Charging your Battery?, When, How, What?

I was just reading Nicole's post, BTW good outing & nice fish finder, Glad you got out and a very interesting topic has come up...

Since there are so many people here right now, and this question has puzzled me as well.. I thought I would start a new topic on this so we can get to the bottom of this..

I have an x67c fish finder & charge my battery after every trip or every second trip, depending on use. I was told by battery people, especially the cell phone sales reps, that I should drain batteries to nearly dead on occassion to prolong the life of the battery. I was told that if I charge a battery again and again from a low discharge level .ie 75%, the battery over time will lose it's "memory" where full charge and bottom charge levels are and eventually shorten the running time & life of my battery.

Anyone else hear about this?

Anyway, I'm not 100% on this since batteries are all made of different materials and a cell phone battery probably doesn't behave like a deep cycle or fish finder battery..

My x67c battery is now about 5 years old and seems to be working the same as when I bought it, and I haven't been overly dilgent when it comes to charging it.. So can't really offer insight here... But out of fear I have drained it to near zero a couple of times and re-charged it.

Jerry as you know I have the same unit. They use the same battery as the emergency lights which are on a constant charge when power is available. I do the same as you and my unit is still good. These sealed gel batteries last a long time.

Not an expert, but i believe the 'memory' issue applies to lithium batteries. Lead acid types I think don't have that issue, rather they degrade from deep discharge and being stored in a discharged state. Someone check me on this, though

Battery "memory" pertains to NiCd(Nickle Cadmium) not much used any more because of the problems with disposal. LI or LiIon don't have the problem of memory. Discharging battery to prevent the memory effect should not be done unless you have a battery recycler/charger. Most people don't have the money laying around to buy those. Lead acid batteries should not be discharged to below 50%, otherwise it tends to shorten their useful lifespan of number of charge/discharge cycles. The best thing you can do for batteries is to recharge them after each use, no matter how long, 3 hours or 8 hours. Batteries are much "happier" for lack of any other description, when they are fully charged. Some of the F/F batteries come with smart chargers that will turn off after a full charge, others don't(dumb chargers) that will keep pounding the current in and ruining the battery. If you don't have a smart charger, you can get one at CTC, called CTEK. The smallest model can be used and left connected indefinitely. Princess Auto also has them, can't remember the exact name. Most of the F/F batteries, 7amp-9amp only require a charger that puts out a maximum of .7 to .9amps or 700 to 900m/Amp, that's less than 1 Amp. They are best charged at 10% of their listed Amp capacity.
Hmm, cell phone sales reps are there to sell things, most can't tie their shoes. This info has been taken from battery experts, just trying to save you your dollars and make sure your F/F finder works when you hit the GO button.

I've had occasion to research this fairly recently. The memory issue is in the past, unless you're using NiCad batteries, which I seriosly doubt.

I have been told that you should take out your finder in the off season and charge to full just to help maintain the battery. I have done so now for a couple years.

Found this info helpful.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

Thanks for starting up this post Jerry.

It has given me lots of information since I am new to ice fish finders.

bingo!!!

Read above, LiIons don't have that problem to the extent it will cause problems. The battery will have expired from natural causes first.

Thanks for the feedback! It's all coming back to me now..

Yes, I heard for your deep cycle and fish finder batteries to keep them fully charged at all times or close to fully. Storing them with low charge increases sulfination (sp?) and this damages the cells / reduces battery life.

The memory thing, out the door.. LOL..

I dont charge my battery til the beginning of ice season(gell cell) and before I charge it to see what state its in its usually between 50-75% after sitting all spring summer fall and some winter. Gell cells hold a charge and normally I get between 3 and 5 years out of um. Hope this helps

Same batt for 10 years and recharged after every use or as soon as I get home for my x67c and now my Elite4

Only use a smart charger for these batteries.......

When you say smart charger, do you mean the charger that comes with the elite or another type of charger.

I have a separate unit that is only used for these batts...

I will put up a pic if u like or bring it with me next time I see you on ice.

Around 50 bux

It's a Mobiline charger 6 amp and fully automatic. will not overcharge

made in Canada by Cliplight