Charging boat battery

[Scottyp74]

Is it. Ok to hook up a trickle charger to charge my troller battery?

[Barnacle Bill]

Yes and is recommended if your trips are mostly short and slow.

[kickingback]

I always trickle charge my trolling motor battery and fast charge my spare.

[Dapet]

I charge mine as soon as I get back home. Some people say your supposed to let them go down and then charge them. That doesn't make sense. What if if quits working while I'm fishing?

[Barnacle Bill]

I charge mine as soon as I get back home. Some people say your supposed to let them go down and then charge them. That doesn't make sense. What if if quits working while I'm fishing?

Recharging immediately after every use will prolong their life.

[kyjohn]

I've always heard that 12 volt deep cycle batteries need to be charged fully with at least a 10 amp charger after each use. My trolling motor is 24 volt and I have used WalMart water batteries for quite a while now. I have a 10 amp on-board charger and bring the batteries back to full charge each time I use them. I've done that for a lot of years, even before I got my onboard charger, and usually get at least four seasons out of my batteries. I don't think that's too hateful.

[BoarBuster]

I charge mine as soon as I get back home. Some people say your supposed to let them go down and then charge them. That doesn't make sense. What if if quits working while I'm fishing?

I know what they are refering to when they say to run the battery down. That is that the smaller batteries develop memory and then will only discharge to a point and will show they are dead when in reallity they are not dead. I don't think this holds true for auto type battereis but I am not and expert on batteries either.

[skeetbum]

The batteries we use left in a depleted state won't last near as long as those recharged after every use. Onboard chargers usually have a built in maintenance mode they go into when the heavier charging is complete, not overcooking the battery.