The story goes; Boy buys two new 12v batteries, boy installs batteries in boat – batteries always dead. Boy buys expensive full-time auto-charger, batteries fully charged until leaving dock, then dead. Boy loses mind.
Mariola’s electrical problems are hopefully nearing their long-awaited end. Lots of recent work on the starter and alternator revealed an alternator that wasn’t even hooked up (broken wire) and some questionable wire connections. All of that is fixed and all wiring is now in order but the stinkin’ batteries don’t seem to hold much juice.
Innocent until proven guilty.
A week or so ago I installed a dual batter monitor switch/guage gizmo that let’s me keep track of the so-called juice. Batt #1: GOOD, Batt #2: SUCKS. When I unplugged my ProSport12 charger, I could watch the needle drop from 14.5 to 8 volts in about 30 seconds. So I haul #2 Batt back to Electro Battery on 23rd Ave. N. - turns out it’s bone dry – not a drop of fluid. The tech tells me I probably boiled the water out of it with my charger. I defend my alleged battery dehydrator with a quick rebuttal about the super-ProSport Charger being fully automatic and couldn’t possibly harm a helpless little battery. THEN he says “sure coulda came that way from the factory too” – doh. The six month warranty was up, so it really didn’t matter. I bought a new one.
Moral of the story. Check the battery fluid. I’m used to the old-style single caps. Thinking the new flat panels covered in dire warnings and acid-melted hands were permanently sealed, I assumed it was fool proof. Not for this fool. Now I have to pop the tops off my other battery and check the levels. Another problem solved. Will this maintenance ever end?
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Did you remember to check your karfunknel valve when you where installing the new batteries. Karfunknel valve failure is the number one cause of dead batteries…FYI