Charging system is odd...

[Zeus2013]

OK everyone, need some help on the charging system on a 2015 SX240.

I was at Lake George island camping this past week. I had both batteries fully charged before we headed up. I even checked with my meter to confirm a full charge, no surface charge. The boat was left at our dock with the house battery on for the bilge. On the third day I got an alarm that the battery charge was low. Drove the boat for awhile to get it charged but nothing changed. My meter showed over 12volts, could have been a surface charge. The next day battery was fine. Later in the day we left the dock and the battery was down to 7volts per Connext. Drove the day with low battery. Metered showed 10volts. Connect went in to its ERROR mode where the radio was not working, no speed, only gas level and rpm's worked, analog tachs at 0.

Got up the next morning and Connext showed 13+ volts.

We did not use the radio when we were anchored except for 15 minutes the entire time.

My question is what can cause this scenario? Is the battery bad, it is a deep cycle and only a year old. The battery was low about three weeks ago and had to throw it on the charger for 2 days to get it charged to full.

 

[Evil Sports]

Bad battery, loose ground somewhere??

 

[2nazt]

Did you use boat every day? What kind of run time did you have? I would still get them tested a one year of battery doesn't mean they couldn't of been hurt by being drained. How is the water levels in them if they are not sealed. Also check grounds and connections at all points.

 

[Evil Sports]

can you easily swap batteries?

 

[Zeus2013]

Bad battery, loose ground somewhere??

Checked the connections, all good.

 

[Zeus2013]

Did you use boat every day? What kind of run time did you have? I would still get them tested a one year of battery doesn't mean they couldn't of been hurt by being drained. How is the water levels in them if they are not sealed. Also check grounds and connections at all points.

Run times ranged about 15 - 30 minutes. I plan on taking it to autozone to check it. Water levels are good.

 

[Zeus2013]

can you easily swap batteries?

Yes, but don't want to mess with the starter battery.

 

[TechRider]

I have had problems with the battery draining when leaving the battery switch on. I wired the bilge directly to the battery so when it needs power it get's it. I leave the battery switch off.

If I leave the battery switch on and nothing powered on something still draws power. I have not figured out exactly whats hitting the battery.

When trying to resolve a problem like this you have to rule out the battery.

Do you have a battery switch (DVSR Switch)? If you do you can switch batteries with the switch and see if the same things happens to that battery with the same activity.

If not you can monitor the battery to validate it is keeping a charge with a voltage tester. Bring to full charge and check the battery at rest state over periods of time to validate it's keeping it's charge.

 

[bronze_10]

I see u said u checked the connections.. did u check the negative connection on the other end. (not the battery end).. for the battery to do that it would seem as though something is loose.

 

[Gym]

OK everyone, need some help on the charging system on a 2015 SX240.

I was at Lake George island camping this past week. I had both batteries fully charged before we headed up. I even checked with my meter to confirm a full charge, no surface charge. The boat was left at our dock with the house battery on for the bilge. On the third day I got an alarm that the battery charge was low. Drove the boat for awhile to get it charged but nothing changed. My meter showed over 12volts, could have been a surface charge. The next day battery was fine. Later in the day we left the dock and the battery was down to 7volts per Connext. Drove the day with low battery. Metered showed 10volts. Connect went in to its ERROR mode where the radio was not working, no speed, only gas level and rpm's worked, analog tachs at 0.

Got up the next morning and Connext showed 13+ volts.

We did not use the radio when we were anchored except for 15 minutes the entire time.

My question is what can cause this scenario? Is the battery bad, it is a deep cycle and only a year old. The battery was low about three weeks ago and had to throw it on the charger for 2 days to get it charged to full.

Your last statement about needing to charge your battery for 2 days to get a full charge leads me to believe you may have a damaged cell. You may also have a voltage leak. You can easily test for that with a volt meter. With everything turned off put the positive (red) volt meter lead on the positive terminal of the battery. Then touch the top of the battery case with the negative meter lead. Move the negative lead to several points on the top of the battery especially near the negative terminal. If you get any voltage reading you have a voltage leak. Cleaning your battery top will resolve this. I had a 5 volt leak on mine at the beginning of the season. By the way...my battery is origional to my 2006 SX230 and is a single battery installation. It hasn't been on a charger at all this season. I do carry a jump box.

 

[Zeus2013]

I have had problems with the battery draining when leaving the battery switch on. I wired the bilge directly to the battery so when it needs power it get's it. I leave the battery switch off.

If I leave the battery switch on and nothing powered on something still draws power. I have not figured out exactly whats hitting the battery.

When trying to resolve a problem like this you have to rule out the battery.

Do you have a battery switch (DVSR Switch)? If you do you can switch batteries with the switch and see if the same things happens to that battery with the same activity.

