How to Test your Boat Battery Voltage with a Multimeter!

A quick video tutorial on how to test your boat battery voltage with a multimeter to ensure your boat's marine battery is charging properly and holding a charge. Your boat's accessories need a minimum of 12.0 volts to run and some items such as fish finders and sonars won't even turn on without enough voltage on your batteries. You can also test your car battery, or any other 12v battery with this very handy device and I'll tell you what numbers to look for so you know if it's time to replace your battery or not.

I was shooting this week's video over the weekend and figured I'd shoot this quick tool tip as it's VERY handy for troubleshooting electrical problems with your boat. If you don't have a multimeter and you plan on doing your own DIY electricals, I highly recommend you pick one up.

You can find my inexpensive Gardner Bender multimeter at:

Any questions or tips on using a multimeter on your boat? Please post it in the comments section below and see you on the next video!

All the very best and tight lines :)

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[DanRichardFishing]

Just a small tool tip video I shot yesterday while filming this week's video. Having a multimeter is critical when working on the electricals of your boat or car and they're very inexpensive. Next video will be back on our regular schedule, Thursday at 2PM EST!

[charliefeinstein]

Perfect. Exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!

[chrischorney]

Very nice straight forward video thanks man. I’m so sick of Everyone talking about there dog and there wife and their family and every goddamn thing other than what the video is suppose to be about the first 10

[cliff-]

Great vid Dan! Helped me install my 94sv uhd

[TheSpiikeisme]

Afaik deep cycle can go down as low as 11.8 and still have 30% charge. And that's float value. Under load can drop to as low as 10.5v with a trolling motor pulling full 40+ amps, but once you let go of the throttle, it could still come back up to 12.2v after a few hours of trolling... which is normal...agm will also have different values than flooded

[scottrenfro]

Can you make a video on how to check (using the multimeter) my onboard battery charger? Thanks.

[rbrood]

Hi. Maybe you can help me.
I bought a new semi traxi battery 75 ah and used it for three weeks untill i found out my rectifier wasnt wired up to charge. the voltage dropped down till 10.8 and now i am charging by boat and it would go up till 11.7v

Is this battery broken now or should i charge it with a charger?

[Theskyisgreen]

Can you post a video on how to test voltage on a trolling motor

[EastCoastCasting]

Quick question for you. I have been trying to find an answer inline but haven't been able to locate much. I was running a group 24 interstate cranking battery that was purchased in April of this year for obviously my 50 HP mercury and 2 echomap 73SVs. Right after taking the battery off the charger, the Garmin units read 11.9 volts but when I hooked my volt meter up the battery read 12.79. Thought maybe something was wrong the the interstate so changed it out for group 24 everstart. Charged that up and checked it on my Garmin units and it read 12.6 and on the volt meter 12.8. I fished for about 2 hours to test it out and the voltage dropped to 12.2. Any idea what could be causing the voltage difference? Even with the low voltage with the interstate I never noticed a picture change and did not get any warnings.

[michaelross]

Just bought a brand new 12 v deep cycle marine battery hooked up multi meter and it's going up to 19. Something and shutting off saying 1.

[ltownandfriends]

played music in boat today with engine off and was wondering to what voltage can i let my single 102ah deep cycle battery drop until i can no longer start the engine? ive got a 5 liter petrol engine. also got a victron controller that goves me exact voltage reading.

[ethanm]

Hi Dan, good info there.
I have watched your past videos of you troubleshooting your Garmin sonar interference issues. I am about to install a Striker 7 on my boat this spring. I have a Terrova also. I'm not looking forward to this now... :-(
Have you found a way to reduce the interference somewhat since that video? (where you mention all the steps you have taken)
thanks

[dparel]

Don't you have to disconnect the batteries? I have 2 trolling batteries and 1 cranking/electronics battery. Trolling motor has been acting funky and I'm wondering if my batteries are going bad. It's been 3.5 years with these.

[evanhoskins]

I know this question has alot of different answers but if you could give me a general answer. Im running a battery for my trolling motor on a 10 foot jon boat.. At what voltage should I start looking for a way back to the truck.. In General..

[dellscatering]

Great video. Forgive me if I am new to this but I just purchased a used boat and it has three batteries hooked up for various items. There is an external charging system that plugs into the wall that charges all three. How would I test to see that everything is fully charged? Also, I had a weird thing happen yesterday. I got off of the water and then plugged it in to charge and it was like I could hear a faint bubbling sound coming from the 1st battery in the charging system. Is that normal lol? Thanks for any guidance!

[dexters]

if i Battery is 36v, so i go to dc 20 or dc200?

[lal]

So if im using my new 105 amp hours battery on my trolling motor, (only 28lb thrust), can I use my fully charged battery for an hour or two and then see on the volt meter how much charge is left? If it reads 12.7 before launch, would turning around, going the same speed, at say 12.5, get me back? I just want to avoid the battery running out while on the water. it's hard coming from using phones and devices with a battery percentage to marine batteries where it seems you have to look at voltage to measure charge. everything im seeing with the volt meter seems to measure battery life, not battery charge

[ThePackDad]

Why is my RV battery showing zero when I test but can power my RV? Testing other vehicle batteries gets normal results with the same meter.

[colsoncustoms]

My new deep cycle batteries sit at 13.7v when fully charged 😅

[arthicks]

What about 12v LITHIUM batteries. How do you test them for voltage??