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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
 General Sailing Forum
 Question about a battery		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts
Initially Posted - 09/02/2005 :  07:15:28  Show Profile
Hi all,

This is not about a sailboat, but rather about a bass boat. My dad's actually. He and I spent a long time yesterday working on his boat, which hadn't been used in over a year. His cranking battery is only a year and a half old, but it won't hold a charge. We have this fancy-dancy battery charger that tells you what percent full the charge is as it charges. When we put the charger on it reads around 60%, and within five minutes it is charged. The charger is set to a 10amp/30amp charge. (There is no way to separate the two.) Anyway, we take the charger off, then put it on five minutes later and the charge is back down to about 60%. Of course the engine starts fine at full charge, but after a few starts the battery runs out of juice. Is it just a bad battery?

The engine is a Johnson 9.9 hp, very similar to the Johnson Sailmasters that many of us have used. There is no pull start either, and has worked for years and years with electric start and no problems.

Thanks folks!
Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio
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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts
Response Posted - 09/02/2005 :  07:43:25  Show Profile
Since the battery sat for so long, I would guess that it has sulfation on the plates and is toast.
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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts
Response Posted - 09/02/2005 :  12:48:38  Show Profile  Visit aeckhart's Homepage
I concur.
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JimB517
Past Commodore

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USA
3285 Posts
Response Posted - 09/02/2005 :  14:29:01  Show Profile  Visit JimB517's Homepage
Go to Pep Boys and buy a $5 specific gravity meter, this measures the fluid in the cells. The fluid is very strong sulfuric acid so be careful. The meter looks like a turkey baster, you pull up a sample of the juice.

But even without this I can tell you have a bad cell. All cells should test nearly the same specific gravity. One is bad - sulfer crystals have grown all the way across the lead plates shorting them.

Time for a new battery.
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.