Deep cycle?

[Rivernut]

Deep cycle went dead today. Put on my 6amp charger, which shut of in 2 hrs. Battery status indicator on motor says full charge. Ran on high for a minute, checked again, says full. I'm thinking its a no brainer. Bad battery, it's 4-5 yrs old. But I wonder how often the chargers go bad. It is a Minnkota 6 amp on board. Battery is a sc225 Trojan. Any ideas, thanks.

[hitthebricks]

It sounds to me your like charger is a little small, yes your batterys are most likely dead but to charge a good battery after a full day of running hard, you need a long enough time to rebuild the Amps or a bigger charger.

Good Luck, HTB

[Phred52]

Rivernut, How full are the cells? Can you see electrolyte when you remove the caps? Those cells should be filled to the ring on the bottom of the hole. That's like ~1" below the top of the hole(hope that's clear). Now that your charger shows the battery is charged, this would be the correct time to top off the cells with Distilled Water Then put 'er back on the charger and finish charging. I'd also agree that your charger is a little small for that battery. Personally, I run 2-8 year old SCS225 Trojans. I use an Automatic charger that can start at 30 amp charge and backs down as the battery charges. The guy from the Trojan warehouse in the cities told me the best way to charge Deep Cycle Batteries is to replace the charge like it was taken out. EG: High amp charge for a lot of heavy use (trolling motor) and a trickle charge for a slow discharge (a radio and a couple small lights etc.) Hope this helps, Phred52

[Rivernut]

Phred, I just added the distilled water and plugged the charger back in. See how it goes. It took between 1/4 and1/3 of a gallon to fill. Thanks for the ideas, I"ll post how it goes.

[Rivernut]

Took it in tonight, load tested it, and it was fine. Next up check the wiring!

[hitthebricks]

I don't have a lot of faith in load testing. I brought my 1 year old batterys in to Battery + and was told that they were still good when load tested and wouldn't be replaced under warranty. Those batterys would only last 3-4 hrs at best when new. I installed new batterys for the third time in three years. First two sets came from that battery store and the last set came from Sams Club, these will run hard all day and have still have plenty of power left.

Good luck

Later HTB

[Phred52]

Rivernut, Have you gotten a good charge into that battery yet?? What have you got? A good battery or is it shot? Phred52

[mr d]

hit it with at least 10 amps

[Rivernut]

Charged it full, ran my trolling motor in the garage @ 70%. The battery went dead in twenty mins. Time for a new battery. Would have gotten back sooner, but had my wedding on Sat.

[Northlander]

Could be the charger as well. I had a on board charger that would do this. 1 bank went out on it and I would only be charging 1 battery.

[Rivernut]

I charged this last time w/the portable, rather than the on board. Unless both chargers are bad, the battery must be. Thanks for all the input.