Charging starter battery with wires connected?

[Expidia]

Is it OK to leave the 6 wires to my battery connected while I put the charger on the terminals.

I first started to charge it and after a awhile it had an error on the charger readout.

So I unhooked the wires and resumed charging.

If the key was off I'm not in danger of blowing the O/B's alternator if I started charging with the wires connected . . right?

It's a deep cycle and I think I'll switch to a deep cycle on my other boat too for starting. I read this is not a problem for small O/B's because I constantly run down the starter battery while I'm anchored and listening to the stereo.

On my Daughters boat she has a deep cycle in the upfront locker below the troller and I'll run two extra wires to her back deep cycle so she can use up 1/2 of that for trolling and not have to keep 3 batteries on a 14 foot aluminum.

Her boat came with a deep cycle as the starter and now I think it was a good idea to have both as deep cycle. It does not take much juice to turn over a 25 2 stroke anyway so I don't think she needs the ooomph of a starter battery.

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

Are you talking about the wires that go to your starter and other items like that? I don?t have an outboard like you but I charge my battery with everything connected to it. I use the boats radio while it?s parked at the house all the time. After I turn it off I plug in the charger. No problems at all for me.

 

[mmccoy555]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

You'll be alright as long as you don't have the ignition on.

 

[boat1010]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

It shouldn't be any problem leaving the wires connected. Do they all go through the ignition switch? If some of them do not then that could be why you are getting the error. As far as a deep cycle battery for the starter battery. It doesn't necessarily give you more cranking power, it is a battery that does not get ruined if you drain it. That is the reason you use the deep cycle for the trolling motors. In most cases if you only use the starting battery for starting a regular battery will work fine.

 

[boat1010]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

It's a deep cycle and I think I'll switch to a deep cycle on my other boat too for starting. I read this is not a problem for small O/B's because I constantly run down the starter battery while I'm anchored and listening to the stereo.



You might think about putting in two batteries.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

It's a deep cycle and I think I'll switch to a deep cycle on my other boat too for starting. I read this is not a problem for small O/B's because I constantly run down the starter battery while I'm anchored and listening to the stereo.



You might think about putting in two batteries.

She has two batteries now. Boat came with a deep cycle as the starter. I don't want her to have 3 batteries on board cause each one is 50 lbs.

I figure for her she does a lot of trolling and she used to bring two batteries on her previous boat which was a canoe. That scared the hell out of me so I finally talked her into getting the 14 foot aluminum.

I figure she goes thru 1 battery anyway and this way she could use another 1/2 of the deep cycle one that is also the starter battery.

Her Minn Kota Powerdrive V2 has a gauge right on the base of it.

Worst case scenario is she might have to crank it by hand if she forgot and ran it too low. it's only a 25 2 stroke and it turns over real easy.

I've always taught her to only bring a deep cycle down to 20% of remaining juice and the battery will last a lot longer then bringing down to flat. She also puts them on the charger as soon as she gets home.

Of course the previous owner did not know this and he said he never charged them to full over the winter. I brought them both back up and it took 1.5 days at 2.5 amps. So they both may not hold a charge very long now. We shall see. No biggy though because she has two brand new deep cycles from her canoe because Dicks Sporting Goods sold her two starting batteries when she bought her troller and they had to replace both with deep cycles at the end of last season.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

It shouldn't be any problem leaving the wires connected. Do they all go through the ignition switch? If some of them do not then that could be why you are getting the error. As far as a deep cycle battery for the starter battery. It doesn't necessarily give you more cranking power, it is a battery that does not get ruined if you drain it. That is the reason you use the deep cycle for the trolling motors. In most cases if you only use the starting battery for starting a regular battery will work fine.

Looks like at first glance those other wires go to the bilge and the livewell which still run with the ignition switch off. I'm going to put in a battery switch like I did to my rig, so all power is off when not on the boat.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Charging starter battery with wires connected?

Are you talking about the wires that go to your starter and other items like that? I don?t have an outboard like you but I charge my battery with everything connected to it. I use the boats radio while it?s parked at the house all the time. After I turn it off I plug in the charger. No problems at all for me.

Thx and thx to the other poster below that said as long as the switch is off I'm ok to charge with the wires on.

I installed a battery gauge last season and I do see after 3 hours at anchor I'm bringing the starter battery down to 1/2. It charges up again when I start cruising again but running a starter battery up and down can't be good for it. That's for a deep cycle, so I'm going to swap the starter one for my DC.

I run the stereo which is also connected to a Sirius radio, so I'm using more than the average radio user at anchor.