On board charger issue

[prov1900]

I have a 3 bank. Last weekend in a tournament, in 40 mph winds, I ran the batteries dead for the first time in four years of owning the boat. Now, my middle bank led's don't light up. I put an external charger on the battery to bring it up enough for the on board to kick in. No luck. Any ideas? Sent message to company (CSI) but wanted to ask the real experts on FM as well. Really don't want to replace that thing if I can help it. I see they are in the 300/400 dollar bracket now.

[marine_man]

Try moving the charging leads to another battery and see what happens. That would isolate the battery from the charger.

marine_man

[prov1900]

"Unintelligent" question marine man, but is that to see if the battery is bad, vs the charger?

[PerchJerker]

"Unintelligent" question marine man, but is that to see if the battery is bad, vs the charger?

Move the charging leads to another battery ---- if the charger works on the 2nd battery then your 1st battery is bad --- if the charger doesn't work on the 2nd battery either then the charger is bad.

[marine_man]

Right on!

marine_man

[TonkaBass]

well, just guessing, but after four years of usage... I'm guessing its the batteries.

[LindellProStaf]

I have an onboard 2 bank charger. Only one side now lights up. I wondered if there is an internal fuse or something in them. I switched it back and forth from one battery to the other and the one side just doesn't seem to work. It was only 2 years old when this started happening.

[PerchJerker]

There may be an in-line fuse, if so it's usually located close to the battery. If not, your next best bet is to call the company that made it, or check the manual or on-line for trouble-shooting info. Good luck getting it taken care of.

[prov1900]

It was only 2 years old when this started happening.

OK, just an update on my situation. Through trial and error, I discovered that it was the charger after all. Contacted the company and they had me read off the serial number to them. They advised that the unit was a "reconditioned 2003 model", i.e. two years older than my boat. Not sure where the ball was dropped, but my boat place put me into a brand new, with warranty, MinnKota 3 bank for 1/2 off. I thought that was more than fair.

When we pulled out the old one today, it sounded like it had sand in it, i.e. not good. It was definately fried. Glad I didn't burn my boat up, assuming that would be a possibility.

Check your serial numbers with the company, it could be older than what you think. Or then again, like all manmade devices, it might just be broke.