Newbie Battery Charging questiong!

[JBozeman]

My Hydra Sports has an old Battery Charging system on board:

Duel Pro XL, 5 Amps per bank.

I have one indicator with 5 red lights indicating initial charge according to documentation I located. No lights at all on the other indicator.

Does the charger charge one battery and then switch to the other at the completion of a charge.

When I first plug in the charger, the light indicator on the right as you look at the charger, has two to 3 reds come on briefly and then fades to black with the light indicator on the left then going to 5 reds.

Now at 5 amps, how many hours are we looking at for full charge. I haven't been able to get a indication as to how old these batteries really are. All instrumentation, Navigation lights, aerator, bilge, Depth Finder, horn, trim all seem to be working ok but I have no meters to check the batteries.

Anyway was really more curious about the mechanics of the charger charging one battery and then the other or does it do so simulteanous. My old charger was a ten amp and I of course I would put one battery on charge the evenging before I would fish the next day, full charge the next morning. LOL! Now charging 2 batteries at 5 amps!

I been away from all this far to long!


Take Care Y'all

[genxer36]

Not familar with that charger. A picture would help.

I just found out my old charger isn't working like it should. It charges 2 batteries at the same time. I charged them for 5 hours & put my 2/10amp charger on each battery to see if it was working. Apparently it isn't. One was 75% the other was 60%. I put the single charger on & charged all of them fully.

[4strokes]

5 lights on a Dual Pro usually means the battery is way down on power (possibly dead cells too) with less lights showing more charge until it gives a final GREEN light & goes into float mode.

I have the 3/15 three bank 45 watt version of this charger in my Startos & so far it's been a real good one. Mine shows 5 lights when the batteries are real low & each red dot turns black as it goes down the charging scale to one red dot & then finally the green fully charged dot/light.

One thing the manual doesn't state is that sometimes you'll have a battery that shows it's almost fully charged with one red light still remaining but doesn't go into the GREEN fully charged mode on the charger.

Simply unplug the charger for a few seconds & plug it back in & that red light will now turn green. At least that holds true for mine & my neighbors, he has a 2 bank 10 amp that does the same thing. However, most of the time they go thru the charge cycle & go green.

All models are a little different in their approach of reaching full charge & float mode. Some charge one battery at a time while others charge all at the same time & some will actually put the power where it's needed most until all banks are fully charged.


Could not find a direct link to your particular charger but pretty sure this info is consistent for most of their offerings.

http://www.chargingchargers.com/manuals/dual-pro-universal.pdf

[FisherMan]

It all depends on how drained your batteries are. Usually 5-8 hours does the trick.
As Gen said, a pic would be helpful to dertermine what you have. Is there a name on it or model number? On boards usually charge each battery at the same time. As a battery reaches full charge that battery will go into maintenance mode. and the others will keep charging til they are full. So the indicators have a meaning, We just can't say what til we know what ya have.

[JBozeman]

Will attach a pic later today!

Here is what I have been able to find:
Installation and Operating Instructions
(for all Professional, Sportsman and XL Series chargers)



As you look at the Charger there is a light panel on the right and left side.

What I can find on documentation is that in each panel is a place for
5 Reds and 1 Green
5 Reds indicates initial charging phase
4 Reds indicates "Above 13.0 volts"
3 Reds indicates "Above 14.0 volts"
2 Reds indicates "Battery 80% charged"
1 Red indicates "Final Charge Phase"
1 Green "Charge Current Off-Monitoring"

I am assuming that means the same on the other light panel but the documentation doesn't mention anything about the second light panel and I have not seen that one come on to any degree except at inital plug in of the charging system and then whatever amount of reds that came on fades to black rather quickly.

At any rate,I checked frequently and at 20 hours all lights had gone out, I unplugged and plugged in again and within a minute or so the indicator showed 3 Reds. Also I did find a tag on one of the Batteries indicating a purchase of March of 07. That being said I guess I should abandon charging until I find what is the condition of these batteries.

Before I forget, obviously the charger is charging a bank of two batteries and on the driver side of the boat there is one battery by itself. I see no leads coming to that battery from the charging unit. Haven't had time to trace all the wiring as yet. So much to do and no time to do what needs to be done. I will continue to keep you guys updated with what I find and I think at this point I am going to pull these batteries and take then to Autozone or somewhere and get them tested. If all of them are 07, they are getting like me, aged!

Again, thanks so much for all your help! I took (of Necessity) way to many years off from this stuff or I would know it already and would not be bugging you guys with it now but I truly appreciate all of your comments which are so helpful!!

Thanks again for your help guys!

