Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

JB · Jun 9, 2003

I've had an Everstart Extreme dual purpose (start/troll) battery in my Suzuki DF70 powered Boston Whaler Montauk for about 3 years. It has performed well, running the electric positioning motor between starts and never getting low. Several times it has held full charge for months while waiting for JB to come play. About 3 weeks ago, I started her up after sitting for months. Full charge, instant start. Meter read 12.6v with engine off. Then I took her in to my Suzi dealer for routine checkup and maintenance. Saturday I decided on a shakedown cruise in preparation for the annual trek to Canada. Battery was stone cold dead. Meter read 0.5V. After about 24 hours on the charger she appears to have accepted a full charge. Meter is still trickling down the excess "surface charge" from 15volts toward 12.6. Casual inspection shows no loads turned on, no shorts. This is my first experience with a dual purpose battery. What am I missing? Did the dealer kill it? Is there an internal fault? Is there a load that I haven't found? Thanks for your ideas.

Specks n Reds · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

DJ · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

JB, I would be curious to see how the battery held up under a load test. The voltage may look OK, but that can fool you. The trip to the dealer may have just been enough to break loose something inside, that was on the verge.

JB · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Thanks, guys. I put a stoplight bulb across the terminals (about 4 amp, I think) for 4 hours with no drop in voltage. I really don't want to chance a battery failure in the Ontario wilds, but I hate to fish out $60 or so uselessly. The warranty ran out in January. I will take DJ's advice and take it to WalMart for a load test.

David R · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Hi JB I've solar panels and lead-acid batteries at the cabin for lighting. Running for about 12 years now with a couple of batteries retired. If a cell goes bad (short, contamination, etc.) You'll never get a full charge. The voltage of the battery will always be normal minus 1.25 to 1.5 volts. If the plates are gone then you'll get full charge, but no current for a loading. A load test is always a good idea on an aging battery or suspect battery. However to run a battery down to 0.5 volts a load is required for an extended period. It seems more likely that at the dealer something happened, accidentally. On my Crestliner one of the toggle switches used to be active in the down position. I've since changed that after finding "anchor" lights on in the middle of the day. I dought you'll see the problem again. You could buy a extra battery while you're up here, your dollar is still buying 30% more. David O'Rourke

buttonhook · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

soounds like they left something on and run it down or they used your battery to try and start a motor or something I have a dual purpose battery and It takes several days of full use to run mine down and I run 2 depth finders radio light gauges everything but trolling motor off of mine. How long was it at the dealer???

JB · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Well, the Wal-Mart machine says it is a good battery. 875 CCA. They had nothing to gain by blowing smoke at me because it is out of warranty. Preferring to err on the side of caution, I bought a new one and will keep this one as a spare. ($60? Hah! Try $75)

Now I need to prove what, or nothing, in the boat killed it in the first place. Where's my multimeter and snake light? Time for detailed troubleshooting. Sure wish it was 20* cooler.

buttonhook · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

jb, it sounds like your shop might have bumped something on and it ran the battery down. I bought 2 batterys and bass pro shops 1 deep cycle and one dual purpose for around $100

roscoe · Jun 9, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Well JB, it was a lot cooler where I was last week, about 150 miles east of your LOTW destination. We had ice in some of the boats in the morning. That turned the fish off for a few days, but soon it was back in the 60's, 70's and 80's and we had fun with the walleyes, northern, and whitefish. No real wall hangers, and most of the northerns fell in the slot. So lots of action but we were forced to eat only walleyes.

Bob_VT · Jun 10, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

JB, just a thought but something drained the battery. I would check for a short and just do the basic troubleshooting and electrical circuit cleaning. Best of luck on the trip. Bob

Solittle · Jun 10, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Just bought one of these - May not help you now but down the road - - http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?c=batteryminder

JB · Jun 10, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Thanks, SoLittle. I have an uninstalled automatic charger/minder. Will be installed soon, but must be plugged in to 115VAC to be useful. Meanwhile, I have changed the picture of the problem. All hot lines that connect to the + side of the battery measured infinite ohms to ground. No short, nothing left on. Installed the new battery. Let it sit a few hours. Still at full charge. Put on the muffs, turned on the hose and hit the starter. Nothing.

Not even a click from the solenoid or a twitch of the voltmeter.

Back to the Service Manual.

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment.

ob1jeeper · Jun 10, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

JB, I'd be for taking a REAL HARD look-see at the starter switch, and starter solenoid circuits. If the starter switch had or did malfunction before or during the visit to the dealer (or possibly been accidently left on too long), that could explain BOTH the dead battery, and your sometimes there and sometimes not "ghost" problem. Let us know what you find, and Good Luck with BOTH the boat AND the fishin'!! Obiwan

BigD · Jun 11, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

JB You probably checked this idea out but this is what happened to me when motor would not turn over and the power trim failed to operate. Mechanic said to check the battery ground to the engine. Sure enough the connection to the motor was corroded and I rung the bolt off trying to get it off. After cleaning the conection I grounded it to another bolt and have not had any starting problems since. Also it turns over twice as fast as it has since I've had this boat. (3 years, used) Good Luck, Dennis

JB · Jun 11, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Well, next chapter: My Service Manual only covers up to 2000 models, mine is a 2001. Diagram shows a 30A fuse between the batt side of the solenoid and the ECM, ign/start switch, and other stuff. On the 2001 it is a circuit breaker between the start switch and the Solenoid. Found it, reset it and she started right up.

Now all I need to do is figure out what killed the battery in the first place.

JB · Jun 21, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Well, she sat for a couple of weeks now. This morning the battery is still at full charge and she started right up. I still have no idea what happened. My best guess is that something happened at the dealership and that whatever it was is now corrected. Wish me luck, guys. Leaving for LOTW on Thursday.

Andrew Leigh · Jun 21, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Hello JB, I have the same problem on my tow vehicle which stays unused for much of the time. After much browsing I came across a really good site that deals with batteries, their care and problems. My problem is that although I have no dead shorts I have a current drain of 350 milliamps (alarm system, vehicle clocks etc). On a 70 Ah battery this would equate to 200 hours or a little over 8 days. They say that light cycling, anything over 200mA is bad news and causes sulfation. Initially this problem is not apparent then one day the "wheels suddenly fall of" and no battery. Take you multimeter and measure your current drain. The bottom line is to keep the battery in a state of charge. Battery FAQ Cheers Andrew

vegard · Jun 22, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

to find out for sure whether something is draining your battery, you can disconnect a lead, and put an ammeter in there and see if any power is being drawn.

JB · Jun 22, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

Thanks for the tip, Vegard. What I did was disconnect all power leads and measure resistance to ground on each one. Same result. zero drain.

SeaMasterZ@aol.com · Jun 24, 2003

Re: Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

OMG, a chance to help JB out, wild ... hmmm, hope this helps ... Hi JB, I have an idea, do you have Perko or equivalent main power switches installed, batt A batt B , both and off? if you keep her in the water, thats kind of tough to leave the batts OFF, gotta keep the bilge going, but my seacraft has dual batteries, one start, one deep cycle, and they are connected to a heavy duty rotary switch capapble of handling full batt amperage A, B, Both, OFF always best to check your shorts at ohm! of course, it would help explain to the little lady wire you insulate (say it a few times, lol) good luck! A tip from my car mekannickin days ... I would put the ampmeter between the ground strap and the battery, then start yanking fuses til I found the one that had the drain in it - after checking to make sure the rectifier bridge was ok (this was back in the day, lol)

Do I have a battery problem, a boat problem, or what?

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