Battery Charging Question

[NFA]

My battery charger reads "Charge Complete", but the battery doesn't have enough juice to fire the engine. It's cranking the engine, but just not enough to push the fuel through to make it fire.

Even though the charger says "Charge Complete", should I leave it on the charger for a few days?

My mechanic told me to leave it on the charger for a week, once a month. But the charger says "Charge Complete" almost over night? And does leaving it on the charger with "Charge Complete" still charge the battery?


Any thoughts, thanks;



SSS

 

[JB]

Re: Battery Charging Question

You probably have non-battery troubles, NFA.

Go to Engine FAQs, "Outboard won't start".

Let us know what you find.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Battery Charging Question

How old is the battery. You should go and buy a cheap multi meter and read the voltage on the battery a day after you charge it. If voltage is under 12.4 volts you probably need a new one. Take sand paper and clean all the connections to the battery and starter and verify the connections are all tight and try again. Is this a marine battery with wing nuts or a car battery with lugs.

 

[NFA]

Re: Battery Charging Question

The battery is two years old and it's a marine one with the wing nuts on it.

Thanks for the quick replies guys. I thought my starting issues were something besides the battery, connections, etc, but apparently not. I was unable to start it after my last trip out last October. It would turn over, crank, crank, crank, but just not fire. Tried it a few times over the fall/winter with no luck. Last time I tried it before last weekend was back in April, and the same thing. It cranks over, but just didn't fire.

So I bring it to my mechanic, tell him the problem, he hooks up his voltmeter to the battery and it reads almost dead, even though I charged it a week ago overnight. So he puts his charger to it, hooks it back up to the engine, turns the key and eventually it fires. It didn't fire right away mind you, simply because it was the first fire of the year, understandable. So we ran it in the drive-way for a bit, shut it down, then fired it right back up and it fired almost instantly.

Ran it up to the lake, fired it with no problem.

So I think it was just the battery not having "enough" juice to force / push the fuel through fast enough to allow the engine to fire.

There may be other issues where something isn't necessarily broken, just needs to be cleaned, improved, etc. Any thoughts?

Right now I have the battery on the charger at 2AMP setting and the charger says "Charge Complete". I'll clean the poles, tighten the connections, also swap out the spark plugs.

I'll be taking it out this weekend, see how it goes. Will report later.

Thanks everyone!



Scott

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Battery Charging Question

You have not mentioned what type of motor this is. Older chryslers the starters arent too bad to take apart and clean which could improve crank. Most cases however it is a week battery. Is the battery a cranking battery or just a straight deep cell battery? If you do not do any trolling you really should have a Marine Cranking battery versus a deep cell. A cranking battery is better equipped to deliver high amounts of current. Take the battery to a place like NAPA or autozone and have them load test it.

 

[NFA]

Re: Battery Charging Question

Thanks Euro, I think it's a deep cell, not a cranking battery. I don't use it for anything but starting the engine, and some stereo. For my trolling, I use a Minn Kota on a separate battery.

The engine is a 92 Force, rebuilt in 97 I believe. I had the starter cleaned out either last year, or the year before. Made a huge difference.

The battery is a deep cycle, 500CCA marine.




SSS

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Battery Charging Question

Load test the battery. Even if it says its fually charged it can still have a bad cell. Use a STARTING battery with at least 550CCA.They recharge faster than a deep cell. Jerry