Thread: battery problem or charger problem

First thing, you need a meter. With it off measure the voltage on battery. Then with charger on it should be reading after a few minutes in the 13-13.5 range. Sometimes if battery is completely dead it could be less than that but you should see a difference between off and on voltage. If that is ok then most likely the battery is bad. If voltage dosnt come up then charger is most likely bad. If charger is working take battery to auto parts store and have it load tested. Have you checked water in battery?

Battery life is measured in charge/discharge cycles, not time. You can easily use up a battery in a year by fishing hard every day.

You can shorten the life significantly if you allow the battery to remain at less than full charge in storage, especially in freezing temperatures.

I had the same problem with my 24v system and cranking system. Thought it was my inboard charger (10 amp). Took the batteries to my Interstate distributor. I had one battery go bad and had to replace with a Walmart unit. Found that I did not have a proper cranking battery for a 90 hp Mercury and not the proper batteries for the trolling motor. Well after $350, problem solved. Units are now showing green in the morning. I would us the TM for 2-6 hours and still had 2-3 bars showing on the batteries. By the way, I spent a lot of time looking for a problem in my wiring, connections, on board charge, etc.. All a waste of time. Should have started at the power source first. Would have saved a lot of time.

By the way, this started a the Crescent Lake tournament in January. The second day my batteries when totally dead at 10:30. Had to be towed in when the wind just calmed down. Could have gone to where I new the fish were.