Maintaining sufficient power supply is the single biggest consideration for boat owners. With increased power requirements, today’s boat owner is looking for smart, efficient solutions to battery charging. You want to leave the mooring with peace of mind, knowing on-board equipment will work and most importantly that you won’t get stranded!
The leisure battery is crucial to the operation of critical functions such as lights and navigation systems. So, if your boat has been moored for a long period of time, it’s well worth thinking about the leisure / service battery.
With many of you having experienced a flat leisure battery you know only too well the importance of looking after it, and perhaps more importantly what happens if you don’t.
If left unattended, even the best batteries can self-discharge, which can seriously damage them. You might have been able to keep your boat on mains hook-up but in many cases, this is not a good idea either. If you use mains hook-up, the leisure battery may be being charged by an on-board charger, which in most boats is not a very sophisticated system. It can actually damage the battery, this time by over-charging it, causing gassing and drying out of the battery.
Now the best solution is to use an intelligent battery charger, that monitors the battery and constantly adjusts both the charging voltage and current depending on the battery’s state of charge. If your boat is parked next to a power supply, connect a smart battery charger to your leisure battery for peace of mind charging. If you are unable to attach a charger permanently, either try to charge your leisure battery once a month or remove it from the boat, bring it home and put it on charge.
The CTEK M15 charger is a fully automatic 8-stage charger that delivers up to 15A to any lead-acid and Lithium (12V LiFePO4) leisure battery. It will make sure that the leisure battery is charged to maximum capacity so that when you can get out in your boat, your leisure battery is charged and ready to go.
Because let’s face it - with fridges, lighting, audio equipment and a whole load of other accessories to power, you need to be certain that you’re not going to end up stranded on the water with a flat leisure battery.