[FisherMan]

Ok, you have a 2 bank charger. Thats not a bad thing. The motor usually charges the crank battery, however running your electronics and livewell etc willd rain the crank battery and if you do not run the motor long enough it will not reach full charge. Batteries are 5 years old. May be time for replacement. Check the acid/water level and make sure they are full. To determine if you need new batteries, when your out fishing, does it seem that your batteries are dying when running your troller on a full day of fishing? If so replacement is needed, if not then milk them out longer. Average life of a battery is 4-5 years. I usually sell mine after 3 years and get new ones.

If it was my boat, I would upgrade to a 3 bank. Always want to keep all batteries topped off! The way your saying the led's come back on after a min wait is telling me your batteries are not commiting to be fully charged.

[falcooon]

With the age and unknown maintenance...save your self some grief and buy new batteries. Then check the charger. Your two bank charger is just charging your trolling motor. Your crank battery will suffer if your engine does not run long enough to fully charge it.

If the charger is bad, replace with a three bank to charge all batteries after every outing.

Charge time is variable but it's a matter of replacing what you use. i.e if you draw 30 amps for one hour...you will need to charge more than 6 hours at 5 amps (not 100% efficient)....

Get good batteries and a good multi stage charger,forget the issue, and enjoy the boat!
:cheers:

[JBozeman]

With the age and unknown maintenance...save your self some grief and buy new batteries. Then check the charger. Your two bank charger is just charging your trolling motor. Your crank battery will suffer if your engine does not run long enough to fully charge it.

If the charger is bad, replace with a three bank to charge all batteries after every outing.

Charge time is variable but it's a matter of replacing what you use. i.e if you draw 30 amps for one hour...you will need to charge more than 6 hours at 5 amps (not 100% efficient)....

Get good batteries and a good multi stage charger,forget the issue, and enjoy the boat!
:cheers:

Yup, think that is what I am going to do! Replace the batteries. Going to take some time to get enough money to replace three batteries. Last evening I cleaned up some more wiring on the batteries and the 12V 40Amp (I guess fuses) are rather corroded. Sprayed them down with WD

Now we have to dodge Tornadoes in Alabma again tomorrow so more delays. Step at the time anyway!

When things calm down a bit I gues I will see if I can get some gas in this thing to see if it is even going to fire and hopefully I will be fishing by late May anyway!


Take Care Y'all

[genxer36]

Take the batteries to Advanced auto or Autozone. They will test the batteries for free. This way you may not need to replace all the batteries at this time. It could be just one bad battery.

[JBozeman]

Ok, Gen I finally took your advice and took them to Advanced! Wow, 2 real good batteries and 1 questionable. Money saved already!

2nd thing, while disconnecting everything, found some damage on one of the circuit breaker deals

12 V 40 amp broken insulation on back side. May be the problem with the charger if it shorted or whatever happens with those things.

Anyway, thanks for all the great help guys! You folks are saving me money already!

Take Care Y'all

[genxer36]

Ok, Gen I finally took your advice and took them to Advanced! Wow, 2 real good batteries and 1 questionable. Money saved already!

2nd thing, while disconnecting everything, found some damage on one of the circuit breaker deals

12 V 40 amp broken insulation on back side. May be the problem with the charger if it shorted or whatever happens with those things.

Anyway, thanks for all the great help guys! You folks are saving me money already!

Take Care Y'all

Good to hear it worked out on the batteries.

My 26year old boat came with breakers for the trolling motor batteries, but they were worn out. Instead of trying to find the original breakers, I went with the one that automatically resets itself & bypassed the old breakers. Works great! I think I found the breaker @ west marine or on ebay in a boat parts store.

This is what I have. It was $9 or $10 when I bought it.

12/24v/50amp
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TROLLING-MOTOR-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-50-AMP-12-24-VOLT-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5d288ed9ffQQitemZ40011 2409087QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

12v/40amp
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RIG-RITE-340-TROLLING-MOTOR-WINCH-40A-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem414d9bde2bQQitemZ28047 4934827QQptZBoatQ5fPartsQ5fAccessoriesQ5fGear

[derick881]

Use a digital voltmeter to test the voltage on each of your batteries. For lead acid batteries a full charge is 12.65 volts if I remember right.

Check the voltage of both batteries, then plug in the charger and recheck the voltage. If the voltage is higher with the charger plugged in it means that the battery charger is working. The fact that the lights are going out right away on the first bank makes me wonder if it is working or not.

For a large trolling motor battery it could take upwards of 20 hours to charge with a 5 amp charger, that's why most of us get larger chargers. It is necessary if you are using the TM hard several days in a row such as during tournaments.