Boat Battery Maintenance
Inserting a screw-driver to remove the maintenance cover
Canadian Yachting
Whether you choose power or sail (or both) batteries are an important part of your boat’s electrical system. Batteries provide the power needed to start engines or generators, and to run the electrical appliances onboard while at dock or underway.
Boat builders are getting better and better at making onboard power easy for us and battery manufacturers continuously improve the design and ‘maintenance-free’ aspects of their products. But, I don’t think it’s too far a stretch to think that most of us use the conventional battery – the type that is the least expensive, and lightest to carry.
Boat Battery Maintenance
Cover removed showing the fill holes and lead plates inside.
These batteries – called lead-acid type – are essentially as described: a series of lead plates, immersed in an acid solution. The chemistry gets a bit complicated (and forgive me for oversimplifying this), the liquid solution changes over time, moving in composition between acid and water, depending on the amount and frequency of recharging. When the battery is fully charged, it is more acidic. When the charge is depleted, it is more like water. When the battery is left depleted, over time the water will evaporate, lowering the level of the solution inside the battery.
These types of batteries are designed to be maintained, in two ways:
1) Keeping a charge up, by running a battery charger periodically, as the voltage drops over time
2) Adding distilled water to the battery if the level of solution inside drops below the top of the lead plates inside. The top of these batteries can be removed – a flashlight can be used to see the top of the solution inside – and distilled water added to each hole (carefully, using a funnel). Protective gloves and eyewear should be used during this procedure. Once filled, the battery should be left to slowly charge (also called trickle charging.
Battery maintenance has been talked and written about in many articles and books and many boaters are familiar with these procedures. Butmaintenance is becoming more and more important as electronics become more sophisticated.
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Originally published here.