On Board Charger

HogWild · December 13, 2013, 07:33:15 PM

Alright fellas, tonight I went to plug in my boat to charge the batteries and noticed that only one of the lights on the 3 bank charger came on. It started out red, but is now green, so obviously that one is good. I'm not going to dig into it until later this weekend or next week, but I'm hoping someone has some insight. I haven't had it out in a few weeks, but I put it on the charger every weekend for a couple hours to charge it back up. Here are my thoughts/questions...

Possibly bad on board charger? (Don't think this is is because one light is still working.)
Possible bad lights on charger.
Possible 2 bad batteries.
Possible bad connection/fuse/wiring somewhere.

Again, I haven't really dug into it yet. I will test the batteries to see if they are still good, and make sure my in line fuses and connections are good. I will get a hold of a multimeter and check for power. Does this sound like a good route to take? Has anyone ever had this happen? Are there any volunteers to come over and fix it for me, lol

BassmanRudy · December 13, 2013, 07:38:15 PM

I would check those in-line fuses on the other leads Justin. They might have blown. Odd to have 2 of em but that's the quickest option.

BassBUFF · December 13, 2013, 10:05:06 PM

You're on the right track. Could be connections, fuse, bad charger, bad batteries, or bad extension cord. Try the cord first. Sometimes they will drop too much voltage for the charger to work correctly. Regardless, you'll need a meter to properly t-shoot the issue.

Russ199A · December 14, 2013, 07:09:22 AM

Quote from: HogWild on December 13, 2013, 07:33:15 PM
Alright fellas, tonight I went to plug in my boat to charge the batteries and noticed that only one of the lights on the 3 bank charger came on. It started out red, but is now green, so obviously that one is good. I'm not going to dig into it until later this weekend or next week, but I'm hoping someone has some insight. I haven't had it out in a few weeks, but I put it on the charger every weekend for a couple hours to charge it back up. Here are my thoughts/questions...

Possibly bad on board charger? (Don't think this is is because one light is still working.)
Possible bad lights on charger.
Possible 2 bad batteries.
Possible bad connection/fuse/wiring somewhere.

Again, I haven't really dug into it yet. I will test the batteries to see if they are still good, and make sure my in line fuses and connections are good. I will get a hold of a multimeter and check for power. Does this sound like a good route to take? Has anyone ever had this happen? Are there any volunteers to come over and fix it for me, lol

I have a simple multi meter here at the house and if you need a hand I'd be glad to help. You have my number and know where I live.

HogWild · December 14, 2013, 03:14:38 PM

Alright, cord didn't work...man that would have been too easy. Russ, I'll try to hit you up maybe tomorrow or sometime later in the week. Sarah is having surgery next week, so if I don't get to it tomorrow morning, it will be a few days before I can. Thanks for all the help, and keep the suggestions coming!

BassBUFF · December 14, 2013, 11:49:16 PM

I've got one too so if you can't hook up with Russ give me a call. Hope everything ok with the surgery. Let us know if you need anything.

Brocksdad1 · December 15, 2013, 01:18:47 AM

Ok maybe stupid question. I suppose your bats are hooked up to your boats entire system and not disconnected.

I'm not up on onboard chargers.

But if they are hooked up and low, sound like a low constant draw draining your batteries.

Don't kill me if this is totally off base. I'm a heavy equipment mech not a boat tech. Lol

Bryce

HogWild · December 16, 2013, 05:47:13 PM

Update:

Batteries check good, and plenty of water in them. All terminals are clean and have good contact. All inline fuses are good to go. Russ or Steve I will try to hook up with you in the next day or two to try that multimeter. I plan on checking the voltage of the two trolling motor batteries prior to plugging in the charger...Charge for 4 hours, then check voltage again. If they have improved, I know its just the lights on my charger. If the voltage doesn't go up, it looks like it will be the charger, or some wiriing within it that I haven't found yet. It's just weird that the charger shows my cranking battery as charging. I guess it's possible for 2 of the 3 banks to mess up...

BassBUFF · December 16, 2013, 06:14:07 PM

I've got a Dr appt tomorrow then have to t-shoot daughter's car so it'll be Wed before I can look at it. Which charger is on your boat? Noco? I can't remember.

Russ199A · December 16, 2013, 06:17:31 PM

Your headed in the right direction.
We may need to use Steve's multi-meter, mine got corrosion in it and I broke a contact.
Whenever you are ready we'll give it a look.
Hope things go good for your Wife's surgery.

HogWild · December 16, 2013, 06:31:47 PM

Steve, yeah later this week works best for me too. Wife won't be out of the hospital until tomorrow. I spoke with Russ tonight, we will get it figured out. I'm not at home, so I'm not sure the exact charger. It's the same one that Russ put on it, so he might remember.

oldjim · December 16, 2013, 06:50:22 PM

Should be putting out 14.4 volts when charging, 12.5 when charged, best checked 2hrs after stopping charge.
Oldjim

BassBUFF · December 16, 2013, 09:54:11 PM

Sounds good. Hope everything went well! Just give me a call when you're ready. I've got a couple meters if you need one sooner.

HogWild · December 18, 2013, 04:31:28 PM

Now the troubleshooting process starts getting good...

