Marine Batteries Help

[Fish_gutz]

Hi all, just purchased my new(secondhand) fishing rig and was wondering about charging the batteries, they are dated 2003 on the top which i think is getting a bit long in the tooth and if one drops a cell etc the other won`t be far away , what I was wondering is what life span these marine grade batteries have , and if i put a charger on them with the isolator turned of do i have to disconnect all the accessory attachments on the terminals ?
just checked and they are super charge seamaster batteries dated july 2003.
any help with these questions would be much appreciated. Cheers Andrew

[foxx510]

We have one of those in our boat of a similar age, it seems to be holding up ok, although the built in hygrometer is showing that it's not quite coming up to full charge. Does your have a hygrometer on it? It's a little clear round "window" on the top that will show red, clear or green. Should be fine to charge with the accessories connected, I take it they are connected before the isolator?

[Hagar]

G'day Andrew

Five years old batteries would be making me a bit nervous if you go long distances . I have had good service from those Seamaster batteries and replaced one after about five years that was still fine . If your rig only uses one battery for starting like mine then you could compromise and just replace one of them and monitor the other one's performance . Just select them one at a time rather than on ' both ' in case the old one fails and drags the good one down .

Chris

[foxx510]

I guess it depends how confident you are with hand starting your motor too, if it is even possible. The hygrometer is showing full charge in ours too now after a bit more use in the last few weeks, so it seems to be healthier than I thought. I've now realised it's a year or so newer than yours too. If you are sus on them though, replacement makes sense.