batteries are not holding a charge

[mudman]

Hey all.

I have a 24 volt 70# minnkota

the 2 batteries in front seem to be going bad on me.

I have an onboard charger, I pulg it in, it says, charging, they will charge for a couple hours then go to batteries full

I went fishing yesterday and the batteries last about 2 hours then slowly die out.

I have everything wired correctly ie motor is + on bat 1 - on bat 2, the cross over goes from bat 1 and bat 2 and 4, 2+, 2- for the charger, that my conclusion, just want a couple other opinions before a drop 2 large on batteries.

[Eric Wettschreck]

If you have a trickle charger use it at about a 2 amp rate overnight on each battery. If the cells are full of electrolyte, and the batteries get a real good slow charge, and they still won't hold a charge then they are junk.

[Guest]

As stated above, use another small amp charger and check with that.I had the same problem only to find out that my on board charger wasnt charging very well.I bought a new charger and now im fishing all the time.

[luckycrank]

MUDMAN,

I'M IN THE SAME BOAT AS YOU WHEN I PLUG MY ON BOARD CHARGER IN MY LIGHTS FLICKER BACK AND FOURTH FROM RED TO GREEN AND BACK AGAIN, READ THE OWNERS MANUAL AND IT SAID THERE COULD BE A PROBLEM TO THE BATTERIES.

AT THIS POINT I BROUGHT MY BATTERIES TO THE MARINA AND HAD THEM LOAD TESTED, ONE WAS JUNK THE OTHER WAS FAIR. LUCKILY

THEY WHERE UNDER WARRANTY.BECAUSE I HAD THIS PROBLEM THE YEAR BEFORE WITH MY STOCK BATTERIES. HOWEVER THE MARINA REPLACED ONE BATTERY AND NOT THE OTHER. NOW MY CHARGER LIGHTS WORK PROPERLY BUT I STILL CAN'T SEEM TO GO MORE THAN 4HRS ON A FULL CHARGE SO I DONT KNOW WHAT MY NEXT STEP IS.

I RENCENTLY HAD A NEW CONTROL BOARD PUT IN MY MINNKOTA

BECAUSE THAT BURNED UP ABOUT A MONTH AGO MY TROLLING SEEMS DIFFRENT ALSO AS I USED TO BE ABLE TO KEEP MY BOAT STILL ON ABOUT 20 NOW IT SEEMS I RUN ABOUT 50 WHEN I TALKED TO ANOTHER FELLOW TOURNAMENT ANGLER HE NOTICED THE SAME THING WITH HIS MOTOR AS HE JUST HAD THE SAME UPDATED CONTROL BOARD INSTALLED IN HIS.

IM ABOUT TO GO BUY ALL NEW BATTERIES CHARGER AND TROLLING MOTOR IF I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT SOON!!!!!!!!

[LocalGuide]

Did you check the water levels in your battery?! That could be the main problem right there. If they are low then just add some distilled water. All you have to do is pop off the covers to cells and look to see if they are full to the top.

I have to check these at least once a year. If they are low they charge up really fast and go down really fast. So that could be your problem.

Otherwise plan B is you have a old/bad battery if the water levels are fine.

[Northlander]

I had the same problems and got rid of my old 8amp onboard charger and got a dual bank 20amp that puts 10amps to each battery. So far so good. I also got rid of the fuse and went to a breaker system. It will rest itself when needed. Nice to not have to worry about popping and having fuses on board.

A Pro from Gander told me that with trolling battery's you want 10amps to each battery. Anyone know why that would be?

[mudman]

It a brand new (bought it in May) 10 onboard charger from minnkota so I know its not the charger

I will check the water levels tonight, thanks

[tomfromblaine]

I just went thru this deal myself, at first I thought I had a bum charger 1 batt would charge 100% the other 50-75% so I popped the caps off the batt's and got that feeling when I looked in the holes and seen how low the water was, (I know your supposed check/fill before charging) so I filled up to the bottom of the fill tube and everything is all good now.

[MiltonaTunaHunter]

Same Here, Lift up your outboard motor batterys seem to last a tad longer.

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Deep fried Walleye goes good with... Well Everything

[BIG DS]

Make sure you use only distilled water if you need to re-fill the battery cells.