Battery Charger issues

Well I got up this morning at 2:40am, left the house by 3am so I could be at the ramp on Barkley Lake at 5. Hooked the boat to my truck, and un-hooked the extension chords to my battery chargers. The Marinco 2 bank charger had the all green ready to go light, needless to say made it to Barkley and after 1 hour of fishing I noticed the trolling motor was slowing down to a crawl, this cut my plans of fishing so had to pack up and head home. When I finally made back home I plugged the charger back in and it’s showing the green and ready to go light, so I checked the voltage at the batteries and it’s not charging. I looked at the fuses and they appeared to be okay. Has anyone had issues like this? And is it possible a 2 year old Marinco charger is bad


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It could be the charger but I would have the battery load tested first.

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Originally Posted by Barnacle Bill

It could be the charger but I would have the battery load tested first.

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Well i had my batteries load tested and there bad. I purchased two new batteries to replace them. Without the batteries installed i plugged in my Marinco 2 bank charger and i don't get any voltage coming to the leads? I am assuming i should be reading 11.8 volts like i get on my minn kota single bank charger for my cranking battery. Is it normal for chargers to go bad?

Go open the hood of your truck --- Check the battery voltage It is probably 12.5 volts -- Now crank the truck and recheck the volts -- you will see 14 to 15 Volts supplied.. by the Alternator. A charger has to have a higher voltage to push current through the battery.. If it only has 11.5 v it will never fully charge a battery and lead to battery Failure. There have been Tons of Batteries replaced that were not Bad --- A Load test is for a fully Charged Battery -- If it is not fully Charged it will always Test Bad. Lots of Salesmen don't know squat about Electricity or how things work.

Another thought - I have a 25 HP tohatsu I thought was not Charging the Battery when Running as it did not Read voltage to the Battery --- Come to find out on the Mechanics corner Of CDC you have to have a special meter that reads peak voltage.. It has such a small increase in voltage you hardly notice it -- Like .2

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Originally Posted by Fish on Line

- A Load test is for a fully Charged Battery -- If it is not fully Charged it will always Test Bad.

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You cannot fully charge a bad battery

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Originally Posted by Fish on Line

Another thought - I have a 25 HP tohatsu I thought was not Charging the Battery when Running as it did not Read voltage to the Battery --- Come to find out on the Mechanics corner Of CDC you have to have a special meter that reads peak voltage.. It has such a small increase in voltage you hardly notice it -- Like .2

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That special meter is called a DVA and is only needed to check the output of the stator and power pack/switchbox. Voltage at the battery can be read with any DC meter. Even the little cheapos.

Okay here’s what my meter reads,my cranking battery on back of the boat wired and connected to minn Kota digital charger while charging between 13.2 -14.1 volts DC, if I unhook the minn Kota charger from the battery and check the voltage coming from that charger it reads 11.8 volts DC. So this tells me that if the charger is plugged in it’s sending voltage to the battery to either charge or maintain, now on the front of my boat with the brand new trolling batteries the read 12.5 volts DC , so I hook them up to the Marinco charger and they still read 12.5 Volts absolutely no difference, the Marinco light is lit green telling me it’s ready. So it’s definitely not sending any voltage to these batteries trying to maintain the current level. I’m assuming the Marinco charger is bad also?


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Bad charger may have been the reason your batteries went bad. You should definitely read more than 12.5 V with the charger hooked up to the battery and plugged in.

I would get on the phone to marineco and talk to their tech people. I can see your unit going bad but showing green lights says your getting power to part of the circuit boards and getting green and both banks not charging is odd for a dual bank charger. Normally you will just lose 1 bank and get a steady charging light. Might get lucky and they might help you out. One thing I would do is replace fuses just for grin's.

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Originally Posted by Cray

I would get on the phone to marineco and talk to their tech people. I can see your unit going bad but showing green lights says your getting power to part of the circuit boards and getting green and both banks not charging is odd for a dual bank charger. Normally you will just lose 1 bank and get a steady charging light. Might get lucky and they might help you out. One thing I would do is replace fuses just for grin's.

