# Charging a battery - how long should it take?



## Benito (Mar 21, 2012)

Hey Folks-

Just got my first all-eletric boat last week....I'm finding it takes FOREVER to charge the deep cycle batteries. What is normal of fast charging time for a standard size Marine/Deep Cycle battery?

The charger I got came from Wal-Mart, was the biggest they had - a 10-Amp "Fast Charge" made by Schumaker. On the fastest of the 3 settings, it takes about 12 hours to fully charge my brand-new, 175 Power Series, Deep Cycle battery. The 1 year old, slightly smaller deep cycle (Everstart Marine) take about 10-12 hours also. Again, this is on the fastest cycle.

Is this normal? Again, the charger and the biggest battery are both brand new, bought last week. Should it take 12+ hours to charge a battery?

Thanks-

BEN


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## Ricky (Mar 21, 2012)

no,maybe on the 2 amp trickle setting,mine will charge fully in 4-6 hours on the 10 amp setting


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## bsanders (Mar 21, 2012)

i have found out that for the all electric setup for deep cycle batteries, its best to charge it on a 2 amp setting. and yes it will take 10 hrs or so if they are drained. 10 amps didn't seem to do good as far as life goes.


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## Ronnie T (Mar 21, 2012)

I would never charge a marine battery at 2 amp.  I'm not so sure you can actually get a 100% full charge on a battery at 2 amps.
You can "maintain" a fully charged battery using 2 amps, but I personally would never charge one at that.
I go 10 amp or 15 amp.


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## Terribleted (Mar 21, 2012)

The best charge for a deep cycle battery is a multi stage charge that can really only be supplied by a charger made specifically for this purpose. 

 Yes it takes a long time at relativly low charge amperage. If you have a totally dead  175 amphour battery (it should never be totaly dead) and charge it with a charger that delivers 10 amps it will take 17.5 hours to fully charge.  Most general use chargers will taper off the number of amps they deliver as the battery voltage rises so it actually may take quite a bit longer than 17.5 hours to charge our battery. Solution is a higher amperage smart charger with a deep cycle setting   Maybe it starts at 15 amps and pulse charges after a certain charge %age...much faster charge. ( I am not sure that a 15 amp rate isn't a bit high for best battery life tho). I like my XPS on board charger from Bass Pro it only charges at a 5 amp top rate but has microprocessor monitoring of the charge cycle and also monitors and does automatic maintenance charging if the boat sits unused. It is not fast, generally when I have come back with a trolling battery that will no longer run the prop it takes about 24-36 hours or so before it says it is fully charged. (I got a brand new battery the other day (175 amphour) and it took about 12 hours to fully charge it even tho it should have been pretty good right off the shelf...hmmm maybe not so good...perhaps it sat there a while.


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## BoosterC (Mar 21, 2012)

First, does the charge automatically shut off or go to a maintenance float charge?

On the Walmart web site they have a 1.5 A  ($19) and 12/8/2 ($39.98) SpeedCharge.  So I couldn't tell the exact specs for your charger.  

I believe the 175 is a 90 amp hour battery, therfore, a fully discharged battery would take approx 9 hours to charge on a 10 amp charger.  A multi-stage charger would take a little longer.

Generally, you want the charger connections the first connection on the battery threaded lug if you dont have the gator clamp om type.

Is the charger the only thing hooked up when your charging?   Has there been something possibly left "on" that is drawing parasitic current?


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