Help! batteries won't take a charge

[bill brown(Ind)]

Just got my boat back from dealer..they did work on my trollin motor..electric start with Panther lift etc. My problem now is the batteries run down(boat just sat in garage) and they won't take a charge. I have 3 new batteries & an on board 3 bank charger..the lights to the charger come on indicating batt. are down, but after 3 hrs nothing! Horn won't work, LMS won't even come on etc. Where do I look first...thanks..Bill

[Jim Carroll]

Bill- Take a manual battery charger and hook it up to your batteries for a few minutes. Many onboard chargers will not charge a battery that is completely dead. Snip from CSI website_

3. When I plug my CSI charger in to begin charging my batteries, the red
lights will not turn on but the unit has a slight hum to it. It has been a
long time since I last used the charger. Is there a problem with the
charger or my batteries?

No, if batteries are left for extended periods of time without being
charged, the voltage of the batteries will continually fall. If your CSI
charger observes abnormally low voltage on one or all of your batteries,
it will not allow itself to charge until the voltage is raised by another
means. The easiest way to do this is by using a basic manual charger for
a short amount of time while leaving the CSI charger connected to the
batteries and plugged in.

Try that. Good luck

[Chairman]

I agree with Jim C. If you dont have a regular charger, take them to a service station and ask them to charge them for a while. That should do the trick. Check the water and make sure it is at the proper level after using the big charger.
Chairman
NPAA #6

[TimnIowa]

Been there done that, the other two responses are correct. the on board battery charger will not charge dead Batteries.

[Rod Holder]

Hi Bill, Have not heard from you since back in the spring of 2001. Hope 2001 was kind to you in the realm of 'eye fishing. My brother, Winner Z880, and I did quite well. I pulled a 5-12 from Monroe in May. Anyway, your batteries: even if they are new, you could have one develop a bad cell and if it is hooked in parallel with any others, all go down. It these are in series, it is probably the inability of the onboard to charge completely dead batteries. Take them out and try each individually with an automatic deep cycle charger. You'll either bring them back up or find the bad one.
BTW, I'm doing pretty well for being in the ranks of the unemployed for the past couple weeks. LTV Steel went belly up, most lost their jobs on Black Monday, 10th of Dec, 2001. I lasted until Jan 31, 2002. Now waiting to see who might buy the facility and want to bring the hot mill back into production (They'd need me) In the meantime, you'd think I could get some fishing done. No job, no mon, no fun, no fishing. Bummer! tallmike00@attbi.com

[electro]

Check any breakers that you may have in your boat. One may be flipped off. Your dealer may have switched the breaker off when working on your boat.

[Mikey 724]

Bill -- one thing to consider -- ( pulled this one on myself a few times) -- your batteries are rated in amp-hours... that really means that you won't charge them in a few hours...example: 650 AH battery being charged @ 5 amps = a LONG time before it can do what it was designed to do!!! Simple math my friend, but DO get yourself a hydrometer to check each cell at the same time -- cheap tool, easy to use, doesn't lie a lot, and lets' you know if you have a fully charged battery...

Use a net on the big ones...

[fishy1]

Before and after youve done what every body elsr has written to do check to make sure you have good grounds on everything without good grounds you have nothing..