Rookie Mistake...

[zildjian]

I'm a new boat owner and I'm so embarrassed about this, but I'm not sure what to do now.. I have an in door storage unit for my tracker, which while it was in storage from December - April I never disconnected my cranking and deep cycle batteries... As soon as I got the boat home I charged the batteries and they are fully charged. But what should I expect now? Im afraid to put her in the water... Should I just buy two new batteries and be done with it? Rookie mistake.. Sucks.

Thanks for any help everyone

[RoachDad]

nothin' dude.  Go fishin'

[PotomacBassin]

I'm not sure what the issue is here.  Sounds like new batteries and you should be good to go. They probably only depleted a little bit over the winter and their abilitiy to go back to full charge is probably not affected. Again, not sure why you're stressin so much.

[zildjian]

I thought if you don't disconnect your batteries that they will slowly drain dead, or not hold a charge as long...

[j.bruno]

I think you will be alright if they are fully charged!  Go fishing!

[zildjian]

Thanks guys! Lol I'm going!

[Koofy Smacker]

Your thought process is right. However to be brutally honest, 4 months in storage is nothing in terms of batteries these days. If they were drained to the point that they were ruined you have much bigger problems on your hands because that would be caused by a constant drain by something in your boat, possibly a bad ground or such. Do yourself a favor, get a small battery tester and test them. Charge them up, let them sit for a day then test them. If they are reading anywhere over 12.4v each then you are A-OK.

 

That said, over winter, I do pull the batteries and the onboard charger, put them inside my house and plug them in every month just to top them off. Usually the lights turn green in 2 seconds anyway so they arent being depleted at all

[joefish]

I never disconnect mine, just charge and go fishing !

[zildjian]

Thank you guys! This is such a relief... I will absolutely test them before I head out on the water..

[Gotfishyfingers?]

Do a LOAD test on each Battery not just a voltage check. If they seem good charge them 100% then check the acid level in the trolling motor batteries. If there low add distilled water. Make sure to add the water after charging not before. Charging a battery raises the acid level. That way it won't leak out the caps.

[Koofy Smacker]

Do a LOAD test on each Battery not just a voltage check. If they seem good charge them 100% then check the acid level in the trolling motor batteries. If there low add distilled water. Make sure to add the water after charging not before. Charging a battery raises the acid level. That way it won't leak out the caps.

I told him to voltage check to see if anything was pulling and discharging the batteries when not in use. If there is something pulling then it really will act as a load test. If it comes back fine, theres nothing to worry about

[slonezp]

In my neck of the woods batteries freezing would be more of a concern than a slight drain. I pull them every winter and top off the charge monthly but as long as there is no drain, the batteries lose very little charge.