New To Me Boat Battery Question

[Hoomsie]

I have a new to me 96 Ranger R72 which has 4 batteries in the back. Recently the battery charger crapped out so i need to buy a new one. Do i need to buy something that charges all 4 batteries? The old charger was only a 2 bank.

I have a motorguide trolling motor up front with 2 fish finders.

Thanks for your help!

[Way2slow]

Yes,

[A-Jay]

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

 

Fortunately there are several very experienced members here who can offer you solid info on your battery charging needs.

 

I am not one of them

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay 

[WIGuide]

I'm assuming if you have 4 batteries that you must be running a 36 volt trolling motor? If you are then yes you need a 4 bank charger. I'd recommend a Dual Pro 4 bank charger. It's not cheap, but they're worth the extra money.

[Hoomsie]

Thanksfir your replies.

as far as i know i am not running a 36v motor. I dont know why i have 4 batteries. Im looking into ways of figuring them all out.

[Way2slow]

Pretty easy to figure out, See what battery the negative cable from the TM is connected, call that battery 1 . The positive of that battery 1 will be connected to the negative to another battery, call it battery 2.  Now, if it's a 24V TM, the TM's positive cable will be connected to the positive post of battery 2.  If it's 36 volt, the positive of battery 2 is going to be connected to the next battery, call it battery 3, and the TM's positive cable will be connected to the positive post of battery three.

 

For sure, one battery is the cranking battery. 

 

Now, if it is a 24V TM, there are two things he could have done.  He could have his electronics on a separate battery by themselves, I have seen people do that, or he for some unknown reason he could have parallel two batteries for the cranking battery.  This will have two batteries positive post connected together and their negative post connected together. 

 

If for some reason two batteries are parallel for the cranking battery, then you only need a three bank charger

Or, maybe he just bought a new cranking battery and forgot to take the old one out.

[Hoomsie]

Wow thanks i will check that out this weekend

[Vayned]

Don't know if they make 4 bank battery chargers..

[Hoomsie]

I will probably buy a 3 bank charger and redo the electrical in the winter.

Does anyone know if there is a tutorial on setting up your boats electrical system?

[Way2slow]

A number of companies make four bank chargers.

As for a how to guide, don't know of one other than start asking questions as they come up. Then sort through the replies and work with what you feel comfortable with and looks like will accomplish what you are trying to do.

Don't leave the cranking battery off the on board charger, it usually needs charged after each trip the same as the TM batteries. Plus a good on board charger is also a maintainer to keep them charged when the boat is stored/not in use.

[Hoomsie]

thats what i didnt understand. the 2 bank charger that was on the boat did not look like it was on the cranking battery. i bought the 3 bank and i will be looking to redo the electrical as soon as i can to have it on the trolling motor batteries and the cranking battery

[Way2slow]

A lot of people assume since the motor has a charger, it will keep the cranking battery charged, most of the time, that's not the case with bass boats unless you are doing a lot running because of the drain the electronics and pumps put on it. Also you will want all the batteries on a maintainer.

[Hoomsie]

So we figured it out. The trolling motor was using 2 batteries and the starting battery was connected to another deep cycle battery. I removed the deep cycle battery and everything was still fully operational. I tested the batteries and they all had the proper voltage as well.

 

The boat now also gets on plane faster too.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

[Way2slow]

If I may, I would like offer some advise.  Most likely, the reason it was connected that way is at the end of the day, he had some problems getting the big motor started because of a weak cranking battery.  When you are fishing all day and not doing a lot of running, the pumps and electronics place a pretty good drain on the cranking battery.   

 

For that reason, I always run a large group 29, dual purpose cranking battery.  I would recommend you check the size and type of your the cranking battery installed and also take it to a parts store or battery shop that has a tested and have it tested.  If it's not at or above it's rated CCA, replace it.  If it's not a at least a group 27 dual purpose or AGM with at least 25% more CCA than recommended for your motor, replace it with one that is. 

 

The reason I say 25% more, you have realize, the motors recommendation is for a fully charged battery, by the end of the day, you are most likely not going to have a fully charged battery, and potentially a battery too weak to crank the motor.

 

The reason for the dual purpose is cranking batteries are not built to be repeatedly discharged more than the few percent it takes to crank the motor.  Bass boat generally discharge them by the end of the day way more than that little kick start it takes the crank the motor.  This is also why you should charge your cranking battery after each trip the same as you do your TM batteries. 

