Boat battery problem… anyone?

OK, here is the deal
When I hook up just the starter, I can raise and lower the unit, get electronics up, etc.. works fine…
When I add the two trolling motor batteries in to the mix its basically dead. I can hear the gear in the motor want to go up and down but it wont.. ive let it charge for a few hours like that and it still wont even raise the unit, trolling motor wont spin, and the electronics are dead.
The light on my 3 bank charger goes red, like its charging.
THe leads are all red/black and everything is hooked up like it should be.

Any idea what could be causing this?
thanks
ryan
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When you say “add the two trolling motor batteries in to the mix its basically dead.” You don’t mean that you’re then running 36V to the starter do you? The starting battery should be on it’s own, 12V, running everything except the trolling motor which sounds like it’s 24V.

BIRDDOG

yeah, its a 24v troller, so yeah the starter and the two trolling batteries are completely separate… sorry for the confusion… ive checked the connections 2 dozen times, and its just wacky.

now the trolling motor works, but raising the motor up and down doesnt… geez

What happens if you disconnect the charger leads from the boat starter battery???

actually, i just tried that, thanks to you, and as I was disconnecting the charger potion, it started to chirp (apparently i left the key in RUN) so i knew right away what it was…it was the top lead, so i put it between 2 others and now everything seems great.
thanks