O.k. I am befuddled. Two two weeks back, batteries worked fine. Started engine and charged for an hour or so. Shut everything off as usual. Last week, batteries completely dead. Recharged and took into West Marine who checked and said they needed replacement. Took to dealer (interstate) and they charged and tested and said they were fine. Two days later when I picked them up, they retested and still fine. I took back to boat, hooked up and no power. Not even a flicker. Panel voltage meter hovers in the red at 10 and bounces up and down slightly on both batteries. Nothing on panel works. All wires attached and no sign of any disconnects or disasters. help?
Battery/Electrical Woes
- Thread starter cworksail
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CW,
First of all, I am not a fan of Interstste batteries. I've seen their facility and was NOT impressed. I also believe the repackage alot of batteries.
Your problem is puzzling as I have had AGM's and not had a problem.
Electrical troubleshooting is the hardest. It sounded as if you may have a drain short from a source but then you said that the replacement batteries tested fine. so I doubt you had a drawdown in the system.
It sounds as if your problem is between the battery cables &/maybe wiring to the meter. I've had bad battery cables, and changed them out.
Do a cleaning of all cable lugs etc. first. Make sure to check NEG. lug at engine block. If you see rusting on your cables take them somewhere to be load tested. marine environments wreak havoc on wiring. My 1980 C30 had alot of house wiring not marine grade. I do not believe the AGM's are the problem, it's in your cable/wiring.
CR
First of all, I am not a fan of Interstste batteries. I've seen their facility and was NOT impressed. I also believe the repackage alot of batteries.
Your problem is puzzling as I have had AGM's and not had a problem.
Electrical troubleshooting is the hardest. It sounded as if you may have a drain short from a source but then you said that the replacement batteries tested fine. so I doubt you had a drawdown in the system.
It sounds as if your problem is between the battery cables &/maybe wiring to the meter. I've had bad battery cables, and changed them out.
Do a cleaning of all cable lugs etc. first. Make sure to check NEG. lug at engine block. If you see rusting on your cables take them somewhere to be load tested. marine environments wreak havoc on wiring. My 1980 C30 had alot of house wiring not marine grade. I do not believe the AGM's are the problem, it's in your cable/wiring.
CR
Are we to understand from this statement -"I took back to boat, hooked up and no power. Not even a flicker. Panel voltage meter hovers in the red at 10" - that batteries which just tested fine immediately went to 10V upon connection to the boat?
While I have certainly seen AGM's, specifically Lifeline's, die in this manner, quick & sudden and without much warning, it is odd that one dealer pronounced them dead one one said they were fine. What type of test did they do? Was it a carbon pile load tester, capacitance or pulsed load test?
Try testing your system with a known good battery using the same connections. If it works then it's your AGM's, if not, it's your system wiring.
Try testing your system with a known good battery using the same connections. If it works then it's your AGM's, if not, it's your system wiring.
Got multi-meter?
With all your panel circuit switches off, there should be no loads from the boat or any reason to see 10v at the panel meter. If you measure 10v at the battery, and everything is turned off, it's highly likely the battery is the problem. Make sure your battery charger is turned off also. Measure volts at the batteries with the battery switch off. There should be 12-13v. Then measure volts at the battery switch itself, where the red cable from the batteries comes into it. Any drop of voltage to the incoming connection on the switch would mean a bad red cable located between the switch and the batteries.
You can double check your panel voltage meter and troubleshoot your issue by clipping one of your meter leads (use the black one) to the neg. battery post and moving the other lead along the red cable at each connection along the way to find the drop. Turn on the battery switch. If you start out with a proper 12-13v at the battery, it should stay that way, in to the main battery switch and then out of the switch and distributed to each of the inlet sides of individual circuit switches. If you see a drop in voltage at one point, then you've located the problem. Depending if your panel meter is before or after the battery switch, maybe the contacts in the battery switch are corroded and you're seeing the voltage drop caused by the battery switch itself. Good Luck!
With all your panel circuit switches off, there should be no loads from the boat or any reason to see 10v at the panel meter. If you measure 10v at the battery, and everything is turned off, it's highly likely the battery is the problem. Make sure your battery charger is turned off also. Measure volts at the batteries with the battery switch off. There should be 12-13v. Then measure volts at the battery switch itself, where the red cable from the batteries comes into it. Any drop of voltage to the incoming connection on the switch would mean a bad red cable located between the switch and the batteries. You can double check your panel voltage meter and troubleshoot your issue by clipping one of your meter leads (use the black one) to the neg. battery post and moving the other lead along the red cable at each connection along the way to find the drop. Turn on the battery switch. If you start out with a proper 12-13v at the battery, it should stay that way, in to the main battery switch and then out of the switch and distributed to each of the inlet sides of individual circuit switches. If you see a drop in voltage at one point, then you've located the problem. Depending if your panel meter is before or after the battery switch, maybe the contacts in the battery switch are corroded and you're seeing the voltage drop caused by the battery switch itself. Good Luck!
Thanks. I will get a meter and give it a tryrbmcintire said:Got multi-meter?
You can double check your panel voltage meter and troubleshoot your issue by clipping one of your meter leads (use the black one) to the neg. battery post and moving the other lead along the red cable at each connection along the way to find the drop. Turn on the battery switch. If you start out with a proper 12-13v at the battery, it should stay that way, in to the main battery switch and then out of the switch and distributed to each of the inlet sides of individual circuit switches. If you see a drop in voltage at one point, then you've located the problem. Depending if your panel meter is before or after the battery switch, maybe the contacts in the battery switch are corroded and you're seeing the voltage drop caused by the battery switch itself. Good Luck!
Good luck with your diagnosis - I am also not a fan of Interstate Batteries. I had one for only 2 years that went bad, and they would not credit me a dime under the warranty, as they said it had been manufactured 5 years before. Overpriced. I've had better luck over the years with deep cells from Wallmart & Costco -cheaper & the warranties were better. I know AGMs are supposed to last longer, but at twice the price of a cheaper, conventional deep cell, I don't think they're worth the higher price.
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