Starting Battery Issues

[MNbasser11]

So the last two tournaments my starting battery has died half way through the tournament day. After the first tournament I brought my battery in to have it tested to which I was told it was still a good battery as I had bought it last year around August 2017. I then checked to ensure the charger was hooked up and was giving me green lights which it did for all 3 batteries ( 3 bank minnkota charger) this was the night before the tournament and before I went to sleep prior to the tournament start. While running on tournament day I would look at my Volt meter on my electronics and it would go from 11 when I started to 13.5 while running. So I would assume it isn't the Alternator either. Any input or ideas on what I should check or how to figure out what the issue is as I am currently at a loss of what it could be and would rather not buy something I don't need if it wont fix the issues ( new battery, Alternator, Charger etc)


Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Joe4d]

Probably need a decent meter with a clamp on amprobe to narrow it down,,
But basically you only have a few possibilities,, Battery is no good,,, And assume shop load tested it,, Connections no good. Bad ground can cause it not to charge. Your charger is no good,, Need the meter to test voltage before you run engine., Bad alternator, but probably not if voltage meter goes up when running, Could verify voltage with handheld meter.
Only thing else would be something is drawing more current than normal,,, How do you pump motors sound ? You could have a partial short, but I would suspect a fuse or circuit breaker would trip,
Id probably find an auto parts store and have the battery load tested,, not the store that sold it to you and presumably has to replace it. Outside of something obvious like bad terminals or grinding pump motors, dead cell is most likely problem

[MNbasser11]

sounds good after work im going to hook up the meter to it and run a few tests was just looking to see where to start and I think your gave some good advice/input so thank you for that. im assuming it is something small or at least hoping... the motor sounds good when it runs. no complaints or issues there no grinding or pumping issues, the lights did go out on my dash panel for the bilge, anchor lights, and livewell switches, which im assuming was a fuse related issue which im going to check on this morning as well.

[CatFan]

What battery do you have and what outboard?

[billnorman1]

And what year is your boat? When he asks what battery he wants brand and size, i.e. size 24, 27, 31. Do you have nuts holding the wires to your battery?

[kah3710]

More than likely either inadequate size of battery for what you are running or bad battery most people don't know how to check, when the meter reads 12v or above they think its good=wrong. Take a volt meter and check your battery before operation and then after some use always should be above 12.65 volts otherwise its a bad battery

[Lou r Pitcher]

Take a volt meter and check your battery before operation and then after some use, always should be above 12.65 volts otherwise its a bad battery

Different lead acid batteries will have different full charge voltages. As well they can have different safe discharge percentages and would show different safe discharge voltages.

Know of no lead acid battery type though that becoming routinely discharged "always should be above 12.65 volts". Most will fall in the 12.1 to 12.3 V range when approaching a safe discharge level.

[MNbasser11]

I have a 2009 Skeeter sx 190, The motor is same year Yamaha vmax 150, the battery I bought last year at batteries plus and not sure the exact "type" other than lead acid and 27 size with 550 cca. I hooked up the voltmeter to it after work last week and the battery was fully charged and sat around 11.7-12 with no load on it (both of my battery cutoff switched turned to off) Yes I do have nuts on each terminal of my batteries. I did notice the Ground wire for my charger was loose though when I checked everything and I retightened and cleaned all terminals and connections. I used my boat over the weekend for roughly 4-5 hours without running my livewells and had 0 issues. Not sure if the livewells are draining my battery that much or if that loose connection wasn't charging my battery maybe??

what baffles me is the fact I have had the battery for over a year and fished many tournaments out of the boat with no issues then the battery fails not once but twice at two separate tournaments and in the meantime I took the battery out and back to batteries plus to be tested and was told it was a good battery...

[Macsimus]

I fought a similar problem for over two years with two different batteries. However, the batteries never died. Instead, i would get low voltage alarms when I hit the trim after fishing for approx 4-6 hours. I had been in the shop twice to have the electrical system checked and both times they couldn't find anything. I had it in a third time for annual maint and happened to mention my battery problem. They checked and the alternator tested bad. Apparently, it was failing intermittently and I got lucky the third time. The alternator was replaced and I haven't had a problem since. I run a Merc 250 ProXS. The first battery was a group 31 lead acid and the second, and my current, is a group 31 Exide AGM.

[catdude28]

11.7-12 is far from a fully charged wet battery. For a wet battery you should be getting a voltage reading of about 12.6. Big difference there.

[Casslaw]

A fully charged battery should hover around 12.4 to be considered ok. My Noco charges to 14.4 and both of my batteries will stay around 12.4 and they’re from 2015. I know cars...most of the time there is a ground issue, bad wire, short or bad connection.

I would charge them fully, see what the voltage is after an hour, two hours...see if they’re stable first.

Then I would start hooking each accessory up to see if something is pulling a draw.

Then id check to make sure the alternator is putting out voltage AT the battery.

Doing this only only requires a volt meter and some time. I’d bet either that bad connection wasn’t allowing your cranking battery to be charged while running or a livewell pump or something else is pulling a draw.

Good Luck

[billnorman1]

Well, you only need 380 CCA, 500MCA and 124 minutes RC, but those are minimums. Once you throw newer electronics, recirculator pumps and other accessories we here at BBC generally like to err on the plus side with battery selection. You said you had some corrosion on your negative lead(s) and since then you haven't had a problem. That's good. I'd expect the main battery to have at the very minimum 12.4 volts after charge and after you run the motor trim for about 10 seconds to remove the ghost voltage.
When it's time to buy a new battery even though your motor does not demand it I think a size 31 starting/deep cycle would be a better choice.

[MNbasser11]

thank you all for the input and information, I think im just going to err on the side of caution and buy a new 31 size battery for next season, and I will start trying to find where the draw is coming from this week. appreciate it guys! I am sure it is something simple that I am just overlooking but appreciate the help anyway I can get it!