What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

[Lakemeadan]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

When I got home had to check out what it was. Sears diehard platinum agm , little expensive but over 1100 cca is why I think I choose it. LOL no wonder can start it at 11 volt. It almost pulled my arm out of the socket when I lifted it. A lot of lead in this battery.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_...e=Batteries+&+Chargers&sName=Marine+Batteries

 

[Lakemeadan]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

Experiment with it at home or in slip. Key on, music, lights and fish finder and let it run down until alarm goes off. It will build your confidence. And always have a back up, two batteries or a portable jump battery.

 

[capslock118]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

my battery is almost the same; its group 31.

interesting points you make. i noticed that since over the winter storage the top of the battery - the surface where the handle is - has become beveled - its not a smooth surface anymore like it was new.


forgive my nitpicking; my lack of confidence comes from the previous year. last year spring commission i discovered my battery (same model) was as dead as it could be; absolutely no readings from my ohmmeter and WMs. they replaced it free of charge - but now that i am one year in with this one and i see a weak battery after a whole winter under a maintainer -i'm skeptical

 

[Lakemeadan]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

I don't know to much about marine maintainers maybe they regulate at 12 volt. Start your engine and let it charge with a 20-30 amp system that regulates at 12.5-13 volt for a little while. Check it with the volt meter after you shut it off and see if it went up. Good you got an exchange on the first one. Sounds like it froze up and would have blew up if you tried to service it in that state. Two batteries are the way to go. I just tote my portable starting system on the boat and use it for other things also. Its a cheaper one out of Sams at 450cca and has done well for 3 years and I keep it maintained. We have one at the shop where I work which is a professional grade high dollar one we bought out of Grainger. We all are amazed how it has taken so much abuse and use around 10 years old. Sold me on AGM deep cell. 12 mechanics and some us office people who wasn't so great on the floor so we worked our way to the office. Add a battery or carry one on too feel confident. May want to pull the battery during the winter or insulate. But, the maintainer might have done the job, now give it some amp.

 

[dingbat]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

but now that i am one year in with this one and i see a weak battery after a whole winter under a maintainer -i'm skeptical

My battery instructions state specifically not to use a battery maintainer on them. They say to fully charge before storage then every couple of months after that if needed.

My batteries sit Jan-Mar and have never needed a charge in between.

 

[sschefer]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

My battery instructions state specifically not to use a battery maintainer on them. They say to fully charge before storage then every couple of months after that if needed.

My batteries sit Jan-Mar and have never needed a charge in between.

Same for my Rolls.

 

[capslock118]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

I tried to put the batter on the charger I had bought at WM last year under their recommendation; it was telling me the battery is full even though I know it wasn't.

So I brought the battery and the "charger" to WM to have them take a look. They said that since the battery was just undercharged, it's still good. So I said well maybe the charger is bad. They said yeah that's a maintainer, not a charger. Oh, ok well I was told it was a charger when I bought it last year.

So two things happened.

One, they allowed a credit to me for the full price of the maintainer I was sold so I could replace it with a 3-stage charger that I did some research on. I ended up buying this:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=29106&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10109&subdeptNum=10544&classNum=11277

Couldn't be happier with it. Battery charged right up, the charger is fully automatic 3-stage, weather proof, whole nine yards. Even took care of my dead car battery; all for $10 (since I was credited for the maintainer I gave back).

The second thing that happened is that I now know more about batteried than I ever thought I'd ever want to know.

Two batteries are the way to go.

well, this I know. But right now, if I had $200 to buy a battery, that $200 would go towards something else in the boat - too many things to patch up; not to mention the lack of space.

 

[Rubycon]

Re: What voltage level should set off a low battery alarm?

my boats charging system only maintains the battery at 12.2 volts at idle or wot ... never goes over that.... My low volt alarm is set to 11.5 volts... Been this way for 2 years...

I have a Merc 50 four stroke that began beeping.
One beep 1 min. after startup with three beeps 10 mins. later and two beeps 5 mins after that. Repeated after startup.
Turned out to be a voltage regulator that was charging the battery past 15 volts.