No power.....

Ok everybody I have a small problem. I just got this Stratos and just took it to the lake today. Charged batteries last night to full charge. Got to the lake this morning, launched the boat. Went to start it and not enough power to engage the starter. Battery dead. Just so happens a gentleman was on his dock and had a charger, charged the battery and got the motor started. Went down the lake about a mile or so and back. Turned it off and would not start back. Still dead. Volts on the dash read 12.4 and 12.6 volts. Last night I had all power in the boat killed, no switches on. Even had the Master kill switch by the battery turned off. Still it died last night. Checked battery and it has plenty acid in it and it was bought on Oct. 2011. What is killing this battery. Asked the gentleman I got it from and he said it used to do that before because of a bad Rectifier. He in stalled a new one. I am at a lose and have checked everything. :mad:

How are your connections? Had that problem on one that drove me nuts and it was a bad cable end.

Never checked those, I will right now. So a bad cable end will drain a battery even with the Master kill switch is in the off position.

Just went up and checked and cleaned the all cable ends and re-installed them. Just out of curiosity checked the percentage of the battery since about 3 hrs ago and it was down to 20%. Charged it back up and will check in about 3 more hours.

Went back 3 1/2 hrs later and checked battery after cleaning ends and it was at 80% with nothing on.

could be a bad battery,did the volt gauge go up when you were running it from the engine charging,mine shows about 14 vlts running on plane 3000+ rpm.?unhook the battery and fully charge it,let it set unhooked and see if drops.or take it to autozone and load test it,if it's that bad it will be an easy find.that's actually what i'd do first.

How u doing ole friend. I will take out tomorrow and charge it and let it set all day then check it. It might be a bad battery even though it was bought 10/11. The guy I got it from said he had never had a problem :confused2:we will see.

can you notice any spark when you hook up the batt. cables?dropping that quick whatever it is should draw enough to make a spark.

No sparks, it has to be a bad battery, because nothing can draw from it when the Main kill switch is turned off right.

Ok, just went up and checked battery. After 13hrs it drained down too 80%. The strange thing is I don't think it was really 80%. Hooked the charger to it and in about 4 minutes it was back to 100%. I would think it would take at least 1 hr to charge back too 100 if it was 80%. When they are dead it will take at least 4 or 5 hrs to charge them back up to 100%. So at 80% it should be at least a 1 hr, right. I guess I need to have it load tested at Autozone to see. Any thoughts...:rolleyes:

If it is a wet battery, why not go a parts house and get a cheap battery hydrometer (the one with the small balls in it) check the charge in each cell that will tell you if you have a weak one. Best money a boater can spend and they are only 2-3 dollars and up. That will end the guess work about bad battery.


ROCKET

Why not disconnect the cables and let it sit for a while and see if it's still discharging? If it doesn't hold a charge with nothing hooked up to it you know it's bad. Or you could do like you said and carry it somewhere and have it tested. My guess is that battery's toast.

Do you think it would be toast after only 7 months old. I know it could happen, but what are the chances. Going right now to unhook it and let it set. Check this post in about 4hrs and I will post the results. Thank's everyone for your help.

Ok, just checked battery and same thing. 80% no cables hooked to battery. Took 4it minutes to charge back to 100%. Now what.

I had a bad cable but it wasn't draining the battery. One time it was start fine the next time it wouldn't do anything. I think you have a bad battery as well. Can you use a trolling battery to check and see if it will fire up and all that?? As much as I can appreciate all the troubleshooting you are doing a good parts store load tester can usually find a bad one pretty quick. If not taking care of a battery can def be bad in 7 months.

Good luck buddy hope you find the problem.

Thanks Rude520, I am going to get a tester tomorrow and I might have it load tested also. The guy I bought the boat from really never told me when he bought the battery, just going by the date sticker on the battery 10/11. I just hope it is the battery and not something pulling it down. I have checked all the switches and stuff like that. I also hope its not the motor that can get into some $$. I will find with the help of all you guys on here. Thank's for trying to help me. :bows:

Ok everybody, I went and checked the battery after 20hrs of sitting, 80%. So I charged it up to 100% and thought I would check something. I trimmed the motor up and down twice, checked it and it was at 50%. I would say I have a bad battery. Any thoughts. Taking it back tomorrow and see if it's still under warranty. If it is I get a free replacement. :thumb up2: