Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Noticed my Battery Charge Lights Looked Different (one of 3 stayed red)
Raggamuffin Rippin.
Hello all…Appologies for what may seem ignorant, but this is my first bass boat and dealing with a 24v system. I took out my cougar this past weekend, and the night before I left I pluged in the charger. Next morning went out to look and unplug the extension cord, I noticed two lights were green and the one nearest the center of the hull was still red indicating not fully charged. This is the first time this has happened. Cranking voltage seems normal and my dash volt reading seems accurate. Starts up like normal. I fished sat morning, trolling motor seemed fine maybe a little weaker in the thrust…not sure. Pulled out and pluged in the cord again to top off batt. for a night outing. (same red light again before I left) With nav lights, graphs, and occasional courtesy light on…I niticed my live well aerator was not working, nor were my storage lights. I did depress the two reset buttons near the main power switch on the in/out controls and that did work getting the storage lights and live well working. However after going in and charging again for sunday morning, the same light stayed red again, and I did notice my trolling motor was weaker and went dead twice as fast that day. Thinking about it, I also did a helm Lowrance soft reset on sunday…think that runs on my starting batt.though(12v)? As for my first ever use of the reset buttons, I am thinking that was an entirely different issue and hopefully a one time insodent. A) do I have a more serious issue than possibly a bad trolling batt.? B) do I replace one or both trolling batteries? C) is there any special precautions or steps I need to take, before making sure the main power swtich is off and removing the batt. hold down frame to remove the batteries like my car/truck? D) Know its been discussed somewhere before but…Brand recommendation to use?Thanks for your time, Ragga Ryan
We like pictures…
Rag, Start by eliminating potential charger problems. Switch the charger leads on your trolled batteries. If the samelead shows red on a ddifferent battery after charging, then the charger has problems Also, if you have another charger, try charging the battery that was showing red. Sometimes the charger will not recognize a fully discharged batteryLast edited by Bobcat on August 16th, 2013, 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
I would say you had a bad trolling battery. I would take both batteries in to wherever you want to purchase new ones and have both batteries tested. I usually replace both trolling batteries at the same time.
Bobcat is accurate is his description of the fiirst steps which are changing battery leads to different batteries for compatability reasons as well as discharge. The charging of the discharged battery by a good manual charger may align its gravity in the battery also. One thing to add is check voltage of each battery with a meter.
Onboard battery chargers will not charge a battery that is critically low on voltage. People often say the battery is bad when the problem is the charger doesnt even know it is hooked to the battery because it wont recognize a low battery. If swapping the leads doesnt show you the problem, try charging the down battery with a portable charger on very low amps (we use 2 amps) and leave it hooked up for a couple of days. This will often bring the battery back to life and the onboard charger will pick back up on it. Ive had customers leave “bad” batteries here that they have diagnosed that we have slow-charged back to life and used them in our shop for three and four years after they were dropped off. Just a thought…Andy GreeneGreene Boat & MotorAndy Greene Greene Boat & Motor 828-286-2290 http://www.greeneboats.com
nice fish! sorry Theyve already covered anything I would have suggested ^^^ lol13 PIV w/ 200 MercIG: WarriorRiverCustomRods
One other simple suggestion but since you said its your first boat its worth mentioning. The “water” may be low in that battery. I have had times when my charger had red lights, I topped off the battery with distilled water and plugged the charger back in and the batteries charged up. Seems like too simple an answer but it is another thing to check.Jim EbarbMany, LA (Toledo Bend Lake)2004 Cougar/ 225 OptimaxHumminbird Helix 12 Chirp SI on BalzOut Mount at bowLowrance HDS 7 at bowHumminbird Helix 12 Mega SI on Ram Mount at ConsoleLowrance HDS 8 in dash at console
Hi, Had the exact problem. Checked the leads as directed by the above posts, however the lead that was not charging properly just got worse and sent it back to NOCO. They sent me out a new one pronto!! You will have to call NOCO, I am assuming that is your charger manufacturer, and get an authorization to return. Make sure and Do NOT rreturn the bushings as they are Bass Cat installed and you will have to get new ones from Bass Cat Opps!!! PS, My bad lead was also the middle one.
Thank you for all the help and responses. Did the lead switch and lights acted the same but on a different bank of course. Put everything back to original and plug cord back in. Lights all look normal now…One batt will not hold charge drains down as I read the volt meter.Picture first thing this morning after putting leads back into original config and charging.Checked Batteries with meter…Plug cord back in to cheack lights and top off…best i can get is 11.39 and watch it slowly drop in volts.Now back to where I began with light issue…charger seems to be fuctioning proper.Called my Tire Pros sponsor and he has two new interstate replacements waiting for me at the shop. Think I have to cover the bill this time? $108. ea. Batteries were not part of our agreement. Drats. I will take out weak batt check water level and try externally charging it first, on 2amp .
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