Batteries not charging properly

[Happydays69]

Hi guys,,
I think I have made a mistake,I have replaced the 3 batteris on my boat,I have 2 sealed batteries that start one engine and also do all the domestic lighting and nav ect,,,and I have another battery,a starter battery with the screw caps for checking levels,that does just the S/board engine,,,i have a multi stage marine charger that is always on,and since I have had this combo of batteries they seem to be losing there power gradually,,is it because you can't mix sealed and starter batteries,,,? It's driving me nuts,,,all help appreciated,,,,,oh just to say I have checked the voltage on the charger and it is working,,,

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

There is no such thing as a sealed lead acid battery. Show us a picture of your batteries that you think are sealed.

Are the "sealed" batteries 2 12V batteries in parallel?

 

[Splat]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

I'm betting he means maintenance free batteries.

Bill

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

I'm betting he means maintenance free batteries.

There is no such thing really if its a wet lead acid. Even supposed maintenance free batteries have caps. You may have to have a screwdriver to pry them off, but they are there.

 

[Splat]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

There are plenty of sealed lead acid batteries with permanently mounted non serviceable caps.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

There are plenty of sealed lead acid batteries with permanently mounted non serviceable caps.

They may look like they are, but you can always get them opened and replaced without damage.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

Hi guys,,
I think I have made a mistake,I have replaced the 3 batteris on my boat,I have 2 sealed batteries that start one engine and also do all the domestic lighting and nav ect,,,and I have another battery,a starter battery with the screw caps for checking levels,that does just the S/board engine,,,i have a multi stage marine charger that is always on,and since I have had this combo of batteries they seem to be losing there power gradually,,is it because you can't mix sealed and starter batteries,,,? It's driving me nuts,,,all help appreciated,,,,,oh just to say I have checked the voltage on the charger and it is working,,,

Ayuh,.... I doubt it's because of the mixed batteries,...

More likely there's a ghost drawin' power somewhere...

Wire a test light, in-line with the power, 'n see if somethings pullin' power...
If so, isolate the various systems to see what's doin' it...

Are the motor's chargin' their battery while runnin',..??

 

[Happydays69]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

The batteries are xplorer 125ah,,and they are only 18months old,the bigger starter battery is only a year old,,yes the two xplorer batts are linked in parallel,,and the charger is putting out the 13.5 to 14v,,,just funny how they started to gradually drop once I changed to this combo of batteries,,,to check if there's a drain on them,do I turn off the battery isolator Taps and then put the bulb between terminal and battery?

 

[dingbat]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

Remove the postive cable from the battery. Set your meter to measure DC current and measure between the cable and the battery post.

 

[Happydays69]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

Il do that this weekend,,,i have two battery master switches,should they be on or off? Whenever I leave the boat there always off,,,,

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

... since I have had this combo of batteries they seem to be losing their power gradually...

Just what does this mean?
How do you notice the loss?

 

[Don S]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

You could have a bad battery. I have seen brand new batteries not hold a charge.

As far as your 2 battery switches, how they work is impossible to say without knowing where all the wires are hooked up to.

Had on customer that bought a boat you had to turn on 3 battery switches to get anything to work. They were just wired wrong by someone that didn't have a clue what he was doing.

We can help you figure it out, but you have to make a diagram of your battery cable wiring and where each cable hooks. Either to a switch, battery, or fuse panel. And which terminal on the battery cables they go to. Doesn't have to be fancy, just accurate. Something like this would be perfect.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

18 months is not my idea of a new battery. One major problem with parallel battery set ups is when one fails the others will try to transfer power to the bad battery causing all sorts of problems. I would unhook the batteries and test each one first just to rule out one bad battery.

 

[Happydays69]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

In answer to unclewillie,the combo I mean is the two xplorer batteries which are sealed,and the dedicated single battery which starts the s.board engine is a much bigger in physical size starter battery with the caps you can unscrew.I can't remember exactly but I think the batteries I replaced with the explorers with,were bigger serviceable starter batteries as well,I notice that when the engine turns over is not what it was when they were brand new,there getting slightly sluggish,,sorry if this sounds confusing,,in answer to don,I sent them back to the place I bought them and they said they were fine but needed charging,,and when I coupled them up they were great again for a few months,,il see if I can see where the cables are going,but there are an awful lot of them,the two battery switches,one of them gives power to the engines,the other is for all auxiliary stuff,lighting,navigation ect,,

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

You should disconnect the 2 batteries from each other and from the engine wiring and charge them separately. After you take the charger off of them, let them sit for 30 minutes and measure the voltage of each of them. They should each measure 12.6V or so if fully charged. This will tell you if they have a bad cell but still won't tell you if they are bad or not. For that you need to load test them.

You need to check the water in the batteries. I know you think they are sealed but they aren't. There is always a way to check them. Take a picture of the top of the batteries and post it here.

 

[Happydays69]

Re: Batteries not charging properly

Il do it this weekend,,I'm having it lifted for a scrub ect,,,