Battery issues?

[daniel.j.grossheim]

So last year I had a few issues starting my boat from a drained battery. I replaced the battery half way through the season last year and am seeming to have the same issue already this year. I took the battery out during winter and put it on a charger inside about halfway through winter.

Starts up real nice when I take it out fresh off the charger, but if we stop and use the radio or a blower at all it will have troubles starting. Last weekend, stopped and sat for about a half an hour, tried to start it up and it turned over but seemed to kill the battery within seconds. we were stuck in the middle of the lake for about ten minutes. We sat and waited a bit, sprayed some starter fluid in to give it a little help, fearing the battery was dead, and tried it one more time and she finally turned over again and started right up.

The boat is a stock 1989 ts6m with 830 hours. Had it into the shop this spring for an annual spring start up and they didn't seem to have any concerns. I'm thinking about adding a second battery with a Perko battery selector, has anyone done that? Or is there anything else I should look at before doing that? Any input would be appreciated.


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[Okryan]

Have you checked the voltage of the battery, and what type of battery did you purchase?


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[CJD]

Check the voltage with the engine running. It should be at least 13.4volts. If below that, your boat is not charging the battery. If the voltage is up, then check and clean your battery connections at both ends. After that it means your new battery is bad. At least it should be under warranty!?

[daniel.j.grossheim]

Yep looks like the battery isn't being charged fully. The battery is running at 12.68 after last weekend, I did not throw it on a charger yet in hopes of solving this problem. I'm going to go get the battery swapped out, how can I check to make sure the boat is charging it correctly? Does it need a new alternator?


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[CJD]

That is normal for a battery sitting without being charged. It also means it has been charged recently. Check it with the engine running to see how the alternator is doing. It should be in excess of 13.4 volts with the engine running. Again...12.6 engine off, no charger...13.4+ with engine running.

[NorCalPR]

The battery is probably sulfated. If it has sat with a low charge for a while, or with a low water level, itll happen.

Basically a sulfate layer builds on the plates. What happens is the voltage looks normal, and you may think its charged, but the capacity is not there.

"When hard sulfate is present, the battery shows a false voltage, higher than it's true voltage, fooling the voltage regulator into thinking that the battery is fully charged. This causes the charger to prematurely lower it's current output, leaving the battery discharged. Charging at a higher than normal voltage and low current may be necessary to break down the hardened sulfate."

And

"
Hardened sulfate also forms in a battery that is constantly being cycled in the middle of its capacity range (somewhere between 80% charged and 80% discharged), and is never recharged to 100%. Over time, a portion of the plate's active materials turns into hard sulfate. If the battery is continually cycled in this manner, it will lose more and more of its capacity until it no longer has enough capacity to perform the task for which it was intended. An equalizing charge, applied routinely every three to four weeks, should prevent the sulfate from hardening."
http://support.rollsbattery.com/supp...tery-sulfation

If your alternator wasnt working, after you initially start it the boat would have died within 10 minutes or so. Since ot sounds like its fine when its running, but the battery d8es quick when its off leads me to believe its not your alternator, its just a weak battery...

You may be able to save it. If not, get a new one and invest in a quality charger/maintainer. I just bought a genius 3500 charger for my truck (and boat in the winter) and itll maintain the battery indefinitely.


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[daniel.j.grossheim]

So I took the battery out and brought it to advanced auto store and it checked out to be good. Any ideas of what could have caused it to not start after a few seconds of trying? It stopped and would not turn over, we waited about ten minutes and tried it again and it started right up. Added some starter fluid to give it some extra juice on the second try.

Could it be a starter that is going bad? Any thoughts?


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[NorCalPR]

Sso im confused. When you say it started right up, why did you add starter fluid? Shouldnt need any...


Could be the relay contacts on the starter. Next time it doesnt start, tap on the starter with a hammer or a wrench whilw you have someone turning the key...


Could also be the neutral switch...

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[daniel.j.grossheim]

I added starter fluid cause it was the first time out for the season, and just felt that the battery almost died so sprayed a bit in just to ensure it would start easy, it probably didn't need it.

Will try that next time to see if it helps, it turns over but then if it doesn't start right away the starter seems to slow down.

What do you mean about neutral switch? Are you thinking that if it's pushed it, it may not be mechanically pushed in?

I appreciate all of the help from everyone.


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[roosm]

Have you disconnected and cleaned both positive and negative (ground) cables for the battery?
If they look corroded consider replacing them.
I normally get these kind of issues when the connections are not really good.
Sometimes you can get around that with a really fresh battery. Sometimes it just works when first installing the battery, but then the loose/dirty connections corrode further when running the boat and at the end of the day it doesn't start.

It might also be a bad ground connection from the starter to the engine. Though more unlikely. I have had issues that cleared right up when I removed the starter and cleaned the surface of the starter that should ground to the engine block.

Mike