Left Ignition On

[Meanwhile]

So how bad did I mess up my batteries. I left the one key that turns on my gauges, but the battery charger was on shore power. Obviously the charger did not keep up as the port engine will not raise unless I combine the banks.

The port gauge reads 11.3 volts. Nothing was on, I never thought leaving the ignition key on would run down a bank.

Thoughts?

The batteries were new last year, I'm afraid I've ruined them. Stock charger.

 

[seasick]

So how bad did I mess up my batteries. I left the one key that turns on my gauges, but the battery charger was on shore power. Obviously the charger did not keep up as the port engine will not raise unless I combine the banks.

The port gauge reads 11.3 volts. Nothing was on, I never thought leaving the ignition key on would run down a bank.

Thoughts?

The batteries were new last year, I'm afraid I've ruined them. Stock charger.

That won't ruin a battery. Run the charger and the battery should recover.
The amount of time needed depends to a large extent on the charging rate. I dont know what kind/model of charger you have so I can't estimate the restore time.

FYI, the port and starboard engines should raise or lower, when the good battery is selected. So if battery 2 was not discharged, switching both switches to Battery 2 should have worked.

 

[DennisG01]

Adding on to the above...

How long did you leave the ignition in the "on" position? 11.3 is definitely discharged, but I agree that it's most likely not dead. HOWEVER, a functioning battery charger will MORE than compensate for leaving the ignition on. If what you wrote is the whole story, something else is going on. Try to charge the battery fully, then get it load tested - it could be bad.

 

[Meanwhile]

I'll wait until 10 PM Pacific time and check the volts. I have the stock charger on a 2007 Marlin, no idea of the rate of charge. I have a photo of the charger and will try to track that down.

I'm hoping the charger is working OK.

 

[Meanwhile]

The photo comes out too small. 15 amps on 2 leads.

Wish it were wired with dedicated start, not combined.

 

[seasick]

I can't tell what charger that is. You say 15A on two leads. Is that a pos and a neg for one battery or is it a two battery(dual bank) charger? That would be two positive leads and one or two negative wires.
If the former, you may be charging only one battery.How many batteries in total and how many battery switches?

You didn't say how long the ignition was left on but in general it would have pulled several amps since the ECU at a minimum is drawing power as well as gauges, fuel pump at least for a short while and possible other parts of the motor.

If the charger is a 'smart' type, there should be different lights to or light patterns to tell you what it is doing, high charge, slow charge or maintain charge.
Was the charger off when you got that 11.5 volt reading?. It should be a lot higher if indeed the charger is powered on and working.
Make sure the charger is running, leave it for a few hours, turn it off and then read the battery voltage again. It should have increased. If it did continue charging until the battery reads about 12.5 volts (with the charger off)

If the standing battery voltage doesn't increase, you have a bad charger or it is not wired to that battery.
If you can start the motors on the good battery, start them and then switch to the bad battery ( passing through BOTH and never passed OFF with the motors running). If the motors continue to run, go for a ride and give the battery some time at speed. Hopefully it is OK and will take a charge.

 

[Jody]

Like it was said to have a piece of mind do a load check it's the only true way to test a battery. Hopefully a fried has one they are not cheap. If not pull them and any parts store can do it for you. All it takes is one bad cell.

 

[Meanwhile]

The boat has two switches, 2 banks of 2 batteries.

I think what happened was one battery failed and kept the other battery from getting a full charge. Eventually they both are now toast.

I'm trying a last ditch effort with them on the bench. My charger had a reconditioning setting. Supposedly it uses bursts to break up coating on the plates. It takes a 24 for routine so i'll know more tomorrow.

The ignition to only that bad bank was on a couple days, maybe 3. Over the past few weeks I've had the engines up and down to paint the skegs with bottom paint. I did note the port side was a bit slower. The boat is still on the trailer. Normally it does in a slip May- November.

I'm looking at two new batteries and will investigate a new charger. First I'll have the wiring done for 2 start batteries and a house bank of 2 that charges when the states are full. The way it should have been wired.

 

[Meanwhile]

To finish up this post, West Marine replaced the batteries under warranty. I've also requested a quote for setting up the charging system as mentioned previously.

Thanks for your replys and suggestions.