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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Greetings,
Little background first. When I bought the boat used last year(Ranger 690T), he had a new starting battery just installed. After about the 4th outing I installed a new 3 bank charger(dual pro pro series) as the starting bank on old one failed. Then, I started to notice my starting battery would be fairly drawn down after a week or so of sitting and not being plugged in. Well, by May(bought the boat in March) the starting batery was shot, even after staying on top of charging it, etc. I got a new starting battery(Trojan from Gander, under warranty), and all has been well until a few days ago an hour before a guide trip....DOGGHH!! The starting battery was dead dead, wouldn't take a charge with the 3 bank, or my portable charger. I quickly took the starting battery from my other rig, and swapped them out, and where I stand now.
Now, I know that my Lowrance puck will draw while in storage, but I turn this off with the main breaker switch every day. I do have an aftermarket stereo installed but memory is only draw(not unlike car radio). Also, with the breaker off, I can leave the boat sit for a couple weeks and it doesn't seem to draw much. If I leave the breaker on, the battery will become drawn after a week or so. My other boat has the same Lowrance puck, and I can leave it sit for over a month, and it doesn't need charging. In fact, I only have a 2 bank charger in that boat for my trolling motor batteries and rarely charge the starter, as my alternator seems to keep it charged pretty well. Will a puck draw more power if it needs to search for sattelites harder?
I think the battery was another lemon, but something tells me something else could be up. With the new battery in now, the charger shows red lights for a spell, then goes to green like it should, or charge a bit longer if a long day using electronics or radio had ensued. With the last battery(the trojan), even after a day oif trolling, the battery would take an innordinate amount of time to come to full charge, and quite often some red lights would still be on the next morning, which is unusual with a 15 amp charger, and an outboard pumping 25 amps.
I am perplexed by this. I plan to take my battery back tommorrow, and get a new one, but am wondering what else this could be... I wonder how to find out if there is a current draw from something else unknown. I don't see any sparking of lead wires when I hook them up, unless I have the breaker on, or key for outboard partly on. Speaking of key partly on. Should my outboard draw the battery down with the key accidentily in the accessory on position? Sorry for the long explanation, but this one has me stumped.
Edited by Reef Hawg 9/1/2008 1:11 PM
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | If the key is 'on', then yes, it's pulling 12 volts for the fuel pump, injectors, etc. If your battery is dead that quickly I'd suspect a bad charger first, bad battery second, especially in light of buying a new battery just a while back. I'd also make sure the engine is charging the battery as it should, that could be a portion of the issue as well.
All that said, it could be a bad cell in the battery. |
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Posts: 218
| The manager in the Bemidji Gander Mtn. told me they quit carrying Trojan batteries for just what you are describing. When I brought my less then 1-year-old battery, he urged me to replace it with an Interstate. I did and so far so good. I have used Trojans for years with great results but I guess it is time to try something else. It is an 8 hour round trip from the Angle to Bemidji to replace the Trojans. I can replace the Interstate in Warroad if it goes bad a savings of 6 driving hours.. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Yeah, something tells me bad charger too. Though I do test it with my other chargers and they show the battery is being charged, maybe it was overcharging it to some degree. Will have outboard alt. checked too. Southshore... thanks for the tip. I noticed the Gander in Mn that I was in a couple weeks ago, had one trojan left and a whole rack of Interstates. Wonder what they'll replace it with or give credit towards, if a cell is indeed 'out' and the/some warranty applies. I would lean towards another brand right now I guess.
Edited by Reef Hawg 9/1/2008 3:29 PM
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Posts: 1168
| My crazy right wing conspiracy guess is this....in this day and age of rising energy costs, some nut with an electric car was sneaking over and charging up their battery cells off of your starting battery. Much like a gas drive off, they sneak in at night, plug in, and pull out. Jason, I'll bring a half of your favorite beer and a couple of shotguns, you supply the vintage Metallica tunes and we'll lay in wait and get these rascals. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | Sounds good bob. We can wait for the little gremlins that tangle all of my bucktails and topwater together while I'm sleeping too. Wonder if they're the same ones that tie 3 or 4 rods together in my storage compartments at night..?.. Might be jammin a little Chris Caffery or Savatage if the new Metalica sucks(to be released 9/12).
Edited by Reef Hawg 9/1/2008 4:41 PM
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Jason- If you left a switch on, it can discharge the battery where a normal battery charger won't even attempt to recharge it, i.e., most modern chargers have a low DC voltage protection/safety circuit where the charger will not recharge a deeply discharged battery. This protects the charger from abnormally high current. The work around is a set of jumper cables and your truck or one of the trolling motor batteries. Just jump the battery and let it charge from the truck to bring it up to ~ 10.5V or higher.
If you have a wet cell battery the charging voltage from your charger should be in the range of 13.8V to 14.4V. For AGM's or gell cells it's 13.5-> 13.8V.
I was thinking of coming up your way on Friday. If you're in town I could bring my DVM and we can check the charger and the alternator to see what's happening.
When I bought Esox Maniac ~ 6 years ago, I wasn't tuned into boat motor alternator's, etc. The tach wasn't working-but I really didn't worry about it, i.e., the motor ran great during the test drive. I learned the hard way that the tach on a 1989 Johnson 150HP runs off of the alternator electronics module. One month later- We were in Canada ~ 12 miles from camp. Hit the start & no go- fortunately I'm "anal retentive" about being prepared (lessons learned from the military). I had a set of jumper cables in the boat- jumpered a trolling motor battery to the main engine battery & we went back to camp. Figured out the alternator electronics/control module was toast- the jumper cables saved our trip. I got back & spent ~$ 450 for the electronics module to fix it.
Al
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Posts: 218
| They gave me full credit for the Trojan which was $50 more than the Interstate. That paid for half the gas I burned to do the exchange. Gander stood by their warantee. I give them a BIG APPROVAL. |
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Posts: 1294
Location: Stevens Point, Wi. | Jason- a simple draw test- disconnect neg cable from starting battery- connect a test light between the cable and the battery post. If there is any glowing of the light, even a very dim glow, you have some draw occuring. It then becomes a process of elimination.
Your sonar/Gps unit should have a voltage option that you can monitor your battery voltage while running your outboard. A reading above 13 volts would be a an indication that your outboards charging system is working. |
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| not sure why the mgr at Gander in Bemidji thinks Trojans aren't very good?
I have 6 of them in 2 different boats and all have been awesome for me for 2+ yrs...starting battery in my Ranger runs 4 Lowrances all day and jams Hair Nation and still has plenty of juice at the end of a 16 hr day...
Trojan AGM's rock.
Jason...hope you figure it out soon so you can jam that new Metallica.. |
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