Bobby P.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2018
- Messages
- 440
- Fluid Motion Model
- C-302 SC
- Non-Fluid Motion Model
- Boston Whaler
- Vessel Name
- The Retreat
Just to let everyone know, I once again attended the very reputable and expensive "School of hard knocks."
In short, If you want to know how your batteries are doing you have to do a load test. Then you have a definitive answer.
It is super easy to do and takes only 30 seconds. Here is the tool I just bought:
https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-BT-10 ... ive&sr=1-2
Background:
I had a starter batter that would drop down to 11.5 amps overnight after a full charge. Bad battery, right?
I played around disconnecting different things and waiting hours with a volt meter, taking reads every few hours, etc. Couldn't figure it out, but overnight, it would drop like crazy.
I ordered a newUB121100L battery, but then found out that this battery was a group 30, not group 31, so I returned it. I decided I would just go for it and ordered the cadillac battery, an Optima 8050-160 D31T (big bucks). And proudly installed it.
Before throwing out the old battery, I figured I'd get a load tester, just to see. Low and behold, the old battery was just fine. Took me 30 seconds to find out.
Next time I went to the boat, I took turned the charger off. The next day the Optima was down to 11.8 amps. It wasn't the battery, it is something draining it. I'll work on that, but now I know about the state of my batteries.
Expensive lesson learned... If you want to know about your battery's life, you've got to load test. Don't fiddle with any old school tricks. Load test! $36.95. And it's easy.
Best,
Bobby
In short, If you want to know how your batteries are doing you have to do a load test. Then you have a definitive answer.
It is super easy to do and takes only 30 seconds. Here is the tool I just bought:
https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-BT-10 ... ive&sr=1-2
Background:
I had a starter batter that would drop down to 11.5 amps overnight after a full charge. Bad battery, right?
I played around disconnecting different things and waiting hours with a volt meter, taking reads every few hours, etc. Couldn't figure it out, but overnight, it would drop like crazy.
I ordered a newUB121100L battery, but then found out that this battery was a group 30, not group 31, so I returned it. I decided I would just go for it and ordered the cadillac battery, an Optima 8050-160 D31T (big bucks). And proudly installed it.
Before throwing out the old battery, I figured I'd get a load tester, just to see. Low and behold, the old battery was just fine. Took me 30 seconds to find out.
Next time I went to the boat, I took turned the charger off. The next day the Optima was down to 11.8 amps. It wasn't the battery, it is something draining it. I'll work on that, but now I know about the state of my batteries.
Expensive lesson learned... If you want to know about your battery's life, you've got to load test. Don't fiddle with any old school tricks. Load test! $36.95. And it's easy.
Best,
Bobby