Is You Battery Charger Going KaPut?

I’ve been having some trouble with my starting battery for the last few years. Seems to die on me in the middle of the night leaving me to change batteries in the boat to get going.

My Minnkota 330 has served me well, but I was thinking it might not be the batteries but the charger. When I leave for a trip, all three lights are green. Water levels good. Should be good to go right?

Well the other night, after backing the boat in the cranking (only) battery wouldn’t do it’s job. Changed batteries and went on our way.

I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check with MinnKota on how to check their chargers. Sent an email and in less then two hours, here’s my response.

Thought I would share in case you folks ever need a reference.

Brian,

Thank you for your email. Below are instructions on how to see if your battery charger is working properly or not:

Depending on the charge, the battery should be between 11.5 & 13V. without any load or the charger connected.

When the charger is connected and turned on, the voltage should jump up. For example : A battery at 12V. before charging should jump up to 12.5V or higher when charging. Then the voltage should continue to increase until it reaches 14 to 14.4V. At this point the charger will switch over to the maintenance mode, which it will float the batteries between 13.3 and 13.6V

If the battery charger is function as it should when you do the test, then the charger is not the issue. If the charger isn’t going through these stages, due to its age it will just need to be replaced as they are not repairable.

Thanks,

Kelly

Minn Kota Customer Service

Minn Kota has there CS Bird Poop together!

I just skimmed that but they actually said you are old and should be replaced???? That’s not news to anyone around here.

Thanks for posting…. good info for sure.

Mike, do I need to post the video of your wife here too?

I have been having the same issue with my batteries. I have they odyssey batteries in my boat. My boat is a 2012 and I have been having problems keeping the cranking battery charged up. I should be able to go out 3 times without charging the cranking battery I would think. I just doesn’t hold the charge like I think it should. I have never had these batteries before but people claim they hold a really good charge. If I go out for 2-3 hrs a time I should be able to get more than a total of 6-8 hrs out of my cranking battery I would think. I just checked my battery and it showed exactly 13v on the meter. So what your saying is that it should show a little above if not in the middle between 13 and 14 if the charger is doing what it is suppose to? I am starting to wonder about my whole electronics situation.

I was wondering the same thing but after having my cranking battery load tested at three different locations and talking with the Interstate guys they suggested that my battery after 2.5yrs was getting weak with the reserve cranking amps. It would not start my F90 after being on the water for 10-12 hours with constant use by my electronics, HDS8 & 7 + live well . I replaced with DieHard Platinum and now have no problems. The info given above for checking your charger is good to know. Thanks for posting.

I have had the same issue, but discovered that I have a constant current draw somewhere, like a radio, fuel gauge, or an engine something or another. Im not sure what it is. If I unhook everything from the battery between uses, it stays charged for what seems like an appropriate amount of time.

If I dont, and leave my Minnkota MK330 plugged in, every once in a while the starting battery bank will flick into charging mode.

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I just skimmed that but they actually said you are old and should be replaced???? That’s not news to anyone around here.

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Ouch! I think he nailed it.

I had a similar problem in my old boat.
The batteries were new and charged regularly.
But the battery life in this boat was abismal at best.
Traced the leak down to the radio memory hot wire.
I put in a switch to turn that off.
Never replaced another battery in that boat.
It is a small draw, but that was my issue.

Brian, do a load test on your battery as well. I took my boat over to the interstate guys and let him test my whole system at one time. We unhooked everything and found one battery was an issue.

So what are you going to do, BK?

-J.

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I had a similar problem in my old boat.
The batteries were new and charged regularly.
But the battery life in this boat was abismal at best.
Traced the leak down to the radio memory hot wire.
I put in a switch to turn that off.
Never replaced another battery in that boat.
It is a small draw, but that was my issue.

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* New starting battery again last year.
* Installed a power switch to shut off power to everything, but the starter and the Nav Light.
* Water is good in all batteries.
* Contacts have been cleaned

I’m going to follow the directions above.
If there isn’t an issue there, have all my batteries load tested.

Once I have that info (boats at Everts and I’m not), it’s going to tell me what to do next.

The previous owner of my boat put one of these on my starting battery and I have never had a problem with phantom draws or a dead battery from leaving lights/radios on. Nice peace of reassurance. Only bad thing you lose all your presets on your radio…

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The previous owner of my boat put one of these on my starting battery and I have never had a problem with phantom draws or a dead battery from leaving lights/radios on. Nice peace of reassurance. Only bad thing you lose all your presets on your radio…

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What is that?

FDR

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The previous owner of my boat put one of these on my starting battery and I have never had a problem with phantom draws or a dead battery from leaving lights/radios on. Nice peace of reassurance. Only bad thing you lose all your presets on your radio…

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What is that?

FDR

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It is a battery shut off switch.

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I had a similar problem in my old boat.
The batteries were new and charged regularly.
But the battery life in this boat was abismal at best.
Traced the leak down to the radio memory hot wire.
I put in a switch to turn that off.
Never replaced another battery in that boat.
It is a small draw, but that was my issue.

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* New starting battery again last year.
* Installed a power switch to shut off power to everything, but the starter and the Nav Light.
* Water is good in all batteries.
* Contacts have been cleaned

I’m going to follow the directions above.
If there isn’t an issue there, have all my batteries load tested.

Once I have that info (boats at Everts and I’m not), it’s going to tell me what to do next.

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I don’t understand your concern. Is it the cost of replacing the battery? If it is then I suggest following the Minnesota DNR tried and proven methods. If you are un-able or un-willing to solve the problem then add a tax or fee to your guide trips to cover the added expense.

There, that was simple. Fish on!!!

Do all battery have a date on them to show when it was maded ?

For warranty purposes they have little date tags they punch when you purchase the battery.

HAH! All guide trip now come with a battery tax. Perfect! You should be in politics Brian!

Most company’s won’t honor the punch tags, well the two I’ve dealt with didn’t. They go by a serial number stamped on the case of the battery.

Have VOM will travel.

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For warranty purposes they have little date tags they punch when you purchase the battery.

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There should also be a round sticker on the battery somewhere with a letter and number which will tell you the month and year the battery was manufactured.

If I have a power switch that I hit every time I am done using my boat, That should kill the power to everything since I cannot turn anything on when the switch is off correct? Is this something that I will have to look into further or should that kill switch be good enough to keep current from drawing off my battery? All my other boats I was able to count on that switch to be good enough.

Kinda depends BH.

Without any added electronics, it should. In some cases items are added that draw current and are wired in before the Master Power switch.

Having the switch on the battery like the photo above ensures nothing is getting power.

yea that battery switch would be ideal…but the batteries are under the carpet and would need to pull that back every time and open the compartment to shut it off. I think I will need to take a look at my batteries. Might be something wrong there with them or the charger.