Battery question

[fisherpal2k]

<font size="3"> Need some help on a battery question. I think I already know the answer but want to make sure. </font></p>

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<font size="3">Running 2 12v Deka batteries that I bought in '06 using a Motorguide 24 volt trolling motor. I know the wind was tought today but they gave it up after about 6 hrs on the water.</font></p>

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<font size="3">Now the question. When I got home I checked the batteries with a meter and one battery had 12.2 volts and the other was at 10.5 volts. Since it is a straight 24 volt troller I would think that both batteries should be drained the same. I think one has a bad cell or something but before I replace them both just wantd to hear what ya'll had to say.</font></p>

 

[EricM]

Sounds like a weak one to me. Usually they will be somewhere in the same ballpark, although they will vary a little. I use it as an indicator that one is getting weak. 3 years old, 6 hours in heavy wind? Doesn't sound all that bad! Charge them, let them sit for a day, and check the voltage.

 

[Buoy-Master]

I charged both of mine a few weeks ago...left the house while the trolling motor was on about half speed. Came home about 2 hours later...checked the batteries and one was at 70% and the other at 42%
I changed them both so i didnt have a mixed pair. Went with e Walmart Brand and they seem to hold up great...so far!

 

[jon the fisherman]

I may be crazy....OK, I am, but I swap mine around so the load on both batteries is equal. I swap the motor positive, and negative, and swap jumper positive, and negative......if that makes any sense

 

[Fuzzy]

I am with JTF. I often change the hook ups to the batteries, switching them from front to back every other month and I change all of the cabling to match. I make sure a different "charger" bank is used when I hook them back up as well as change which battery is "first". I am no electrical engineer and I guess theoretically that it wouldn’t matter, but in the past my "front" battery always seemed to give out first. So far in the last year, they both show the exact charge after use and after charge, something that I never measured in the past.