Carver Owners Forum

This boat is ruining boating for me .
New house and starting batteries in our 44 cpmy , Feb. 2018 in TN .
Took 3 months to get it here to AZ and in the water . It was in its slip for 3 months then hauled out for storm damage repair , been on the hard now since the 1st of October . Going back in the water next week (2nd week of Jan 2019) .
Repair shop called today to inform me I need 4 new batteries ! All are dead and will not charge .
Any thought on what would cause this ?
Only CO detectors (3or4 of them) were on . Would these drain all 4 ?
I'm sure I'm going to have to replace the batteries .
What are the best ?

Something dropped the batteries to zero. Yes CO detectors can do this. I have at the shop brought back batteries that have gone to the point of zero. If they are new, try to trinkle charge them with a non-smart charger. The smart charger might not see them at that point. Use a standard charge with a trinkle fuction. See if that helps.

I agree with pepmyster. I always try this method before condemning for good and since you don't know the type of equipment the shop is using, it's worth a try. Having said that, if they're a good brand, they must have at least a one year warranty. If the supplier is too far to return them, contact the battery manufacturer and ask them to make good with a local retailer. If you bought them at a chain store, your local branch should honour the warranty and replacement.

Was the charger not on? Were the batteries not disconnected in preparation for transporting the boat?

Some GPS devices will use some power even when turned off. Also, the AM/FM radio uses power when off to retain station pre-set memory. Probably some other things that I have not thought of.

Something is not passing the smell test. What brand are these? Were all 4 new 10 months ago? Your best battery is only as good as the worst one as the newest will get dragged down by the oldest. Do you trust the shop? Almost all batteries have a one year guarantee, so check that out. Interstate batteries are what I use. The local Interstate rep can shock them back to life, if they are that brand. OR, they have a 2 year warranty so they should get replaced. The batteries are coded on the housing, so you should not need a receipt. To get to the local rep, stop at a dealer and find out who services that dealer. If you need to replace the set, I would recommend SRM29 for house/electronics application, and their cranking battery for starting batteries. The SRM29 have a really long discharge time under normal loads, and an excellent recovery capability even if your charger is not functioning properly. If you have your battery selector switch to off, and your DC main switch to off, nothing should be drawing power, accept for bilge pumps. er

Any boat pulled from the water and not on shore power will kill the batteries in short time unless. ALL power is cut to EVERYTHING or you disconnect the batteries which is the safe way if you are not yet entirely familiar with your boat. Botton line is if this was not done then yes this is normal. You could try to revive them as mentioned above however there will be some damage. The longer they have been depleted without a charge the worse it gets. If you want to read up on it look up sulfation.

Huck, when you get back to your boat have a look at your Safety Breaker panel , that is the place to make sure the hard wired stuff is off, you have two stereo memory breakers, and one for the CO monitors, plus some other, but they are the two that probably did it unless you missed something else somewhere.
I agree with all above, when out and away from power everything has to be off, and batteries fully charged then physically disconnected....then you got a shot at it......good luck man.

Here is a good read on the subject. https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/art ... prevent_it

Just one question occurred to me now,....are all four batteries wired together on the same circuit ? I ask because Huck you said new start and house.

Huck, you mentioned a couple of things that may need more thought. Boat was in TN last Feb. In water for 3 months in AZ after transport. Was lifted to repair storm damage. I don't mean to imply anything here but did you purchase the boat with storm damage or have you owned it for some time? Any possibility the storm damage has some relativity to the battery issues? Storm produce electrical anomoly? "Storm" meaning last year's hurricanes? There could be something going on besides battery performance, and that could be unsafe. OR, could just be battery failure and the accompanying domino effect on remaining batteries. Sounds like you are pretty frustrated, understandably so. Hope it gets better. Hate to see fellow boaters have trouble. But, it really drives me crazy when repair facilities are at the intersection of "providing good service" and "generating revenue" and take the wrong direction because they can. I have seen that so many times it is sad! By the way, all input in these posts is valid. Midnightsun, pepmyster, Viper, & Bud37 are what I would consider to be expert level. er