Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

[rdgallo]

I just installed one of these new chargers in my Ranger 375V and think it is not working correctly. I have a combination starting/deep cycle battery and two deep cycle trolling motor batteries. I have hooked up everything correctly. After 10 hours, the battery charger still shows the batteries charging (they were almost fully charged when I started). The charger is also very hot (too hot to hold your hand on). I hooked up my Schumaker charger and it shows all three batteries fully charged. Do you think I just got a bad charger from BassPro? or do you think I did something wrong in the installation?

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Does anyone know if the combo deep cycle cranking battery would screw up the charger logic?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

What is the voltage at the batteries when the charger is on?

 

[GatorTom]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Do you have the charging leads marked "starting battery" going to your combo battery? Mixing starting and deep cycle trolling batteries shouldn't affect anything. Mixing batteries of different age can. Lead Acid and AGM batteries can be mixed, but GEL batteries cannot. Make sure your charger is set to the correct charging profile (AGM/Lead Acid or GEL). They are supposed to come from the factory preset to AGM/Lead Acid, but I would check.

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Thanks for the responses. I do have the charger set for lead acid and do have the proper wires going to the starting motor battery. I will have to check the voltage at the batteries as mentioned. I have not done that yet. Any other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, guys!

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

I just checked the voltages (using my cheap Walmart Volt Meter). All three batteries show 12v when the charger is off. With the charger on, the starting motor battery shows 13.5V and both trolling motor batteries show 13V. I can here the water "bubbling" in each of the 3 batteries. I think the charger has something wrong with it. As I mentioned before, both of my Schumaker chargers show all 3 batteries fully charged. Do these voltage readings sound about right?

Thanks!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

If all three batteries are boiling, the charge is bad, or you have three bad batteries (unlikely). It appears the taper circuitry is not working.

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Thanks for the reply, Silvertip. I agree with you that having all three batteries bad is unlikely. I guess it could happen though, but the fact that all three show 100% charged on my other charger would also lead you to believe the charger is bad. Too bad I didn't try the charger before I hooked everything up and routed the wires and tie wrapped them Oh well, gives me something to do lol. I will try the next one before I make the final installation. I really don't like where I have to mount this thing, but it is the only place to put it. I have it in the battery/fuel tank area of my Ranger 375V. That puts it only about 4 inches from the side of the charger to the front of my 24 gallon plastic fuel tank. Anyway, thanks for the info.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

How old are the batteries? Just because they show 100% on a charger does not mean they are good batteries. The moment you apply a load they drop like a rock. Pull the batteries first and have them load tested. Any auto store will do that for you. Regardless, a three bank charger is essentially three individual chargers in a single package. It would be equally unlikely that the "taper circuitry" on all three banks would be bad -- with one exception. Some multi-bank chargers actually load share, meaning when one battery is topped off, that bank begins to help out another bank on which its battery may not yet be topped off. In that case, I can see a common fault in that circuitry screwing things up. One way to test this is to disconnect all but one of the outputs. See if it seems to work ok. Then disconnect that output and reconnect another. Repeat this process for all three outputs to verify that each works separately. Then try it in pairs: 1 & 2, 1 & 3, and then 2 & 3. If you detect a problem in any combination, you have a bad charger.

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Thanks, Silvertip again. The batteries are 3 year old Everstart Walmart Batteries that are kept inside during the winter and frequently charged. I don't know if my charger "shares" as you say, but it does say that if one battery only requires 2 amps of charge, the other 3 amps per bank go to the other batteries. I don't know if that is sharing or not. I know batteries can do weird thinga nd having three dead ones, would not surprise me. I got almost 10 years out of the original Delco Voyagers that were in the boat when I purchased it new. I don't know how long a Wally World one would last though. The three bank charger is a Basspro (ProMariner) model XPS 5/5/5i. Again, thanks for the help.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

It appears your charger indeed "load shares". What that means is that if one or two batteries are fully charged and one still requires charging, the two outputs feeding the full batteries can provide additional current to the third. It is very possible then that you have just one bad battery and all three outputs are attempting to keep it fully charged, hence the boiling. I suggest you check water level and top off with distilled water if low. Some batteries you cannot check, and others require removal of a label to access the caps. What I'm getting at is that your charger may be working and you may indeed have one or more bad batteries. That would also account for why the charger is hot to the touch -- it's working at near capacity trying to charge a bad battery.

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Thanks again, Silvertip. I checked the water level in the two trolling motor batteries before I installed them and they were fine. I already had put the starting motor battery in to run the trim on the boat when I took it out of storage and did not check the fluid level in it. I will check all three again. BassPro has already agreed to replace this charger, but I just wanted to make sure it was the problem first. I will probably pull this one and send it back to BassPro. When I get the new one, I will hook everything up and try it before I complete the installation. I will also take the batteries out and have them load tested while I await the delivery of the new charger. I appreciate the time you have taken to respond to my post. People like you are what make this forum so great. You have any recommendations for replacement batteries if I need them? I loved the Voyagers I had, but they are hard to purchase around here.
Again, thanks!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Those two batteries that are at 13V are still getting charged and are probably the ones drawing all the current. It could just mean they are still getting charged or it could be that they have a bad cell. I woud move the leads around and remeasure everything to see if every bank of the charger behaves the same way.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

My trolling motor battery get's a very hard workout with three week-long fishing trips each year in addition to all of the shorter trips so I replace that battery and the starting battery every four years whether they need it or not. If run big water and cannot have a battery failure. If I'm at the dock any time during the day the charger gets plugged in. I actually have two. One 6A Guest for the troller battery and a Schumaker maintainer for the start battery. The maintainer keeps the starting battery topped off as the live well periodically needs to run overnight. As for battery types, I use the largest lead/acid deep cycle (not a dual purpose) I can find and I'm not partial to any brand. My last one came from Sam's club.

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Thanks, guys for the info. I just gave up. Brasspro sent me the sticker to send it back to them FedEx. They are going to replace the charger. When I get the new one, I will wire it to the batteries to see if anything is better before I install it permanently. Sounds like you get at least 4 years out of your batteries, Silvertip. This again makes me believe it isn't my batteries. I know I should pull them and have them checked, but that is not easy for me as I have a bad neck and can't lift the damned things. I always have to get a buddy to do the heavy work. That is why I haven't pulled the bats and taken them in to be load tested. I might have to do that anyway, but will wait to see if the new charger works any differently first. Again, thanks for the responses. When I get the new charger I will update you guys to let you know the final outcome.

Thanks!

 

[rdgallo]

Re: Basspro Promax 5/5/5 i onboard Battery Charger Qusestion

Well, here is my update. While I was waiting for BassPro to send the replacement charger, I took the boat to a local marine dealer and had all three of the batteries load tested. All were good. I just received the replacement charger a couple of days ago and hooked it up. I let it charge the already fully charged batteries for about 16 hours and it never went to the "float" mode. It just kept charging. I have asked Basspro to send me return Fedex labels to return this one for a cash refund. I guess either my choice of an onboard charger is bad or my boat just never was meant to have one. Just thought I would update you all. By the way, when I contacted Promariner (the maker of the charger), I didn't receive much help - was basically told to load test the batteries and send the unit back if the batteries were good. Oh well!!
Thanks for your responses.