New Battery Maintenance

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12-12-2021, 12:13 PM
VBSB761

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!
12-12-2021, 05:09 PM
Dayne

Go to a higher setting and see if it will charge better. 12.5 is not a good number.
12-12-2021, 05:22 PM
Barnacle Bill

The 2 amp setting is for maintenance.
12-12-2021, 05:30 PM
icehouse

You should be closer to 13 than 12

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12-12-2021, 06:26 PM
VBSB761

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayne

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

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?
12-12-2021, 09:12 PM
Dayne

Your problem may be the low charging you have been doing. Fully charged it should be 12.8 volts.
12-12-2021, 10:09 PM
VBSB761

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayne

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

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
12-15-2021, 10:42 AM
VBSB761

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayne

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

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
12-15-2021, 12:22 PM
DockShootinJack

Is it possible that the battery is low on water?
12-15-2021, 12:54 PM
VBSB761

Quote:

Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Is it possible that the battery is low on water?

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

Access Denied
12-15-2021, 12:56 PM
DockShootinJack

It was a thought. The symptoms sound like water a battery that is low on water does.
12-21-2021, 01:33 AM
Kevin22

They typically do not stay in "prime" condition for very long.

You should never charge a SLA (sealed lead acid) battery of that type at more than 2A, 1A is optimal. Your charger is probably a smart charger, they throw 13.5-13.8V at it to start and once the battery is 75% charged they drop to 13V to finish it, then when it is at "full" they drop down to 12.5V to maintain it or they go into a "top off" mode where they raise the voltage to 14V for 5-10 seconds then lower it to 12.5V for a minute and repeat to get the last bit of charge into it. A fully charged prime condition SLA battery is 12.7V resting (taken 2 hours after you remove from charger).

If your charger is still hooked up when you are testing this battery, yeah it could say 12.5-12.7V because that is what your charger is outputting to maintain the battery.

I test SLA batteries all the time, just did yesterday morning. They will test at 12.6-12.7V fully charged, but once you put a load on it the voltage will drop like any battery. Dropping to 12.3-12.5V while a load is on it is normal, if it drops below 12V and is supposedly "charged" then you have issues. If you hook up your fishfinder and the voltage drops to 12.3V, that can be normal. just unhook it and wait an hour and test again, it should have bounced back to 12.6-12.7V. A "bad" battery will continue to drop voltage to 10V or less in a matter of minutes with a decent load on it, you can usually watch the voltage go down 0.01v a second on a multimeter.

A battery fresh off the charger will have what is called a surface charge, could be up to 14.6V depending on your chargers output. Putting a load on it for 10 minutes then letting the battery sit idle for 2 hours will let you see the true charge of it.
12-21-2021, 10:42 PM
VBSB761

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin22

They typically do not stay in "prime" condition for very long.

You should never charge a SLA (sealed lead acid) battery of that type at more than 2A, 1A is optimal. Your charger is probably a smart charger, they throw 13.5-13.8V at it to start and once the battery is 75% charged they drop to 13V to finish it, then when it is at "full" they drop down to 12.5V to maintain it or they go into a "top off" mode where they raise the voltage to 14V for 5-10 seconds then lower it to 12.5V for a minute and repeat to get the last bit of charge into it. A fully charged prime condition SLA battery is 12.7V resting (taken 2 hours after you remove from charger).

If your charger is still hooked up when you are testing this battery, yeah it could say 12.5-12.7V because that is what your charger is outputting to maintain the battery.

I test SLA batteries all the time, just did yesterday morning. They will test at 12.6-12.7V fully charged, but once you put a load on it the voltage will drop like any battery. Dropping to 12.3-12.5V while a load is on it is normal, if it drops below 12V and is supposedly "charged" then you have issues. If you hook up your fishfinder and the voltage drops to 12.3V, that can be normal. just unhook it and wait an hour and test again, it should have bounced back to 12.6-12.7V. A "bad" battery will continue to drop voltage to 10V or less in a matter of minutes with a decent load on it, you can usually watch the voltage go down 0.01v a second on a multimeter.

A battery fresh off the charger will have what is called a surface charge, could be up to 14.6V depending on your chargers output. Putting a load on it for 10 minutes then letting the battery sit idle for 2 hours will let you see the true charge of it.

Thanks so much! Super informative. My charger is pretty old school- the graphics look 90s or early aughts to me- so who knows what kind of technology it's got going. I'll try to get a pic up. In the mean time, I'll stick with 2A charging.