winter storage ?

Hey Delta Rat. Just an FYI in case you run into the same issue I ran into. I used to plug in my onboard charger every once in a while over the winter and I ran into problems. This was a 2001 genmar boat with an onboard 3 bank charger. I would plug it in about once a month for several hours. In late march I went to get it ready for a spring fishing trip. The charger would go from green (for a couple seconds) to red (for about 1 minute), back and forth. I called the manufacturer of the charger and he said hes seen the same thing happen many times before. He said to put a load on the battery and draw it down before charging it again. So I hooked up a floating crappie light for about 12 hours. Then when I plugged in the charger it charged up fine. The tech said that when you do this “it can create a memory charge” and the charger has problems determining if the battery is all the way up. This happened in the winter of 2008 and I sold the boat this fall. And yes, when I got rid of that boat I went top of the line (BCB) Keep in mind the battery was about 2 or 3 years old. Ive charged them like this for years and never had a problem before. Not sure why it started doing this now. I used to leave it plugged in all the time. But after drying out a couple of $100 batteries I changed over to plugging it in about once a month for a few hours. I wish these would work on our deep cycle batteries http://www.trojanbattery.com/Products/HydroLink.aspx Id just leave them plugged in all the time.Supposedly, they only fit trojan batteries. They are a little too high priced for me.FISH ON!

Found this on the Flow-rite site. good info. How Many Batteries can I connect together and fill at one time? You can plumb a total of 3 batteries together using the Qwik-Fill system although many users prefer to limit (for ease of filling) the number of batteries plumbed together at 2. When is the best time to fill my batteries? Water After Charge- electrolyte levels drop during discharge and rise during charge. In addition, charging generates heat, fluid expansion and explosive gases. Watering a battery before charge (or with a low charge level) can lead to boil over resulting in potential damage of the watering system, battery and vehicle. Water must always be added after fully charging the battery. If your battery charger has an equalize function it is best to add water after equalizing the battery. Prior to charging, there must be sufficient water to cover the plates. If the battery has been discharged (partially or fully), the water level should still be above the plates. How often should I fill my batteries? Watering intervals are dependent on the local climate, charging methods, application, and age of batteries. Flow-Rite recommends that new batteries be checked once a month and older batteries be checked weekly until you get a feel for your water consumption rate. Typically for a heavy use application, we recommend watering a maximum of once per week, and for light use applications once per month. Generally it is best to water on Wednesdays for most applications. Specifically you should not water a battery that has been sitting for an extended period of time with no activity (non use or not on charge) such as a battery that has sat over the weekend. It is best to water a warm battery that has just been fully charged. FISH ON!