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Crusty batt Terminals
A couple of trips ago, I pulled my trolling battery and cleaned the post of the green crusty stuff that builds up. I also replaced all of the terminal ends that attach to it. I was always led to beleave this stuff happens when terminals are loose. So, I tightn'd the wing nuts with channel locks.
My trolling motor quit on me on my last rip. I found the terminals all coroded again. Now I am stumped why this is happening. The cranking battery is right next to it with no problems.
My wife accuses me of not taking suggestions. But, I am open to ideas.
Thanks
DP
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That is often caused by very small cracks in the plastic around the posts. Go to your local auto parts store and get a set of those felt things that go around the posts. That should solve your problem.
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clean them real good then smear them with a good coat of wheel brg grease you can also put grease on the brass end of your light bulbs it will keep them from getting corusion on them
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Check your charger and the state of your batteries.
When a lead acid battery is overcharged, it will off gas some icky stuff and speed up the corrosion problem. You can use dielectric grease. It will seal out the oxygen and keep the corrosion from coming back, but it won't fix a bad battery or charger if that is what is causing your problem.
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If they keep doing it, it's a sign the batteries are damaged from age, jarring or overcharging, and a replacement may be due in the near future.
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Thanks Guys.
All different suggestions I can use.
DP
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I'm going to ditto fishtaco's dielectric grease suggestion. I had same problem & that was suggested to me & it worked.
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I always keep a can of battery terminal spray handy in case I see some corrosion. You can get it at walmart or any parts store. One small squirt and you'll never see the white/green stuff again.
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I think the guys above have the problem nailed. We had some battery problems at work with the same symptoms and it was defective posts seals from the factory. More than likely, if it's corroding quickly it will be from the gases inside the battery leaking somewhere around the post. It was always worse for us in high temp and high charge conditions.
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UPdate....
I used everyone of the suggestions on it. Don't know how it will work out, just did it this last weekend.
The reason I am bringing this back up is because of what else I found....
My electric winch was giving me problems. I had a breaker on it instead of a fuse. I could hear the breaker kicking in and out indicating to me there was a short. I was using a test light to search for the short with the clip attached to the negative side of the battery. Accidently, I discovered I was getting a current between the hull of the boat and the negative side of the battery. Knowing the winch was shorting, I cut the wire to the positive post.
Might not be an epithany to most. But, I have never seen this before. The winch is now in the trash. Now I will have to start taking my wife to operate the aft anchor again.:D
But, Maybe I will get some more time out of the battery when pulling cranks now.
DP
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That happened to a friend of mine and it was the switch that ran the winch that went bad that was causing the problem. Your winch may be OK....get it out of the garbage can and check the switch out. You may just need a new switch.