Thanks to a co-worker I got a multimeter today. Thanks to BassmanRudy I got a new charger to slave in and ops ck. I get home and ck voltage on the batteries. They are all between 8 and 9. I plug them in and ck voltage, same reading. Within a few minutes all the lights on the charger come on, so I recheck voltage. All batteries were close to 12

...so what I have learned is...absolutely nothing!

I guess for now I am good to go, but I have a feeling this isn't the last time I will have this battle...

BassBUFF · December 18, 2013, 04:44:02 PM

If your batteries are that low then they are bad. Charger should be putting out 13.5-14.5Vdc when charging. If the charger is plugged in and only reading 12v then something is amiss. Give me a call if you need to.

HogWild · December 18, 2013, 04:52:23 PM

All lights are still green. Hooked up crankin battery is showing 13.4. Hooked up trolling batteries are showing 12.6. Should I hook hook them up to an external charger and get a deeper charge? I took the batteries to Kriger (sp) Batteries the other day and he put them through all the tests and called them good.

Princeton_Man · December 18, 2013, 05:38:46 PM

If you've eliminated the inline fuses and connections, and tested the batteries out of circuit (with everything disconnected) and gotten at least 12.5 volts on all of them, I'd say things point to the charger. With the newer electronic chargers they may not even apply a charge if they don't sense a battery so it's hard to say if you can measure a voltage on any particular bank from the charger. My guess would be a bad charger.

BassBUFF · December 18, 2013, 06:53:11 PM

I think Princeton man is right. Unplug the charger and measure the batteries after a few minutes. They should read 12.5 or better.

Russ199A · December 18, 2013, 10:34:14 PM

If the batteries were 8-9 volts then after charger was plugged in they read 12 volts then the charger should be working fine. I'm going with bad batteries. Same thing on the boat I have now, charger wouldn't come on to charge the batteries but I replaced the cranking and trolling batteries, charger came on to top them off, lights went green and haven't had any issues since.
When I took the batteries to Wal-Mart and had them put them on there tester they said they were low but good. What I didn't tell them was that I pulled the batteries and put them on a 2 amp charger for 2 days (nothing) then 10 amps for a day and they read 10.5 volts but wouldn't handle a load.
On a side note I bought a new Multi-meter today...Christmas present to myself.

Elwood · December 19, 2013, 12:57:11 PM

Alot of times if you have drained the batteries below a certain voltage the charger will not charge them and discharging a lead acid battery below 10.5 volts will severely damage it! You stated that you only had 8-9 volts on them prior to the charger working again. Minn Kota chargers will not charge a battery that has dropped below 4 volts.....not sure if yours is any different.
Here is some good info on batteries

http://www.progressivedyn.com/battery_basics.html

What kind of charger do you have? Take the leads off the batteries and plug it in and check the voltage...should be above 14 volts....if you are gettting that then your batteries are bad. If not your charger is bad and you may have damaged your batteries.

Russ199A · December 19, 2013, 05:57:40 PM

All good info...however the chargers that Legend uses have some battery sensor so the charger won't supply voltage unless it detects a battery. That was the first thing I tried a few years back and got educated by Lou.
I know that the early chargers said Legend on them but they switched brands and I don't have my boat here to look at but I know it doesn't say Legend on it. Either way I think we're arriving at the same point.

HogWild · December 19, 2013, 06:24:06 PM

Since yesterday all lights are green on the charger, and all batteries read above 12.5 V. I am just gonna have to take it out Sunday and see what happens when I get it home. I just find it hard to believe that the batteries are bad, since I had them fully tested at Krigers. Also, now that all of the lights are on the charger, I find it hard to believe it is bad. Could it have possibly just been a temporary light issue on the charger? I guess I will see more this weekend when I run the batteries down and go from there. I just need to be 100% GTG by the BTT on Campti on the 19th of Jan. I appreciate all of the help everyone has given. Russ, on your way home tomorrow night stop by and we can have a drink

Princeton_Man · December 19, 2013, 06:37:58 PM

Quote from: HogWild on December 19, 2013, 06:24:06 PM
Since yesterday all lights are green on the charger, and all batteries read above 12.5 V. I am just gonna have to take it out Sunday and see what happens when I get it home. I just find it hard to believe that the batteries are bad, since I had them fully tested at Krigers. Also, now that all of the lights are on the charger, I find it hard to believe it is bad. Could it have possibly just been a temporary light issue on the charger? I guess I will see more this weekend when I run the batteries down and go from there. I just need to be 100% GTG by the BTT on Campti on the 19th of Jan. I appreciate all of the help everyone has given. Russ, on your way home tomorrow night stop by and we can have a drink

Nothing you can do for the moment except watch it and maybe keep notes. One thing that's really different here in our area is temperature. We've warmed up 25 degrees or more today. Cold temps can ID a failing battery better than any tester. The other thing temperature changes can do is ID a failing electronic component or electrical connection. Pay attention to temperatures if the lights quit again. It's possible you just had some corrosion on connections somewhere. Good luck. -Jim

oldjim · December 19, 2013, 07:21:53 PM

If you want to know if a bettery is bad and a load test is ok get a hydrometer and check acid level in each cell. You can get an inexpensive on at auto supply stores.
Oldjim

Russ199A · December 19, 2013, 09:46:18 PM

Will do Justin.

That's good info Jim.