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#1
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Bad onboard charger... or what?
Here is my situation:
I have a 3 bank onboard battery charger. Batteries only a couple of years old. When I plug in the charger, I read that my cranking battery is "green" and my trolling batteries need some juice... so I leave it plugged in. In morning, all indicator lights on charger are "green", or indicating fully charged. I go to start the engine, and nothing... no horn, cannot raise/lower engine, just dead. I put a 12 volt test light on battery and it says dead...but trolling motors all light up the test light, so I figure I have a dead battery and replace it. New battery lights up test light, and when I put it in the boat, boat starts great and the charger shows that it is "green" (fully charged) Question 1: If cranking battery was dead, why was charger indicating full charge? Then, for giggles, I take old battery and put a stand alone battery charger on it...and it takes the charge, and when I put a test light on this old re-charged battery, it lights up test light. Now I am thinking that maybe I bought a new battery when really, I have a charger problem, and not a battery problem. Question 2: How can I test the charger to see if in fact it is putting out a charge on my cranking battery? I am not an electrical engineer...so complicated answers with lots of testing equipment is not an option. I have to figure out if I need to buy a new charger or not... Thanks! BAM |
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#2
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battery
I had the same problem yesterday. Green light on charger, reads 12.8 on the tester, won't turn over the motor. I took the battery to the shop for a "load test". Battery was dead. A load test at a battery shop is the only true way to determine if it's good or bad. Good luck.
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#3
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In order to find out if your charger is actually working or not you'll need a volt meter instead of a test light. Before plugging in charger, check voltage on battery in question. It should read somewhere in the vicinity of 12.2 - 12.8 volts. Now, plug in charger, and if charger is working properly, voltage should read (at the battery in question) somewhere in the vicinity of 13.8 - 14.2 volts. If you see no voltage increase from prior to plugging in charger to plugging in charger in all likelihood that bank of the charger is bad.
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Lowrance Simrad PowerPole |
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#4
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If the use of a voltmeter scares you, pick up a simple digital unit that fits your cigarette lighter, and take note of the readouts. Like Hawker mentioned, there will be 1 reading for a no-running, not plugged in situation, a higher reading when the charger is plugged in, and a high reading when the outboard is running, and the alternator is charging the starting battery.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-24V-Digi...753769&vxp=mtr HRG
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"I've got a car with a trailer hitch, and a pocket full of money. Do you want to sell that boat today, or not?" My Mentor, Bill Michalek, circa 1975 |
#5
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A few years ago I had a similar problem, turned out the inline fuse to that battery was burned, light showed fully charged.
Bill |
#6
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Buy one of these:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...6099_200456099 After taking the batteries off charge, put the load tester - individually on each battery. This tester puts 125 amp load on the battery and you should be able to maintain your 12.6 for a bit with that load on the battery. Be safe |
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battery , charger |
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