8 batteries and counting

I am wondering if anyone else is having a similar problem.. I have a 4 bank charger on my 2013 Puma FTD (Noco Genius), and I think it may be eating my batteries. The batteries deliver great performance for about 2-3 hrs, and then they drop off a cliff. The batteries are 31 series wet cell lead acid batteries brand "X". When the batteries start to fade I can put a volt meter on them while drawing with the trolling motor, and I am seeing 8.5 volts, by the days end I am seeing 1.05 - 1.15 volts. The charger shows them fully charged after an over-night plug in, and the volt meter shows 13+ volts (after the over-night charge), yet they fall off after 2-3 hrs of fishing.. Had a single bank that reverse charged a few years back with a 4 bank charger, and I am starting to suspect the same here.. I have the 36V trolling system connected to a lester right now, with the crank connected to a single 12 V charge.. I know they will come back, and test OK, because I had the original 4 batteries tested prior to putting this next 4 in.. I am stumped, and totally frustrated as this has been ongoing since June when I got the boat.. Any insight would be great. Last edited by ChrisB250 on September 21st, 2013, 10:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.

This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by ChrisB250.

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September 22, 2013 at 4:45 am #274881

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

A significant number of batteries are sub standard, though we cant say ours are. Charge them up and after sitting 30 minutes see how many volts they have. If they are not 12.8 after sitting static and unloaded, then they are faulty or not charging. Check the voltage at the battery with the charger plugged into determine if they are charging. Faulty batteries will not allow the charger to work properly and thus we feel you have some technical research to perform. Incoming voltage, time to discharge once charged, voltage sitting static and more.

September 22, 2013 at 12:22 pm #274882

Deep Structure
Participant

8 new batteries on a 13 boat- doesnt sound right . It might be the charger you need to check , all because it is new doesnt mean its perfect .

September 22, 2013 at 3:55 pm #274883

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

The batteries are static at 13.2V. I charged with my Lester last night.. I tested the charging voltage of the Noco last night as well, prior to putting the lester on them. The Noco after 2-3 minutes on them was showing a Voltage of 13.55 or so to the 4 batteries. I disconnected the plug the Noco, and put the lester on them, and the volts actually dropped down to 13.15 charging. This morning I plugged the 4 bank back in and it runs up to 13.75V charging. I unplugged it, and re-plugged the Lester to check what the charging voltage was.. It was showing over 15Volts on my meter as charge input voltage.This is the second set of 4 batteries (total of 8 since 6-1-13), all doing the same exact thing which is showing a full charge at the start of the day, and only lasting 3 hrs of so prior to being totally wiped out.When I put a meter on them when they are dispelled with no TM load they show 11.3 or so volts.. Hit the TM when they are dispelled and they drop all the way below 1 VHow does a big lead acid battery, the same as the last 16 or so Ive had the last 6 years completely dispel in 3 hrs but shows a static voltage of 13.2V at the start of the day.I am having a hard time convincing myself that I have gotten 8 batteries new from my dealer, all of which are complete junk.. It seems way to much like a coincidence.I thought maybe the TM wiring was wrong.. Not the case as I show 36 V at the plug.. any one ever had a TM that has some crazy volt or amp draw?Totally puzzled with this.. 2 day TOC with my son on 40 miles of river this coming weekend, and theres no way I can run this system with any confidence..Any more thoughts??

September 22, 2013 at 4:52 pm #274884

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Since you have a Lester charger revert to that for the trolling batteries and see what they do. The voltage drop indicates that the batteries are bad, though could something be causing this? Try to manually charge the cranking and use the Lester a few days to be sure it is the batteries now, then go back to the NOCO and monitor what is happening. Obviously no one can test this system for you and you have bad batteries now, so it can not be evaluated with bad batteries.BCB

September 22, 2013 at 6:29 pm #274885

apdriver
Participant

Just a suggestion. Make sure all those connections are tight. With such a new boat, I wouldnt think you would have any corrosion,but if there is, clean that up. Fully charge those batteries then pull them out and have them load tested (I know, a large PIA). If just one of those batteries are bad in that 36 volt system it will cause major problems for you. The load test is something you cant do with the multimeter and if one of those batteries are bad the load tester should find it. How about your cranking battery, is it holding out after a days fishing?

September 22, 2013 at 11:17 pm #274886

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

Make sure you have a good lead connection when testing.. dont test on the stainless studs..

September 23, 2013 at 12:40 am #274887

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

IF those batteries are falling after the Lester charges them then he has removed the NOCO and the batteries are almost certainly faulty.

September 23, 2013 at 12:55 am #274888

allen embry
Participant

Just a thought, Is it possible that you could have a shorted trolling motor pulling your batteries down quickly, or a wiring issue?

September 23, 2013 at 2:07 am #274889

ChrisB250
Participant

I bought 3 new batteries today. Did i need to do that? Could the batteries re charge after being so badly drawn down? The first 8 came from the same vendor. I suspect the batteries were good, and i have some kind of wierd charging issue. Problem is the only way to find out is to spend another non-recoverable 400 dollars to vet the problem. Does NOCO reimburse for batteries if their charger kills them prematurely? I sure hope so…Ive got over 1400 in batteries since 1st of June this year..
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