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yep sometimes you can't tell they're bad with a magnifying glass

If you're not getting any voltage to the leads of the charger, the charger is either bad, or the fuses are blown. It's pretty much that simple. With the "green light" on, the charger probably thinks the batteries are charged and is not putting out any voltage. Unless there is a way to reset the "brain" to where it's reading the battery voltage, then it's probably a goner.

Test the fuses with a test light.

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Originally Posted by Mike58

Well I got up this morning at 2:40am, left the house by 3am so I could be at the ramp on Barkley Lake at 5. Hooked the boat to my truck, and un-hooked the extension chords to my battery chargers. The Marinco 2 bank charger had the all green ready to go light, needless to say made it to Barkley and after 1 hour of fishing I noticed the trolling motor was slowing down to a crawl, this cut my plans of fishing so had to pack up and head home. When I finally made back home I plugged the charger back in and it’s showing the green and ready to go light, so I checked the voltage at the batteries and it’s not charging. I looked at the fuses and they appeared to be okay. Has anyone had issues like this? And is it possible a 2 year old Marinco charger is bad


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NEVER just look at a fuse !!!! ALWAYS check the fuse with a meter and make sure you got continuity and the fuse is good !!!

Thank You for all the post! Update I checked the continuity of fuses and there fine, I’ve attempted to contact Marinco twice and they transfer you to a third party company voice recording to leave message for their charger. So I plan to replace the charger also, but Before I purchase another 2 bank, im considering adding another battery to separate my cranking battery from my Electronic’s, im stuck with this decision because of logistics, currently all the extra wires and fuse blocks for my electronics is ran to the rear, would love to figure out a way to install it back there, but if pushed comes to shove I could eat away at my front storage and re route all the wires, but that seems like more of a challenge! Any thoughts from you guys?
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Why not install a 3 bank charger if you need a new one?

D currently have a 2 bank charger on the front ( which is bad) if I have to put the third battery in the other front storage area I will go with a three instead of a 2, just trying to figure a way to install another battery in the back which is on a separate charger


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Replace your existing cranking battery with one of these and you won't have any problems.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/marine...-also-viewed:1

And if you could get one in the 31 would be even better.

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Originally Posted by Cray

Replace your existing cranking battery with one of these and you won't have any problems.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/marine...-also-viewed:1

And if you could get one in the 31 would be even better.

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Is this what you use Cray?


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Originally Posted by Mike58

Is this what you use Cray?


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No, Mike I have no room in my boat. I am running an Exide group 24 deep cycle because it's all I can fit but it does a good job running a 998, helix7, airing or pump and my 12 volt marine metals air pump. All of which run from time I get in boat until it hits the trailer. But I did a lot of research on batteries for a friend that had problems cranking a 250 merc and running his electronics. Found that battery in the 31 was most powerful you could get at a reasonable price. It has held up great in his application. That 27 should have more than enough power to crank your big motor and enough reserve capacity to power all your electronic stuff. And I'm just guessing here and make this recommendation because I figure you have a problem thus the reason for adding another battery.

That big ol pretty Lund doesn't have room for 3 batteries in the rear compartment?

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Originally Posted by FurFlyin

That big ol pretty Lund doesn't have room for 3 batteries in the rear compartment?

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Lol, no I sure wish it did! [emoji367]


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Okay it’s been a few weeks so I wanted to update what I have done, I have decided to try Cray’s idea of replacement of my group 24 cranking battery with a group 27 Duracell, gonna give that a shot because it’s gotta a lot more reserves for the electronics
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Secondly I purchased a new charger for my trolling batteries only to learn it’s much bigger than the failed marinco
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It would not fit where the marinco did, I would not be able to get the batteries out unless the charger was removed first. So I decided to purchase some aluminum and make mounting baffle off to the side of the batteries in the same storage area
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I think I’m ready to get back out on the water! Thanks for everyone’s advice and responses! I’ll keep you posted if the bigger battery helps with the electronics


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Fished for 6 hours this weekend had the Humminbirds going the whole time, cranked the big motor up and no issues, the bigger group 27 battery did the trick! Thanks Cray


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You will be happier with the new setup -- you might pull crank baits now