I have a Minnkota 440PC (2nd in 3 years) and it appears to be bad. I let the batts. charge for 11 hrs. and all 4 read 12volts and only 1 bank greened up. How do I check to see if there is any output from the charger? I thought I could meter the leads while not hooked to the batteries but I found out I was wrong. Thanks..
plug it up,check voltage at batteries,then unplug it and check voltage at the batteries. Should be a difference if it's putting out.
I like watching my charger go through it’s charging cycle so I hook my multi meter to the battery then plug in the charger. It that bank is working it will work it way up to 14.4v +/- before leveling out.
You need to check all your batteries before you charge them to make sure they’re in the 12.6-12.8 range before charging.
2006 Triton SP-185, 2006 Evinrude Etec 90, PowerTech NRS3, Garmin Echomap Plus 73CV & 93SV
Originally Posted by Casslaw
I think you mean 12.6-12.8 after charging. Those numbers are for a fully charged battery. A battery that reads 12 volts is deceased.
Read the voltage on the battery before plugging the charger in, plug the charger in and read the voltage again after a minute or so. If it's higher the charger is working. You can buy a cheap multimeter @ Harbor Freight if you don't have one.
In case you have not done so, check the water level in the batteries
I believe that you meant to say discharged, since a fully charged battery should read slightly over 12V as you correctly stated on your prior sentence.
If you have an automatic charger, you should check the battery you are about to charge for residual power with a meter. It will need to have a minimum of around 6V for the charger to 'see the battery connection'.
Also, I would suggest that you check you water level, if applicable, specially if it has been a while since you did check.
If you are charging a deep cycle battery, check to make sure your charger is set to deep cycle, which you do not need to do this step if a boat dedicated charger.
During the charging cycle, take a reading with your meter, which it should read at least nearly 3V higher than the reading you took initially prior to start charging. This will assure you that you are putting charge into your discharged battery.
Once you have your battery fully charged, you should check it for working load with a load tester, which will tell you whether or not your battery is in good working conditions and capable of giving you a rated work load, or it has an internal short not allowing it to work correctly, in which case you will need a new battery.
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