Battery / Charger problem

[BocaDon]

I have a 95 Sundancer 30 with a Pro Mariner 30 charger. When I went to the boat I found the shore power cord had disconnected and the batteries were dead. It was time to replace them so I replaced all three with the same model. When I turned power back on the charger showed no reading on the ammeter but the "DC available" yellow light was lit. The circuit breaker was not tripped. The batteries started the engines without any problem. A few days later I went to the boat and the two batteries that are tied together were both dead and will not take a charge from a portable charger. Could a faulty Pro Mariner 30 be shorting out the batteries or should I look elsewhere for the problem.

Thanks for any advice.

Don

 

[Nehalennia]

Sounds like a bad charger.
It may simply be time to upgrade.

Charger install

 

[Tail Chaser 661]

You could disconnect the pro mariner.
Then try the portable charger again.

 

[BocaDon]

Thanks for the advice. I also wrote to the manufacturer, Pro Mariner, and they came back with a way to determine if it is the charger or the batteries.
Disconnect all battery terminals, connect a voltmeter to the positive DC lead(s) from the charger and turn it on. It should read 14.6 volts. After 4 hours the reading should drop to 13.3 volts. If either of those readings doesn't occur the charger is bad. If they read correctly, the battery is bad.
I'll try it.

Don

 

[bliss]

What did you finally discover and do?

 

[ProMariner]

Don,

Is correct but I would not say the battery is bad.

There are a few other occurances that could happen.

1) If the charge has no lights or output it could be a fuse or the breaker.
2) If the voltages are different the charger could be set for the GEL profile not the Flooded Lead Acid profile.
3) A loose connection maybe to blame or even wire size.

Not trying to be picky but there is always an exception to the rule.

Check out page 9 troubleshooting http://www.promariner.com/images/ProductPhotos/Hi_Res/New_Protech-4_Owners_Manual.pdf

Let me know if you have any further questions.

I hope this helps.

Jim:thumbsup:

 

[Don Sr]

Jim or others
could you help me trouble shoot a low battery alarm my GPS keeps giving me. The alarm indicated 11.5 volts on new batteries after being left on shore power for 12 hrs. The converter power was on. While crusing around the next day I was getting voltage readings on the GPS and instrument panel of 13.5 V and it would suddenly jump to 17 V for a couple of minutes them back to 13.5. Not sure if the two are connected but any direction would be appreciated.

Is this the orginal converter?

 

[ProMariner]

I have never seen the unit before.

It is not a ProMariner unit.

That said the reason you were probably seeing the correct voltage was due to the alternator power charging the battery.

As for the 17v if you are truly getting 17 volts that will damage the battery eventually most batteries don't like more then 15 volts tops.

I would be happy to discuss my thought if you want to give me a call.

Happy to help in anyway.

Jim

603-766-7603
or email
jmitchell@pmariner.com