Charging Your Jet Ski Battery
One of the most annoying situations is if you’re looking forward to a thrilling day on the water, but your jet ski won’t start due to a flat or discharged battery. Perhaps it wasn’t used for some time or your battery is getting older, either way, there a number of reasons why you have to charge your Jet Ski battery.
This is why you have to start your jet ski as part of your pre-ride checks before heading to the water! The very best batteries can be discharge if you don’t look after them.
Battery Removal
Every manufacturer strongly recommends removing the battery from the jet ski when you want to charge the battery. Although it may seem inconvenient to remove the battery from the jet ski, it is far safer to do so. If you want to remove the battery from your jet ski, the first thing we strongly advise is you carefully read your owners manual. This will let you know the tools that you’ll need and the correct process they recommend as this may vary from model to model.
- Always make sure you are wearing safety protection glasses for your eyes and gloves for your hands. Latex gloves can provide the dexterity that you need whilst protecting your hands.
- Make sure your jet ski is secure and away from water, so your battery or charger do not come into contact with water and the jet ski can’t be moved.
- Remove the seat from your jet ski to access the battery, if your battery is not visible please check your user manual to locate it.
- Once you have located the battery, make sure you have the correct tools to remove the battery.
- Pull back the rubber cap from the battery’s black negative terminal, using a Philips screwdriver unfasten the bolt connecting the negative battery cable from the negative terminal. Once the bolt has been removed, free the battery cable from the battery. IMPORTANT – always remove the black negative battery cable first.
- Pull back the rubber cap from the battery’s red positive terminal, using the Philips screwdriver unfasten the bolt connecting the positive battery cable from the positive terminal. Once the bolt has been removed, free the battery cable from the battery
- Lastly, remove the hold-down bracket or strap by undoing the bolts securing the battery in place, the battery can then be removed safely.
Battery Charging
- Once the battery is out of the jet ski then make sure the battery and the battery terminals are clean and dry.
- Make sure your battery charger is the correct power for your battery, in most cases your charger should be approximately 10% capacity of your battery. Example: if your battery was a 50Ah battery, then your charger would ideally be a 5 amp charger. Most jet ski batteries are between 16 and 30 Ah, this mean you can happily use a 1 to 2 Amp battery charger.
- Connect your intelligent battery charger to your battery by connecting the positive (Red) lead first to the positive terminal on your battery.
- Connect the negative (Black) lead to the negative terminal on your battery.
- Then you can plug your intelligent battery charger into the mains power and turn on the battery charger. If you have various modes on your intelligent battery charger then select the correct mode for your battery. If you are unsure, please refer to your owners manual.
- With intelligent battery chargers, once they have charged the battery fully they will switch to a float charge, meaning this just keeps a pulse charge going into the battery until you’re ready to take it off charge and use it. With this type of charger you can leave you battery charger on for 12 hours or so and then your battery should be fully charged.
Disconnecting Your Battery Charger
- When your battery is fully charged and you want to disconnect the battery charger, make sure you turn the power to the charger off at the wall (the mains power outlet).
- Remove the negative (Black) battery lead first.
- Remove the positive (Red) battery lead.
- At this point it would be a good idea to test the battery with a battery tester, if you have one, or take it to a professional who’ll test it for you.
- Once you’ve had your battery tested and it has passed, you’ll be ready to install the battery back into your jet ski.
