Battery Blues

[THE BEEF]

Just want to warn everyone, I bought 2 walleye 1 Batteries from my local marina 2 years ago. Last year I had problems with batteries going dead.
After paying $400.00 For a rescue boost I found 1 of the batteries had a dead cell. Got it replaced for free. This year samething,Dead batteries, can't be another bad battery,Yep sister to the one I replaced last year.
Pro rated 20 months old $50.00 buck to replce it.
I think Crown has a quality issue.
OH YEA I had one in my camper too, Walleye one,It blew up in the driveway while I had the camper pluged in.
Beefer

 

[jtexas]

Re: Battery Blues

what's a "rescue boost" and why is it $400?

thanks for the warning.

 

[THE BEEF]

Re: Battery Blues

I called Rescue marine,I was out 8 miles on lake Erie fishing, turned the key click click. Called rescue marine,they came in about a hour. I had to fill out some paperwork and they handed me battery booster pack. fired right off then they gave me a bill for $400.00 for the service.
I got a booter pack on my boat now. Just wanted to let people know about these batterys
Beef

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: Battery Blues

Why are both batteries going dead, how are they wired? Do you have an isolator or an ACR between or are they just wired in parallel? If just wired in parellel then you face the posibility of it happening again, when one goes bad it pulls the other down as well.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Battery Blues

Agree with Boatin Bob.
Also how are you charging these batteries and how offten?
What is you alternator output voltage when charging?

No battery will hold up if not fully charged right after use.
Also needs to be charged once a month in summer used or not and every 2 months in winter.

 

[THE BEEF]

Re: Battery Blues

I have both batteries in the boat.
when I bought the boat it was setup with a battery isolater.
I also have 2 switches 1 pos. 1 neg. to put 2nd battery in parallel to the first.
The charging on the voltmeter gauge shows 14+ volts
Amp meter at less then 5 amps.
I know what the problem was I had 2 bad batteries from the start.
As long as I kept them turn off on the boat and used them only when running it I was ok untill they got weak then came my $400.00 problem.
I know if a battery has a dead cell the others will try to bring it up, killing the
battery.
Now with 2 good batteries I have no problem.
Just wanted to warn fellow boaters about Crown batteries.
I emailed them with no reply yet. Will keep you informed
Beef

 

[Boatist]

Re: Battery Blues

The Beef
I think you missed my point. It is not usually the batteries brand that is the problem. It is how the batteries were maintained. Were they ever left discharged, were they fully charged after every use, were they fully charged once a month in summer and every 2 month in winter?

All lead acid batteries self discharge, in summer they discharge faster than in cold winter days. If they are not fully charged on a regular basis no lead acid battery will survive.

14 plus volts is good thru a battery isolator. That tell me you must have a external regulator and that is a good thing.

Damage may have been done before you got the boat.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Battery Blues

these guys are right on, beef.

discharging a battery (including self-discharge), sulphur particles cling to the plates; recharging converts the particles back to liquid. Leave it discharged long enough, the sulfur turns to hard crystals (process known as "sulfation"). The crystals aren't broken down by regular recharging; there's a theory that batteries can be deslufated by hi-voltage pulses. I have a charger with "desulfate" mode -- tried it without success on a couple batteries.