Battery Problem

[Paul Welc]

Hello all, I have a strange problem with my cranking battery. Last time I was out it worked great. I switched the positions of my trolling battery and cranking battery this week, connected the cables back up. Independent battery charger and onboard charger show the cranking battery is charged (voltmeter shows battery at 12.6 volts).



I start to crank the motor, it tries to start for about 2 seconds then it just clicks. It appears when I try to crank it for 2 seconds it just zaps the juice in the battery (after trying to start it a couple of times, 2 seconds each, the voltage of the battery is 12.4 volts). Any ideas, maybe the battery is going dead? I have double checked the battery leads and they look correct.



My motor is easy to start, so if I turn it over very fast it does start. I'm going fishing tomorrow night and I'm a little worried about getting stranded in the boonies at night, the nav lights and fish finder run off of the cranking battery also.

 

[Dan McCloskey]

I would have it load tested. You may have a dead cell.

 

[JP Heintzman]

I second Dan's motion, sounds like a dead cell = dead battery.



JP

 

[Dan J.]

Have you (or can you) pop the caps and check the acid fluid level? Low acid can hold a charge, just not optimal amps.

 

[Mike L.]

I've had the same problem and it's usually that my battery terminals/connection was dirty or a bit loose.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

I've had too many TM batteries check good on the charger and be dang near dead on the load tester.

Take it to you local parts store and have it checked.