Having a problem with MotorGuide 72lb 24v trolling motor. Have 2 Optima 12v batteries, 2 years old. The last 2x out the charger indicated both batteries were charged (green lights) and batteries tested 12.5 volts but within 2 hrs of fishing the motor lost 90% of it's power. System was fine before this started. Prior to this weekend when I hooked the charger up to the batteries and put a tester on the batteries I'd get 13+ volts so I think the charger is OK. Fished this past Sunday and had same problem with the motor losing power. When I got home I put the charger on and one of the banks on the charger was blinking red indicating (I think) a dead battery?? Prior to yesterday both batteries would hold the charge at 12.5 volts or so after charging. Would beat wire or a bad wire connection at the motor plug cause this problem? If not, what else? Please advise. Thanks for your help- Joe Pepe

Joe, Just as a precaution check your connections for corrosion and do a continuity test and voltage test with a little radio shack tester. You may not be getting the charge into the battery. A fully charged battery puts out 13.5 or better. If you have a multi phase tester check your charger to see what its putting out. Is you motor plug in good shape? Are your splices from the battery to the plug-in soldered? Are all of your connections tight? All of these things, when not correct, Zap the energy out of a battery. JMHO

it's possible you have a dead cell in the battery. it'll show volts but it won't have the amps. do a load test on the batterys. that will show what kind of shape there in.

Thanks for the input. I took a look tonight and the lights on the charger were green on the "dead" battery and the tester showed the battery had 12.5v. If a cell in the battery was beat I don't think the motor would run so strong when I first get out. I think the battery wire/trolling motor connection may not be great-I changed the male/female plugs this year and rushed it a bit. Funny thing about the charger- if I put the tester on the leads from the charger I get nothing (when it's not connected to the batteries) but when I test the batteries with the leads on them I get 14+v- my buddy said the charger may need to be connected to a battery before it puts out. I'll re-do the connections up front. Thanks again for the help

I lost my last tournament from dirty connections on the jumpers between the batteries. One battery drained the other. Nine minutes late with big bag and lunker. Lost it all!!!!

Even if it they are maintainence free batteries, open up the water fill and check. Sometimes battery chargers use up all the water and they won't charge. JC

May I be the first to add: Optima batteries have a mixed past>

I wondered about that. When they first came out it was all about how they would replace all existing batteries. Now you don't hear a word about that. I'm an AC Delco voyager user, 5 yrs. per set, Beat the daylights out of the Trojans that I paid twice the price for.

Frank those ac delco batterys have a lot of happy owners. Right now I am running interstate TMs (2 of group 27), and a Cabelas AGM starting battery. Next year I am changing the TM batterys to AC delco.

Butch

AC DELCO!!! and please watch your language on the boards "MotorGuide" is nasty word around these parts!!! I have six motor-guide-corpses to prove it... can you say "Minn Kota"??? Although my Minn Kota 101 makes a lot of noise because the mount has some play in it (right out of the box). I should have sent it back from day one... oh well...

Joe, did you ever figure out the problem?