discharged batteries. Temperatures were +5C and above in the intervening week. I motored to the club where we were racing and then plugged in the battery charger for just over an hour and we had sufficient charge to race on Battery 1 for 2.5 hours and some time at dock listening to stereo before that charge started to run out. Then I plugged in charger and started recharging batteries. That was last week of season and the batteries appeared to be fine I have been since told that once a battery is fully discharged it will never be the same and may be ruined. I have left the batteries aboard all winter and approximately every six weeks plugged in the Guest 3 stage charger to keep them topped up. They never seemed to become discharged. This past weekend I measured the voltage and each seems to be at 14 volts. They had not been charged for a period of two weeks and the stereo had been on for a bit Am I correct in assuming that these two batteries were not seriously harmed by the complete discharge last Fall? Note that they are 2 and 3 seasons old. Mike Nut Case _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com [email protected] _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com [email protected]
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