If not you can monitor the battery to validate it is keeping a charge with a voltage tester. Bring to full charge and check the battery at rest state over periods of time to validate it's keeping it's charge.

Thanks. I monitored the battery with a volt meter while on vacation and reading were all over the place. After the first issue before vacation, I charged the battery for two days, let it sit for two days to remove surface charge and showed 13.5v. It could well be the battery. I did have some similar less speratic charges last year but nothing like this.

 

[Zeus2013]

I see u said u checked the connections.. did u check the negative connection on the other end. (not the battery end).. for the battery to do that it would seem as though something is loose.

I think I did. I might have triple check everything.

 

[Zeus2013]

Your last statement about needing to charge your battery for 2 days to get a full charge leads me to believe you may have a damaged cell. You may also have a voltage leak. You can easily test for that with a volt meter. With everything turned off put the positive (red) volt meter lead on the positive terminal of the battery. Then touch the top of the battery case with the negative meter lead. Move the negative lead to several points on the top of the battery especially near the negative terminal. If you get any voltage reading you have a voltage leak. Cleaning your battery top will resolve this. I had a 5 volt leak on mine at the beginning of the season. By the way...my battery is origional to my 2006 SX230 and is a single battery installation. It hasn't been on a charger at all this season. I do carry a jump box.

Thanks, so the negative terminal goes on the plastic casing? I cleaned it after I check the water/acid levels. Will check for voltage leak and take it to autozone.

 

[Zeus2013]

I have had problems with the battery draining when leaving the battery switch on. I wired the bilge directly to the battery so when it needs power it get's it. I leave the battery switch off.

If I leave the battery switch on and nothing powered on something still draws power. I have not figured out exactly whats hitting the battery.

When trying to resolve a problem like this you have to rule out the battery.

Do you have a battery switch (DVSR Switch)? If you do you can switch batteries with the switch and see if the same things happens to that battery with the same activity.

If not you can monitor the battery to validate it is keeping a charge with a voltage tester. Bring to full charge and check the battery at rest state over periods of time to validate it's keeping it's charge.

Yup have the DVSR switch. It appears to be fine in rest state.

 

[KXCam22]

I would suspect a bad battery. I am having similar, although not as bad, issues which all started after I replaced the battery. Battery voltage is all over the map during the day 14.4V to 11.8V. Old battery sat in the boat and was very happy. New battery has to live on charger while sitting in the driveway. I just rewired my FF power, which has my battery voltage meter, to the large gauge power wire under the dash. I did this partly to reduce any voltage drop discrepancy between what the battery voltage actually is and what the meter says. I had a -.5V difference before. Now it is about -.1V. Next outing will tell if the voltage still fluctuates or if it was possibly flaky volt meter wiring. I still suspect my battery is bad since when the voltage fluctuates the PP resets (does this at 12.2 volts) and will reset during an engine start sometimes. Cam.

 

[Jebinok]

My sister's boyfriend had a problem with his battery, alarms going off and all kinds of funky stuff going on after he got his boat. I dont remember everything that was happening but it was all kinds. The boat would run ok but all the electrical stuff was all over the place, I found 1 small wire that was marked negative on a positive terminal. I dont remember which battery it was on. Dont know if this is any help, it's just what i found.

 

[Gym]

Thanks, so the negative terminal goes on the plastic casing? I cleaned it after I check the water/acid levels. Will check for voltage leak and take it to autozone.

Just a FYI. I had my origional battery checked at Auto Zone this spring before launching the boat. I watched the guy put his load meter on and go through the tests. After a couple of minutes he said it was fully charged, no dead cells but the meter said the battery is no good and needs to be replaced. I am still running the same battery backed up by a jump box. This will be season 10 on the origional battery. I do think you either have a damaged cell or more likely a voltage leak @Zeus2013.

 

[seadude]

It almost sounds like both batteries are bad since the DVSR needs to charge the Start battery for a long time before switching to the House, which seems to have low capacity. Any chance they froze last winter or were completely dead?

 

[Zeus2013]

It almost sounds like both batteries are bad since the DVSR needs to charge the Start battery for a long time before switching to the House, which seems to have low capacity. Any chance they froze last winter or were completely dead?

I had them on a battery maintainer all winter and they were good. Maybe both batteries but why then would the house battery drain down so fast when it is not being used?

I thought the electronics on the boat ran off the engines when they are running and batteries when engines off?

 

[Zeus2013]

Just a FYI. I had my origional battery checked at Auto Zone this spring before launching the boat. I watched the guy put his load meter on and go through the tests. After a couple of minutes he said it was fully charged, no dead cells but the meter said the battery is no good and needs to be replaced. I am still running the same battery backed up by a jump box. This will be season 10 on the origional battery. I do think you either have a damaged cell or more likely a voltage leak @Zeus2013.

It is the speratic problem that gets me.