I've had this boat for a couple months now and am having a problem with the brand new Interstate cranking battery. After using it for a few weeks it lost enough charge to not even power the fish finders while on the lake. I only had a 2 bank charger on the TM batteries so I figured being a bass boat and not having lots of running time...the motor charging circuit didn't have enough time to recharge. As a result, I bought a 3 bank Guest charger that gave the cranking battery a 5 amp charge when plugged in. To rule out the battery, I took it to an Interstate dealer who charged it fully and performed a load test verifying it was good. After I got it back, I installed the charger so it shouldn't have run lower than it would fishing for 3 hours...then charged in the evening. I've used it 3 times since the full charge at the dealer (3-5 hrs max) and every time I plugged in the guest charger I always had a green light only (indicating fully charged). After getting the battery back from the dealer, the volt meter never went above 12-12.5V while underway so I figured it was already charged and the charging circuit was not needing to charge it.
Last night, I fished for 2.5 hours and didn't have any problems on the water. I got it home and plugged in the charger to charge the TM batteries (the cranking battery showed green). After I unplugged the charger, the tilt/trim would not work and I have no power at the console...key will not even put the low pressure light on at start up. Both terminal connections were secure. I pulled the battery and checked it with a hydrometer (got from the guys at Interstate)...charge was very low (bottom 15%).
My question is this...what would cause a battery to discharge down to virtually nothing when there should not be any load? I left the power switch on accidentally after I pulled away from the boat ramp but it was only on for 30 minutes until I got home...I know a GPS puck can draw some current while it has power applied but not enough to drain the battery down to nothing. Either way I plugged in the charger after shutting the switch off so it should be a non-player. All that was done was plug in the guest charger. Can a bad bank on a charger drain a battery or just not charge it? Should the charging circuit always put out 13-14V on the volt meter while underway?
Thanks for any inputs...I'm just trying to shorten my troubleshooting time before I have to put the boat up for winter storage.
Last night, I fished for 2.5 hours and didn't have any problems on the water. I got it home and plugged in the charger to charge the TM batteries (the cranking battery showed green). After I unplugged the charger, the tilt/trim would not work and I have no power at the console...key will not even put the low pressure light on at start up. Both terminal connections were secure. I pulled the battery and checked it with a hydrometer (got from the guys at Interstate)...charge was very low (bottom 15%).
My question is this...what would cause a battery to discharge down to virtually nothing when there should not be any load? I left the power switch on accidentally after I pulled away from the boat ramp but it was only on for 30 minutes until I got home...I know a GPS puck can draw some current while it has power applied but not enough to drain the battery down to nothing. Either way I plugged in the charger after shutting the switch off so it should be a non-player. All that was done was plug in the guest charger. Can a bad bank on a charger drain a battery or just not charge it? Should the charging circuit always put out 13-14V on the volt meter while underway?
Thanks for any inputs...I'm just trying to shorten my troubleshooting time before I have to put the boat up for winter storage.
