A four year old marine deep cycle battery should still be good, unless you've let it sit without a charger over the winter. I had a similar issue, and traced it to the five year old bilge pump float switch, allowed milliamps of current draw when fully "open." Might check that with a meter.

Pat,

I leave the solar panel connected all the time, but it's easy enough to remove each time you go sailing. The panel has a two-prong connector that mates with a cable that comes with the solar panel, so you can just disconnect the panel there, roll it up, and store it in the cabin until you are through sailing.

BTW – the charging cable in my boat runs down the starboard side of the floor, and then through a small hole I drilled in the bulkhead to the battery compartment under the starboard bench in the cabin. My first boat, #150, did not have an under-seat battery compartment, and the previous owner had installed a battery box high in the bilge. (I added the same solar charger.) There are enough gaps at the rear of the starboard seat to thread the cable from the deck to the floor without drilling any holes there.

Vic

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Thanks, Vic for putting this all in one thread. I've seen it in other posts, but this helped organize it for me. Do you leave the solar "mat" on the deck all the time or just when at the dock?

Pat

I've read posts here about battery and solar power, but still have questions. We have a relatively (about 4 years) old, dual purpose, deep charge marine battery (about 45 pounds), a group size 24. I'm replacing it due to draining every 2-3 weeks.

I'm considering a battery from Autozone (Duralast deep charge battery) but someone suggested using a motorcycle battery, or at least a smaller size battery of some sort. Someone else advised against it. We need the power for instruments (every week), bilge pump (a few times a month, depending on weather), and lights (very occasionally). My concerns are having enough power for the pump and secondarily (but still important) the instruments. The pro of the smaller battery is of course portability to take home to charge; the con would seem to be needing to charge it more often. The instruments are important, but the pump is a safety issue, and I don't want to find out at a crucial time that it doesn't work!

We also have a solar panel (several years old, & not currently in use); I don't know if (or how well) it still works. Last time in use, it was fastened to a dock post, with the connector going through the cabintop to the battery. We hooked it up when putting the boat to bed after a sail, but due to the panel being fixed to the dock, we would sometimes return to find the connector pulled out and hanging in the water. I think now, if we were to use it again, we'd somehow connect it to the mast when away from the boat. Does anyone know how we can relatively easily test the panel? I've also read here that we should have a controller for the panel, which we didn't have before, unless the panel has an integrated controller. I don't have the specs of the panel at hand.

Appreciate your help in advance! Pat