Light out on Three Bank Charger

[Oldlures]

Guys, I keep my boat in a storage rental location and I have not fished since July,11th (infact I haven't been on Fishin.com)and since I have been rather busy working on the 9/11 Memorial project @ Kentucky Veterans Cemetery. I stopped by the location to to check on my bass boat and I noticed that one of the lights was out on my three bank charger . . . does this mean that the charger is not working at all? or is the light is just out . . . give me an opinion what this may/could be telling me. This may help to make a determination and shorten my process (on my precious time) . . . I know that I will have to get in to a final test, when I get time . . also, is there anything to be alarmed about as far as starting a fire, damaging the other banks? . . . I keep mine plugged in all year long. The equipment is was factory installed on a '98 Triton / TR-20. Thanks in advance for any help! Mel / oldlures

[MagikSmallie]

what it could/probably is, is a bad battery. I've had this happen with mine, if one of the batteries gets too low to a certain point that it won't charge and hence won't light up the charger light. try putting a portable booster on the battery that won't light up. This should "kick start" it and from there you're light should turn on. Thats the only time I've ever had a light go out on mine. I'm pretty sure your charger is okay as long as the other lights are on. another possibility is that there is a loose connection but I'm sure you've checked for that. As far as leaving them on, "they" say its okay to do that but I for one don't like it as charging batteries tends to create alot of heat. A solution to this is to plug your bank charger into a timer and have it kick on once a day for 2 or 3 hours and then kick off through the timer. This creates in essence a trickle charge and will help prevent damage to your batteries and/or a possible fire and at the same time keep a decent charge in them. Hope this helps let us know when and how you get it resolved.

[Dave Stewart]

Last time I had a light go out on my charger, it was that particular bank that had gone out on the charger. Easy check, take the charger leads off that battery and put it on one of the other batteries (make sure you take the charger leads for that battery off before you put the other leads on). If the light still in not on, then either that bank is out or the light has malfunctioned. To check this, put a volt meter on the questionable leads after you have removed them from the battery to see if there is current...if not the bank is shot.

[Ranger_07]

The same issue for me was resulting from a bad battery.

[Chris D]

Generally it takes a little power to get the charger to start charging. My guess would be the battery has a short in it and should be replaced. If you take it to a battery shop they can check it out.

[waterdog101]

wouldn't hurt to check the electric outlet, the charger is pluged into. it could have kicked a breaker.

[Professor]

All you have to do is use a volt meter. Put it on DC volts and see what the charger is putting out that will tell you if it's the charger or not. You can unhook it from the batteries and check each battery individually to see how many votes they have in them.

[Oldlures]

Hey Guys, I want to thank each and everyone for their responses and solutions I will utilize each and every one of these! This has been a very big help with my time situation and all!
I TRULY THANK each and ervyone of you from the bottom of my heart.
Mel / oldlures