topping off a battery?

[catman529]

Haven't run my marine battery since before turkey season and haven't topped it off since I bought it (bought in early february). Hoping to take the stoneroller out on wednesday but will pop the tops off my battery and check to see if it needs topping off with some distilled water. Should I top it off before discharging, or before recharging, or does it not matter?

 

[Mudbone]

I haven't touched mine in years. I thought they were all maintenance free these days. But I could be very wrong.

 

[catman529]

well mine's a cheaper end stowaway battery so I want to take care of it. It's only been cycled about 3 or 4 times so far so it may be fine to just trickle a little extra charge into it before going fihsing and then run her out on the lake. I'll check the water levels soon though.

 

[JimFromTN]

I thought I was going to have to buy new batteries this year because they were not keeping a full charge. I bought a charger that desulfates/reconditions. I topped off my batteries and desulfated/reconditioned each battery for several days. I am not going to have to buy new batteries after all.

 

[a retrohillbilly]

Jim, which one did you buy? I'm looking at getting a conditioner-desulfator-charger.

 

[fishboy1]

Catman.
Best investment you can make is a smartcharger. Read up and get a good one.

Even a cheap deep cycle is about $65-70 these days. A smart charger will keep it topped off without boiling off the electrolite.

Factor in $70-130 for a good smart charger and using a battery for 3-5 years, vs. manually recharging and getting 1-2 years from a battery.

Smart charger will pay for itself in a cuple years.

 

[In_my_sights]

i have always heard to top off after a full charge.