New Battery Maintenance

Hey all,

Set my yak up with a Garmin Striker 4 last year, and purchased the standard Cabela's brand 12V, 8Ah battery to power it with. I looked over the sticky on battery FAQs, but just want to make sure I'm on the right sheet of music and learn some stuff related to maintaining batteries well.

1. In there, it says the optimal practical discharge level is to 50% and that you should also make sure you discharge it at least 5%. The chart shows 12.5 volts as being 90% and 12.06 volts as being a 50% discharge- so should I run it down to somewhere between those levels every time I use it?

2. I've noticed that it is only charging up to a max of 12.5 Volts, whereas a few months ago it would get up to 12.8. Does this mean I'm doing something wrong?

3. The charger I have has a pretty technical array of choices you can select. I've been using the "12V, 2A" setting. That sound right?

Thanks for any input!

Go to a higher setting and see if it will charge better. 12.5 is not a good number.

The 2 amp setting is for maintenance.

You should be closer to 13 than 12


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dayne

Go to a higher setting and see if it will charge better. 12.5 is not a good number.

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Check, thanks for the input. Was using the lower setting to keep from overcharging. Since I'm now getting less voltage off a full charge than I used to be getting, that indicates to me that something has changed with the battery- is it normal for it to lose capacity like that after 9 months of use?

Your problem may be the low charging you have been doing. Fully charged it should be 12.8 volts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dayne

Your problem may be the low charging you have been doing. Fully charged it should be 12.8 volts.

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I'm charging it with the exact same equipment and procedure that consistently got it up to 12.8 volts for the first four or five months I was using it. It now will only get up to 12.5, and seems to discharge quickly down to 12.3 volts from that point. Im sure the colder temperatures could have something to do with it, but it's sure acting a lot like a battery at the end of its service life for one that's less than a year old

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dayne

Go to a higher setting and see if it will charge better. 12.5 is not a good number.

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So, tried charging on the 12V, 10A setting and this got the battery up to 12.7 yesterday when I connected it initially... but it discharged down to 12.3 within 2 hours. My charger also indicated "charge complete" within 7 minutes of hooking it up this morning. Not a super big deal to replace as it was $20, but just wanting to do the best job taking care of my stuff in the future

Is it possible that the battery is low on water?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Is it possible that the battery is low on water?

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It's a completely sealed system, so I wouldn't imagine so. This guy shown below:

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