I've been lied to by every battery salesman in North Carolina, so I'll pose this question to those who know...  If you keep a trickle charge on a set of trolling motor batteries, does it prolong the life of the batteries?  Or, as some have told me, "a battery has only some many charges 'in it', so wait till it's almost completely discharged before you charge it up.

My set up is a 24 volt with a Guest three bank charger.  

Thanks very much,

match

Lead acid batteries do not need to be run down before the charge is applied. Lead acid batteries do not develope memory like a ni-cad. You can actually cause damadge to the battery in cold weather, because a weak battery will freeze.  

However, with that said I do not leave my batteries on trickle charge. I do place them on a trickle charge once a month to maintian a fresh charge, then remove from the charger when complete. The # of charges in a battery is not predetermined, but proper maintenance will prolong the life of your battery.

When returning from a fishing trip I always put my batteries back on charge as soon as I return. If I have the time, I will use a trickle charge to charge the batteries. A 2 amp charge will charge the batteries more equally than a 10 or 15 amp charge. You can use a higher amp charge if you need to because you are fishing again the next day, and it will not damadge the cells or plates.

I hope this answers your questions. If you have anymore, then I will answer what I can. If I don't know, I will find out from someone else.

One other thing. It isn't that it is so many charges, as it is charged to a point that it is full. After you reach this point in other charge that is applied is just boiling off the acid solution in your battery. It doesn't matter if you charge with a 2 amp or a 10 amp charge, when it is fully charged it is finished.

Sorry that I left this out in the first thread of this post. Now for question for you. What part of NC are you in? I am in WNC.

Thanks for the good info...  I'm in Durham near Duke Univ.  We fish at Lake Gaston & Kerr Lake mostly, with some at Jordan & Falls.

match

Cool. Hope all that helps.

Try looking at www.marine-electronics.net.  Go to technical articles and then down to deep cycle battery FAQ's it may help.   8)

My questions.  My charger is a 2/6 amp.  I charge after each use on 6 amp setting.  The gauge on the charger starts at about 5 and slowly moves down while charging about 8hrs.  Is the gauge showing the charger decreasing it's amp output?  Why does the position of the gauge change when I switch to 2 amp?  Would you consider 6 or 2 amp/both trickle charge? Can I charge on 2 amp with caps on batteries in closed garage safely?  I'm thinking of getting a 3 stage charger if necessary. ???

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/battery_maintenance.html   ;D

 No it is not showing a decrease in output. Your charger should only charge at 6 amps if that is the one that you have selected. The needle moving is just the mfg way of letting you know at what stage the chraging process is in at that time. Some chargers have a %, which is what mine has. It just shows the battery is 75% charged just to give a guideline.  When it is complete, it will register 100%, where yours would show the needle on 0.

The 2 amp would be the trickle charge. It will take about 18 hours per battery depending on the size you have. The reason that the needle changes when going from one to the other is because of the amount of power being placed into the charge. If it registers 3 on a 6amp, then it may very well go back to 7 when placed on 2 amp. It will just take longer is all.

I am not going to tell you to charge in your garage, but in the auto parts store that my father law runs all charging is done inside. Granted it is not the safest thing to do, but they do it everyday. If you have a window close by where you charge, then I would do it there. Just crack it a little to let in fresh air to avoid a possible build up of hydrogen gases.

As far as leaving the caps on, I normally leave mine on even when doing a 15 amp charge. Just make sure that you check your solution levels before charging. If they are low then refill them with either a battery solution or distilled water. Use tap water as a last resort, because the impurities in tap water can gather on the plates and cause premature failure. As long as you don't over charge your batteries to the point of boiling over, you should be fine with the caps on.  

Ernel has his stuff together. Just to reinforce a point.  Leaving batteries on trickle charge for weeks at a time will quicken the pace of the electrolyte evaporation, and will shorten the life of a battery particularly when the fluid level is poorly monitored. I know some guys that buy a cheap timer switch to hook up if they leave a boat at a lake house and want to charge batts when they leave.