Battery issues

[BillyBoy23]

Hey guys,

So I bought my boat last year in June and the seller told me the batteries were only a year old at that point. I did use the boat a lot last year. I removed the batteries during the winter and did not put them on the pavement in my basement. I charged them once a month. I have taken the boat out about 10 times this year and they seemed to run fine. Now they won't hold a charge. I have an on board charger and both the lights do turn green but if I let the boat sit for 2 days after the charge and check my battery life switch one battery reads at 0% life and the other is already at 60% I have not turned on one piece on electronics. So here are my questions...

1. Can leaving the on board charger plugged in longer then 12 hours over charge the batteries and lower their overall life?

2. I topped off the batteries with Distilled water about a week ago and charged. Would that change anything?

3. I did leave my trolling motor switch in the Mon side but have not touched the pedal. Could that slowing drain the battery?

Thanks in advance for the tips.

-Bill

[BoxMN]

Is it a two bank charger, with one lead going to starting and one to trolling? Or is it two batts in 24v hook up?

Check for corrosion first, even if it doesn't look like it, remove leads, clean posts and rings.

Something could be leaking, probably have the batts load tested to be sure, and if they are good you have to track down the leak in your system.

Also, just cause the seller told you they were new, they might not be. You also said you added water... if you had to add water, that means it boiled down at least once, and that could kill their life as well. I know that one from experience

[Esox_Magnum]

I leave mine plugged in 24/7/365 unless on the lake. Either you have a drain or you chargers going bad. Bad charger can ruin a battery in a couple days, been there done that.

[CRFan1]

You can defintely leave the charger on 24/7, they are designed to keep a maintenance charge without "boiling the battery". It sounds like you either have a bad battery or something is causing a full time drain. Are you unplugging the trolling motor when not in use?

Take a voltmeter and measure across the terminals for an amperage draw.....

[efgh]

If you have the remote control set up on a minikota the board in the head of the motor is waiting for a signal from the remote. You have to unplug the motor or it will drain the batteries slowly. just a though.

[bassNspear]

its always a good thing to unplug them

[BillyBoy23]

Thanks for the tips guys. I am having them load tested today. I will see what they say and look at other things next.

[BobT]

To properly load test your batteries I believe it's best to charge them and then wait 24 hours before testing. That way if they are losing charge while sitting, it'll show up. Otherwise you may not be able to detect the problem.

[BillyBoy23]

well it ended up that one of the two batteries was [PoorWordUsage]. Thanks again everyone for the great info.

-Bill

[zepman]

I'm having similiar problems with my starting battery...can't seem to keep any sort of charge on it anymore. I replaced the original battery two years ago, one which I never experienced any problems with at all, and the first replacement lasted about a month. Bad battery....company replaced it at n/c. The "new" battery they gave me is now having the same problems...simply won't hold a charge. It will take a full charge but then when it sits for a week or two is completely dead.

Does this sound like a battery issue again or am I drawing power from some place in my boat that's draining them? Never an issue before...but if I'm drawing power from somewhere how do I locate and find/solve the problem. Do I need to take it in?

Any and all suggestions welcome.

[boatfixer]

Well the easiest way to know would be to disconnect the battery each time and see if it loses charge. You could also remove one of the leads and connect an amp meter to see if there is a draw. If you find there is a draw, isolate the engine cables from the boat and test again to determin where the draw is. Remove fuses individually until you find it. Running down a draw sometimes requires some detective work and alot of patience.

[marine_man]

Running down a draw sometimes requires some detective work and alot of patience

That's for sure! It sure sounds like a draw problem to me too... one I'd start looking into soon.

If you don't have a amp meter handy, you can also try using a test light connected to the negative side of the battery. Pull all the leads off the negative side, and touch the probe of the test light to the one eyelet at a time... a brighter light = a higher draw. The other option is to touch one negative eyelet to the negative post at a time... if you see a spark that circuit is drawing current.

marine_man

[zepman]

Thanks guys, I'll have to get working on that.