Vexilar Power After Storage Question!

[whitetail_freak]

I recently pulled out my fl20, which is less than a year old, to take on the first ice of the year, I charged the battery all night, and the battery was stored inside all offseason. When I turned the vex on, the battery indicator says that the unit is on, but does not show any battery life, and I get nothing from the transducer. Is this is a battery problem, or a transducer problem? hoping just a battery! thanks for your help guys!

[NKLCOLT1911]

where was the battery stored in the off season?

[schweady]

Probably the battery, which is not such a big cost to fix.

Two best things I've learned to assure a reliable battery:

Disconnect it when not in use.

Give it a full charge after each use and every other month during the year.

[fsnrod]

put a volt meter on the battery see what it says should read more then 12 volts

[fsnrod]

Try unplugging the power cord from unit check connectors to see if they are clean

[BartmanMN]

propack or ultra pack? May want to open the case to make sure wires are still connected before buying a new one. Obiously with Ultrapack, On button must be switched 'on' to charge battery.

[mccullen]

You have to maintain your battery in the off-season. Disconnect it and charge it fully every month or so. Buy a new battery and learn from this misstep. I did the same thing a few years back and now never have a problem with my new batteries.

FYI: Get a 12v/9ah battery. Good thing is that it's not your ducer!

[leech~~]

I recently pulled out my fl20, which is less than a year old, to take on the first ice of the year, I charged the battery all night, and the battery was stored inside all offseason. When I turned the vex on, the battery indicator says that the unit is on, but does not show any battery life, and I get nothing from the transducer. Is this is a battery problem, or a transducer problem? hoping just a battery! thanks for your help guys!

Try putting the ducer up to your ear and see if you hear it clicking? if not it maybe bad.

[whitetail_freak]

Sounds to me like a bad battery, hopefully! thanks for the help guys!

[Rick G]

+1 on the bad battery.

[fishnowworknever]

I have a dead one as well from sitting all summer. You can try "jump starting" those agm batteries.

Google it...I like to try and fix things that are fixable...although it's probably safer to just buy a new one

I'll try doing it tonight, record it and post it on youtube...I'll report back.

[fishnowworknever]

Well I tried and failed. My charger wouldn't charge the battery, it wouldn't even show any % on the lcd screen. I had one good agm and one bad, hooked them up in parallel, then I took my diehard smart charger and put 15a quick charge to it...it got up to about 50% charged 9.1v and sat there for a good hour. Removed the good battery and connected to the bad one. It charged for about 30 minutes, after that the charger was flashing bad battery

I disconnected the leads, reconnected and the battery was down to 4% and .06v

So although my little experiment allowed me to charge the battery, in the end the battery was already toast.