I hate electrical problems and I think I've got a big one. Noticed a strong rotten egg smell coming from my boat storage area. Opened the battery compartment and whew-eee, strong sulfuric acid smell coming from one of the three batteries. Reached down and touched the battery and it was almost hot to the touch. I withdrew quickly in the event that it decided to explode. The on-board charger (Cabelas Pro Sport 20 Plus) was plugged in earlier today after being unplugged for a month or so. The battery is a 4 or so year old Ever Start deep cycle trolling motor. The other two batteries were fully charged and normal.The lights on the charger were red and blue (usually they are light green) and all three were on super bright.
Any ideas? Bad battery? more likely a bad charger?? I'll try to sort it out tomorrw but for now the boat is outside and the charger is disconnected. Maybe the best solution is a new boat
. I'll try that one with wife but its not likely to fly.
Any suggestions are very much appreciated.
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Disconnect the charger and let it settle down for a day. Check your connections. Check the water in the battery. I doubt it's the charger though. Especially if the other banks are charging normally.
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We're any of your battery cables melted?
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Thanks for the suggestions. I tried the need-a-new boat ploy with the wife and she said some very unlady like words that pretty well nixed that idea.
No melted cables and I did check all of my connections which appeared to be ok. I let it rest over night and plugged it in again this a.m. The charger looked okay in that the lights on it were the normal glow. I checked it after an hour or so and the charger body was starting to heat up. way hotter than it should be. The big battery had not heated up yet. I unplugged it until I can have soimeone with more electrical skills that myself take a look at it. I still suspect the charger but Ken kind of thought not (Thanks). If it was something that could be fixed with a hammer or wrench I'd be okay but this electrical stuff always stymies me.
Thanks again for the ideas. I'll get 'er fixed before Utah Lake hits 65 degrees.
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It's your battery. Don't try charging it anymore, it could burn out your battery charger.
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+1 I go through a ton of deep cycles over the years in using them on tubes and toons. That is a very familar sounding problem, and the easiest to fix first.
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I have 24 volts going to the trolling motor and another separate 12 going to the boat's electrical system. I'll run the trolling motor until it starts to weaken and then try another charge. If the charger heats up again or the battery doesn't take a charge I'll pick up a new deep cycle.
Thanks again for the suggestions.
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You really need to load test the batteries. Don't take the boat out. You will be sorry. One of you your batteries has a warped plate. Go to the local auto parts store and rent a load tester. That will tell you which battery is junk.Then hook up your charger on the other two batteries and make sure it is not fried. You probably had a battery freeze during winter and it shorted one of the plates. The only other thing would be a wire melted and left you putting 24 volts back to the charger and batteries.
Good luck
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Bingo! walleyebob nailed it. Battery is junk, replace the battery now or replace the battery and charger later. Bad batteries do bad things to good chargers [:/].
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If your batteries are not sealed. You could test the condition of each cell with a hydrometer. Testing the specific gravity of each cell tells the true condition and charge in each cell. If one cell is bad the battery is ruined and won't hold a charge. All the cells should read roughly the same.
They cost about 6-7 dollars and look like a big turkey baster with a glass float with color coded and scaled numbers.
The hydrogen gas is a result of over charging and very explosive. Overcharging and excessive heat can also warp/short the plates in a cell.
One of my many jobs in the navy was maintaining our ships backup DC power for navigation and communications systems.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
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