BATTERY HELP!!

[walligator]

I have a 3-bank on board charger and I suspect one of my batteries has a bad cell(not enough juice to turn over motor)twice!.I charged it for 5-hrs and got all green lights on the charger.Will the battery go down while not in use?Can a battery with a bad cell get to a full charge?Thanks for any help!

Walligator

[Kab Dreamin]

I've had it happen to me, too. The only thing to do is pull the batteries and get them tested. It sounds like a bad cell to me. Batteries Plus tests them free.

[Macgyver55]

Yes and yes to answer your questions. A battery with a bad cell can and will lose a charge while not in use. And a battery with a bad cell can charge to enough voltage to "fool" the charger into "thinking" it has a full charge. The best way to check them is with a load test. They must be fully charged before the test, then after loading them (with a special loading tester) that holds them at a specific load for a specific time, the voltage should be then be checked again to determine which one (or more) is bad.

[guideman]

At the first sign of trouble it's best to just go buy a new battery. Nothing worse than a boat that won't start when you need it, so why put yourself at risk. If the battery is more than 3 years old chances are it's time to replace it anyway.

"Ace"

[walligator]

Thanks for the info guys,I have isolated it to my original starting battery that I had to switch, so I could start my motor.So I know which one is bad.FYI, so nobody else has a problem,when I stored my boat last fall I took out my 3-bank batteries and stored them in my house and left the starting battery in the boat and periodicaly charged and tested lights in the boat, so I figured no problem.To no avail 2 times did not start at landing.Batteries were not even a year old.This is the last time I will leave any batteries in the boat!

Walligator