I recently had a Interstate Deep Cycle battery totally die. Initially, it appeared to charge, but immediately off the charger the voltage would drop to almost nothing. Normally I would have thought it was a dead cell.
I removed the battery from my boat, and put it on a different charger, to be sure the charger wasn’t the problem. This time, it wouldn’t charge at all.
If this had been a battery other than Interstate, I would have replaced it, but I spoke with an former worker for Exide Batteries. He told me to trickle charge it for a couple of days, and then see if it will charge.
Sure enough, nothing for two days, then it started charging. Charged fully, and I tested with a load today (using my trolling motor), and everything seemed fine. I didn’t test how long it would run, but will be doing so next week when I go fishing.
I didn’t know you could save a battery this far gone, so I thought I’d pass along my experience. I was happy to save the $$ I’d spend for a new battery.
I will never buy another Interstate battery again. I have 2 deep cycle 24’s that are probably 8 months old and they last about 2 hours on a 80#TM on variable speeds. Horrible batteries waste of $200.00. I’d be better off running an extension cord from my house using a box fan to cover water.
ssflounder; there are three different levels of deep cycle marine interstate batteries. the group 24 is on the lower end. it tells you on the battery what the run time is. i would think that a new one fully charged would last longer than you said. you need to put a full charge on both and then do a load test to make sure that they are still in good running order. even batteries can come up bad here and there. i have seen brand new cars off the hauler with a bad cylinder. take the batteries back to where you bought them. they are under warranty and interstate will back up the warranty. i know . i am the mid state sales mgr for them. the dealer should make it good for you. also; when they do maybe you might want to move up to the next level.
good luck.
mandopickr; nice report. that can work on some and not on others but glad that it worked for you. what happens is that the battery is too low to take a full charge and therefore you need to do exactly as you did. after a while it will build up enough to where it will take on a full charge. also; a battery needs to show at least 12v before you put a load test on it.
Dang, and here I thought when I read the thread title it was gonna be dumping out the old acid from battery, flushing with garden hose, then refilling with sulfuric acid like my old man used to do!
Russ B. www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
quote:a battery needs to show at least 12v before you put a load test on it</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”> am I hearing wrong? A battery will show 12V if it’s dead on a multimeter. The amps it generates under a charge is what is delivering power correct. I have a ProMariner 2 bank charger onboard that trickle charges after every use. I also have a Schumacher 12/24 Volt, 10 Amp Battery Charger that I’ve also charged them seperately before use. I may take them to an auto store to put a loadtest on them.