 

Now, what you do with this info is your prerogative, but from what you had, and eliminating that second battery without checking/upgrading your cranking battery, you might find yourself having a bit of a problem getting back to the ramp somewhere a long the way. 

 

Also, I strongly discourage the use of jumper cables being connected to the cranking battery, that can turn out to be very expensive.  The arc created many times when connecting/disconnecting jumper cables can blow the motors Rec/Reg, or ECM or both, none of which you are going to enjoy the price of. 

[Hoomsie]

I was thinking about that. I will look into it. Fo you think it could have been because he did not have a charger on his cranking battery?

[Way2slow]

Not charging the cranking battery is a very common mistake a lot of people make with a bass boat, thinking because the motor has a charging system, it will keep it charged.  Not necessarily the case.  If you had rather spend your time fishing, and not making long runs, the motors charger usually is not enough. 

Several years back a study was done at some big tournaments,  and at the end of each day, they checked the cranking batteries level of charge and most were only about 80%.

 

Now, not knowing how the person used it or why he had the second battery, anything would be strictly a guess.  It could have just been an extra security blanket, don't know.  I just know from my past experience and having been messing with them since their *** (yea, I'm and old fart) what I would do, and how I set mine up.   Plus I also have a pretty strong background in batteries.

[Hoomsie]

Looks like i did need that other battery. i was fishing from 7am-12 and ended up not getting the engine to turn over. it was really strange. eventually after 20 minutes the boat did start but when i tried to hit the throttle it would stall out.

 

could i possibly remove the current battery and use a deep cycle for a cranking/accessory battery? do you have any ideas as to why the engine would stall when i would try to accellerate.

[BKeith]

Depends on the size motor you have if you can use a deep cycle or not. Deep cycle won't deliver a whole lot of cranking amps and at the end of the day, you may still be in the same situation, if you have one of the big V6 motors.

I have a feeling, your cranking battery is too small or about used up. Take it and have it tested. Straight cranking batteries don't work out real well in bass boats. I have always put my faith in a group 29 dual purpose in a quality battery and have never had a problem and for the past 10 years that has been cranking a 225 Ficht DFI motor. As a minimum, I would get a group 27 dual purpose. I also only run my cranking battery three, four years max in anything, cars and boats. For no more than they cost, it's not the heartburn they can cause. I buy biggest, baddest 72-84 month batteries I can, and swap them out in 36-48 months. Been doing that for about the last 40 years and have never had a dead battery since.

AGM's will deliver the CCA and they give a long duty cycle, but they run a little short on Reserve capacity and most outboard charging system don't like them and they can cause problems with them, especially those a few years old. I stick with the flooded cell batteries, more reserve capacity and less cost.

[Hoomsie]

What brand do you normally go with? Ill check to see what the deep cycle that i removed was when j go back up to my cottage.

I have a 4 cyl 115 hp johnson motor

[BKeith]

OK, you have just explained a lot.  I'm pretty sure the 1996 115 Johnson only has a 10 amp charging system, which does OK in run-abouts but not good in bass boats.  10 amps barely keep the battery charged from the regular cranking of the motor, and will not keep it up with all the electrical stuff on.  That's why they had a second battery in the boat, which would not be necessary if you run a big dual purpose and charged it at the end of the day just like you do your TM batteries.

 

I would recommend checking the charging systems output voltage and make sure you are putting out over 13.8 volts at 2,000 rpm.  Check this by just reading across the cranking battery with a Digital Volt Meter.

 

I would have the cranking battery in the boat tested.  If it has caps on it, you can buy a hydrometer for about $10 and check it.  Minimum 1.26.

 

Deka

Intestate

DieHard  

Most any name brand battery

[Hoomsie]

So a strong fual purpose battery will give a full day of cranking and use? Does this explain why the engine would stall when throttled?

[BKeith]

That should solve your battery problems, as long as you charge it when you come in.

 

Shouldn't do anything about the motor stalling, that motor does not need a battery to run,   With the CDI system in it, If you could get a pull rope on it, or some way to spin it over at 250rpm, you could throw the battery away and it run just fine.  The key switch has to ground out the ignition to shut it down,

 

Your bogging should be something else, unless somebody did away with the VRO and put an electric fuel pump on it, then a dead battery could cause you a problem.   However, I wouldn't get too concerned until I had a good, fully charged battery in it and it was still stalling.  Strange things can happen, and if you never had a problem with it stalling until the battery was down, I would wait and see if it still did it.  Shouldn't have any affect on it though.