Batterie Question?

[Greg Duggan]

Hey All,

Last season I broke the bank and bought 2 new trolling motor batteries.

i spent the extra money and went with the Trojans. kept them in my warm garage all winter and put them on the trickle chareger a few times to keep them fresh.

So my first time out a few weeks back i thought they were really week, i was only on the water for a few hours and went home. i plugged the boat charger in for a few days and the LED indicated a full charge. unplkged the charger and hit the water Sunday.

after two hours there was just no powere left in the battries. i had to run on 24v high just to get around.

i checked the wirring when i got home and voltage output at the receptical on the bow. i am getting 12/24v at the bow and there is a noticable change in spped when switched from 12 to 24 on the foot peddle.

have you all seen these battries (or any other) what am i missing????



GregD

 

[Texas Transplant]

How is the water in the batteries, and is it distilled water? I've killed more batteries by letting them run dry.



Also, how old is your charger, and what brand are you running?



When I bought my new Trojans, I first filled them and charged them with my stand alone charger (it's a newer one from Sears, that is computer controlled and checks the status; works on multiple battery types, etc). Turned out, it was NOT charging the batteries properly. Once I cabled them up, and then charged them with my on-board unit, they worked like a champ. Holding there charge well.



In short, it might not be your batteries, but rather your charger.



Another thought. Trolling motor batteries are meant to discharge quite a bit, and then come back. When you bought the Trojans, you did buy the deep cycle batteries - correct?



Just things to think of.



Tex

 

[Greg Duggan]

Tex,



i did buy the SC225s. They were filled and charged buy the vender. (closed shop over the winter)

i also bought a simillar new digital charger from wally world, i bought it just for these battries. for the money i wanted to take care of them.

i also counted on my on board charger to top off the charge. i did not check the fluid in the cells. i guess i assumed that it would be ok were the are less than 1 yr old?

i hope that is not the problem......



GregD

 

[Jim B]

Greg,



Check the water level for sure. I never had to add any to mine until they were like 3 years old but different chargers can boil off more water then others. What kind of charger is in the boat? And are you sure its charging both batteries? You may want to hit them with a meter and see what kind of volrtage you have on both just to make sure they are both charged. Also get a hydrometer and check the cells to see if you have any dead ones. In any case if they are indeed dead id call trojan, i think they have an 18 month warranty and get them replaced.



I have the same batteries in my boat and i have 5 years of pretty heavy use on mine and they are showing no signs of giving up just yet. One thing that i have had happen to me in the past is one bank on the charger not charging( and this happend two years in a row and was totally my fault). when i hooked up the charger i reversed the + and - and popped the fuse, then never changed it so one battery never charged for like a month plus. Both times i realised that what i had done that after i had no power after like 3 hours and looking into it off the water. My guest charger always shows the green led( or charged and ready) when the fuse is blown or disconnected so i "assumed" they were charging/charged. I wonder if you have something similar going on. in both cases i didnt hurt the batteries so it seems, they are still going strong.



id check the charger and make sure its working. do you still have my number? if you want give me a call anytime if you have any questions.

 

[Greg Duggan]

Jim,



I did check the Guest charger for proper wirring. i will check the fuses later today. i have refractometer for checking glycol and battries. i will shoot them and see if one of the cells is not showing a good charge.

thanks for the reply guys... its nice to have this site for questions like this. for the most part i am pretty self sufficient. in this case these batteries cost way to much to not ask for help.



GregD

 

[Berry Lindley]

Put a voltmeter on each battery when charging. It will give you an idea if it is charging properly or not. Look for around 14.6V while charging. Any quality battery ought to last over 3 yrs so something is wrong there, either the batteries, the charger, a short, or the TM......

 

[Greg Duggan]

Problem Resolved.



i went home last night and pulled both battries from my boat. they are scs200 not 225s. (no big deal). i opened all cells and check the water level. they were all down about 1/2" so i went out and bought a gallon of distilled water (thanks Tex).

i then prceeded to check every cell with my refractometer. all cells check out ok.

so on with the tests.. both battries are charged to about 13V. pluged charger in and tested with out battries connected. charger is putting out 13.8v on both terminals.

at this point i am thinking my trolling motor is on its way out. so i decide to remove all electrcal connections at the bow.

to my surprise, i find the male cord cap is very discolored and the wires are some what melted. the receptical seams to be intact. all connection are tight and no discoloration from exesice heat is visible. i removed all all wires from both the plug and receptical and all wires from the foot control. i cleaned and reteminated everything. i also coated all connection with nolux (used for copper to aluminum electrical connections) put everything back together and it all works great again! (at this point it is 9:00pm)



in short, i will now re check all trolling motor connections at he beggining of every season. this will be my 5th season with this boat. i geuss after taking a pounding for 5 years it would only make sence that the terminals on the cord cap would loosen up.



i hope this saves someone else some time and agrivation



GregD