Thread: Batteries
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Old 11-17-2014, 02:26 PM   #3
Edelweiss
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City: PNW
Vessel Model: 1976 Californian Tricabin LRC
Join Date: May 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben View Post
I replaced house/crank batteries in 2011. Boat used lightly. Batteries on charger. No crank now.
1. Is four years about fair expectations?
2. Did my light use contribute to the batteries' downfall?
3. Can someone give me a basic lesson on electrolyte maintenance?
Unless you're using an inverter or otherwise drawing your batteries down hard, four years would be a very short life span for a set of batteries indeed. Mine routinely go 10 years.

My first suspicious would be that your charger is either defective or not a modern charger. Did you clean the battery connections recently? Are you using a lot of water? Water should never drop to where the plates are exposed and use distilled water to top them off. With a modern charger and little use you should be using very little water.

But as the previous poster suggested, start with checking the batteries at their source and that should tell you a lot.
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