Pontoonfoon
Seaman
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2010
- Messages
- 69
I picked up a GUEST on board battery charger, it charges off the alternator when the engine in running, but also can be plugged in like a regular charger aswell.
the batter that came with the boat when i got it (not new) was an interstate "mega-tron" deep cycle.
all it has ever had to run was the radio, untill I picked up a Motorguide wireless (model W55) trolling motor.
I plugged in my guest charger to AC and let it charge overnight, it was still on stage 1 charge the next morning.. which i figured odd... (stage 1 is the "main charge" then it goes to trickle and finally float...)
I headed to the lake and fired up the trolling motor and ran her up to full speed and the radio shut off..
odd.. put a voltage meter on the battery 10.6 volts. so I figure the battery was toast..
so I picked up a Stowaway Pro series batter that weights about twelve hundred pounds.. I put it in today at 3, and plugged in the charger.
I took the other battery home and to my shock it had ALMOST NO WATER in it.
my fault for not checking, but like I said, all it ever ran was the radio.. and it did that well.
I ran back out the the storage and the new battery was still on main charge.. I powered off the charger and put the meter on the battery.. 12.24V..
I cranked up the sterio and turned on the trolling motor and it would drop to 12.14 then come back top 12.2 or so when i cut stuff back off.
my fear is that NOTHING was wrong with the original battery, but that my charger did not stop charging when it was full.. and just boiled the water right out of it. The charger specifically says it safe to leave it hooked up for "extended periods of time"
No I dont know what the state of the new battery was when I hooked it up, perhaps it was almost dead, and it IS a big battery.. so maybe 5 hours later it was still not near fully charged (8 amp charger)
i plugged the charger back in and nothing happened, it didn't cut on.. nothing.. I don't know what to make of that.. left it plugged in
Im going fishing first thing in the morning, so its only going to sit over night, but now im afraid of the damn thing...
thoughts? opinions?
the batter that came with the boat when i got it (not new) was an interstate "mega-tron" deep cycle.
all it has ever had to run was the radio, untill I picked up a Motorguide wireless (model W55) trolling motor.
I plugged in my guest charger to AC and let it charge overnight, it was still on stage 1 charge the next morning.. which i figured odd... (stage 1 is the "main charge" then it goes to trickle and finally float...)
I headed to the lake and fired up the trolling motor and ran her up to full speed and the radio shut off..
odd.. put a voltage meter on the battery 10.6 volts. so I figure the battery was toast..
so I picked up a Stowaway Pro series batter that weights about twelve hundred pounds.. I put it in today at 3, and plugged in the charger.
I took the other battery home and to my shock it had ALMOST NO WATER in it.
my fault for not checking, but like I said, all it ever ran was the radio.. and it did that well.
I ran back out the the storage and the new battery was still on main charge.. I powered off the charger and put the meter on the battery.. 12.24V..
I cranked up the sterio and turned on the trolling motor and it would drop to 12.14 then come back top 12.2 or so when i cut stuff back off.
my fear is that NOTHING was wrong with the original battery, but that my charger did not stop charging when it was full.. and just boiled the water right out of it. The charger specifically says it safe to leave it hooked up for "extended periods of time"
No I dont know what the state of the new battery was when I hooked it up, perhaps it was almost dead, and it IS a big battery.. so maybe 5 hours later it was still not near fully charged (8 amp charger)
i plugged the charger back in and nothing happened, it didn't cut on.. nothing.. I don't know what to make of that.. left it plugged in
Im going fishing first thing in the morning, so its only going to sit over night, but now im afraid of the damn thing...
thoughts? opinions?
My guess is that they are marketed toward the bass boat crowd. Most new 150hp and up outboards have 60-70 amp alternators. They might get a very slight benefit when they run down the lake at full bore.