Four Bank Charger Question

I have a ten year old Minn Kota four bank charger on my Ranger. When I plug it in to be charged, two of the lights blink red and the other two one steady green light each.
Any ideas of the problem or cure?
Thanks for your input.

INDICATOR LEDs:
Each bank has the following LEDs:
- Power On (GREEN). This LED is on anytime power is applied to the unit.
- (RED): A steady RED LED indicates there is an issue with a connection. A flashing RED LED indicates an error. See Error
Conditions.
- 25%, 50%, 75% (YELLOW): These LEDs indicate the progress of charging.
- 100% (GREEN): Flashing GREEN LED indicates battery is fully charged in Maintenance Mode and ready to use. Steady GREEN LED indicates
battery is fully charged in long term Maintenance Mode and ready to use.

Error Conditions:
1) A steady RED LED for each bank is lit if any of the following apply:
a) No battery is connected to an output cord. This may also indicate a blown fuse in the fuse holder.
b) The battery is connected reverse polarity.
c) A short circuit.
d) The battery voltage is below 4 volts. The bank will not charge a battery in this condition. (see note below)
e) The battery voltage is above 16 volts. The bank will not charge a battery in this condition.
2) A flashing RED LED with steady 25% YELLOW LED indicates the battery voltage did not rise above 10.5V after 3 hours. The battery may
be damaged and will not continue to be charged.
3) A flashing RED LED with steady 50% YELLOW LED indicates the charging in Bulk Mode exceeded 20 hours. The battery may be damaged
and will not continue to be charged.
4) A flashing RED LED with steady 75% YELLOW LED indicates there is a damaged temperature sensor on the output cord. The bank will
not operate if this occurs.
5) A flashing RED LED with steady 25% and 50% YELLOW LEDs indicates a fault within the charger. The bank will not operate if this
occurs.

The above is for the newer MK chargers. I recently had issues with mine and turned out to be a bad battery. The battery was new and I replaced the charger first then found out it was the battery ...now I have a brand new spare 4 bank charger.

Damn! You know a lot.
I need to check that out with all of your information.
Thanks

Information such as this for battery chargers is typically hidden in a very secret document called the Owner's Manual. It's best not to discard that item along with the packaging the product came in. Another alternative is a high-tech development called the Internet, invented by Al Gore I believe. A "search engine" can typically be used to locate a digital file containing information for the device in question.

If you ever wonder if a problem is a battery or a particular bank of a charger, simply swap the charger connections between two batteries. If the battery is the problem, the error will follow the battery to the new bank. If not, it's the charger.

Wrong! I just know a lot!

Went through the same problem two weeks ago on my 3 bank Minn Kota charger having a solid red LED light on the bank that maintains the starting battery. Got out the DMM and found the battery to be fully charged. Removed the connections from the battery cleaned all the contacts, checked the fuses, etc., reassembled the connections and still had same problem. Again, removed all the connection, hooked the DMM to the bank on the battery charger that had the solid red LED, guess what, that bank was still working fine.

Called Minn Kota customer service in an effort to get some additional troubleshooting suggestion. Customer rep told me that based on the design of the Minn Kota charger, that what I was describing was impossible! Ask if they would like to have one of their fields reps stop by and witness the impossible. The customer rep told me that wasn't necessary as they completed understood the circuit design of their products. I politely suggest that perhaps they didn't understand the circuit design as well as they thought.

Long story short, the charger is still charging having confirmed it operation again yesterday. Most important, check out your charger with a DMM, don't trust the LED lights.

Buzz
Thanks for the great information.
I have two banks just blinking red, no other colors and the other two banks not doing anything. I will follow your advice as well as Flippin outs advice to try to find the answer.
Great advice from everyone. That's why I like TFF. There is often much more information than can be gotten from Owners manual (if you have one) or search engines. They are certainly all good, but there are some really smart, and sharing, people on TFF.
THANKS ALL!

Ron,
Sorry for the slow response. Just saw your post.

The correct answer is to remove the connections from the battery charger to the battery. With the battery charger turned off, unplugged, hook the red lead from the DMM to the red lead from the charger, and then connect the black lead from the DMM to the black lead from the charger. With the battery charger turned off, you should not be getting a DC voltage reading from the charger. Now turn the charger on, or plug it in and see if you get a voltage reading. If you don't get a DC voltage reading, then that bank of the battery charger has failed. Also be sure and check the in-line fuses on the red lead side from the charger to the battery, occasional these in lines fuses will blow and cause the battery not to charge.

If I can help you, feel free to let me know.

Buz