Battery help

[Al Greco]

Went fishing yesterday and didn't have much battery power so when I got home I hooked up the Dual PRO charger and the charger was acting up like the batteries were charged but also went from the green light to lighting some RED Led's and back to green. I swapped the leads and the same type of things occurred. I took the batteries out and charged them on my 10 Amp portable charger until they were both fully charged. I took them to Autozone and had the tested. Both tested as "good" but with a low charge. They told me to charge them again and bring them back. I hooked up the chargers again and almost instantly they both showed as fully charged on my charger. Should I buy new batteries or are these salvageable? BTW, they are Interstate deep cycle batteries, not maintenance free. The water level in both batteries are sufficient.

 

[Dan J.]

How old are they? If they've had a few seasons on them, it sounds as if it's time for a new rack of batt.'s in your boat. I strongly gussest that when you do decide to change them, do them as a set. Don't mix good with marginal or bad batteries. It's an easy way to chew up a new battery. To make sure it's not the charger, test it on a battery you are sure is good. (i.e.: switch leads to the starting batt. or some other good batt.) If it jumps up to green and holds within a few seconds of what you know is a good, fully charged batt., I'd say it's just time for a new rack. Good luck!

 

[Al Greco]

Batteries are about 3 years old. What really concerned me was the onboard charger was not acting normal. I guess the 2 chargers I used couldn't all be wrong but still puzzled as to why the check at Autozone says they are still good but have a low charge. I'm actually thinking about getting 2 maintenance free batteries and a Guest charger with 3 banks and doing awau with the Dual PRO charger.

 

[Dan J.]

After three years of solid use and any prolonged periods (couple months or more) of inactivity, it sounds like your batteries have lived a good life. They'll usually still show 12+ voltage until a cell actually fails, but the plate wear and the acid nuetrality still happens over time. Check the charger out with a good batt. and if it checks, I'd save the knucklebusting for when you have to. (LOL!) If you're still fishing on occasion over the winter, you might want to keep using them until Spring (or failure) when your fishing time is bound to increase. That's when I'd put a new rack in. Then give'em a good workout! Goodluck!!

 

[Mark Hofman]

Man, good timing with your question, Al!!



I am getting my boat ready for a long weekend fishing trip and was just testing the batteries. I've had them in the boat for a couple of years, but it seems like they aren't holding a charge. I used one of the cheap 4-ball testers and only 2 of the balls are floating, both on the cranking battery and my trolling battery. I've got a back up trolling motor battery that I'll take with me, but I may consider replacing the cranking battery just in case.