Another Battery Question

[Blaugrana]

All - I am trying to figure out if I have a short or a bad battery.

My 2nd battery was dead when I received the boat in the fall. I charged it up, got it tested and the store said it was a good battery.

Fast forward to this week and using it for the first time, it won’t start or even turn on the gauges when I turn the key. I am able to get my engine running when I use my first battery and then can switch to the 2nd battery. When I touch the motor trim, my gauges flash. When I touch the trip consecutively, the engine turns off.

Tested the battery again and it comes back as a good battery.

Anybody experience this? Should I just get a new battery? Try putting my bad battery where the good one is to see if it works?

 

[Lite Tackle]

Study up on quantum physics and a professor will be along shortly. That being said, I may have a few questions for the professors this weekend when I’m still chasing a short.

Sound like a dead battery to me. Have you put a good charge on it. What’s the voltage of battery two now? Don’t run motor on it until issues resolved.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

The battery may be good in that the plates are not dropped and there is no internal short. The problem with smart chargers is that they actually have a charge range say 8 or 9 volts to 14 volts. When the voltage drops out of the lower end the smart chargers sometimes are to darn smart and won't charge a low voltage battery because low voltage is often a sign of an internal short. So, the engineers program it to not charge the dang thing to keep us all from blowing ourselves up with trying to force a charge on a battery with an internal short.

So, the battery may well be good. Put a multimeter on it and get the voltage and try to find a conventional charger and hook it up. Severe voltage drops and spikes can and do cause damages to electronics and motors like your trim motor.

Good luck .

 

[Blaugrana]

Thanks...Definitely not making any sense. Tested today as a good battery.

Think this test result can be trusted? Was looking to buy another interstate but can’t find them nearby...Dicks doesn’t allow online purchase, Costco’s stock is 2yrs old...

 

[Lite Tackle]

Do you have a voltmeter?

 

[Blaugrana]

I don’t but can use my friends. Per the test, it’s reading 12.6v but 643CCA for a 550CCA rating

 

[Lite Tackle]

I don’t but can use my friends. Per the test, it’s reading 12.6v but 643CCA for a 550CCA rating

It was at the store. It would be good to know what you have in the boat. I assume, less than 11V if it wont start the motor and a little additional draw kills the motor.

 

[SkunkBoat]

First things first. remove battery . charge battery. connect battery pos and neg to motor without any switches or anything else.
If that works..... battery good. switches/connections bad.

I would bet on a bad connection or a bad battery switch ...

 

[Blaugrana]

Ok...I’ll give that a try.

Battery seemed completely dead in the boat as I couldn’t get any gauges or electronics to turn on prior to attempting to start the engine. Then seeing the test result at the store completely confused me as I can’t see how it could have recovered within 18 hrs

 

[Fishtales]

can test ok but not hold a charge over time or conditions. if over 3 years just get a new one is what I would do.

 

[wrxhoon]

Have you checked the connections to the battery/ Are they spotless clean? A bad connection will do that.

 

[drbatts]

You said you have 2 batteries, so just try switching them and see if the problem occurs with both batteries. While your doing this check the fuse from the onboard charger to the battery. If the other battery works fine, then replace the battery in question.

Or just replace the battery in question. The lowest hanging fruit scenario.

 

[Blaugrana]

Thanks for all the feedback. My plan is to go through the list tomorrow and see what the issue is.

 

[Halfhitch]

You need to do a load test of your battery cables. Sounds like what I experienced when one of my cables had corroded inside the insulation. I finally hooked my load tester on the far end of the cables and within less than 5 seconds one cable was smoking and melting the insulation at a low point in the cable. If your cables are years old and have been around saltwater, I suggest you test them.

 

[seasick]

I would assume that a load test was done when you had the battery checked out.
Here is my suggestion for a somewhat simple test.
Mark and note all the connections at the red (positive) terminal on the good battery. Do the same for the 'bad battery.
Now swap the cables the positive cables that were on battery one over to battery two and visa versa.
Do you tests again. If the original bad battery is still bad, it is probably shot. If the original bad battery is now good and original good battery is bad, then you have a wiring issue.
While you are at it, make sure there is a black heavy jumper cable connecting batter 1 to battery 2.

 

[Blaugrana]

Problem solved....

Unfortunately, I bought a new battery this morning to then learn it was not a battery problem. Turns out that even though the 2nd battery had two connectors, the crossover to the 1st battery was not connected. It was hidden behind a bunch of cables running around.

Lesson learned moving forward if this ever happens again. Such a simple fix

thanks everyone for your feedback, just purchased a multimeter for future issues.

 

[Sparkdog118]

Nice. I always tie strap all positive and all negative connectors together when I remove a battery so I don’t miss any wires or cross anything when I reinstall the battery.

 

[seasick]

Problem solved....

Unfortunately, I bought a new battery this morning to then learn it was not a battery problem. Turns out that even though the 2nd battery had two connectors, the crossover to the 1st battery was not connected. It was hidden behind a bunch of cables running around.

Lesson learned moving forward if this ever happens again. Such a simple fix

thanks everyone for your feedback, just purchased a multimeter for future issues.

You would be surprised how many times that cable gets left off. When folks have similar issues as yours, I usually ask if the batteries were recently removed or replaced. more than half the time that jumper is missed

 

[Parthery]

I’ve done it too.

I do what Sparkdog does now - grab a long zip tie and thread it through each lug as you remove them. When you get ready to reinstall, they will all be together so you don’t inadvertently miss one

 

[Blaugrana]

Crazy how everything comes full circle. I remember seeing a random battery cable when I bought the boat but just left it as I figured I would address it when I took both batteries out. Ended up leaving that one in and focused my attention on the 2nd one since it was dead.

when I winterize this year, everything will be zip tied for sure.