found all dash lights on when I went to get my boat out of storage

[RobW8184]

I have inside storage and leave the boat plugged in on a trickle charger, 1st time I have been there this year. found all the red function LEDs on (bright red) but not enough battery power to run anything. switched off the battery and back on and the LEDs came back but much dimmer. nothing working, so I bought a new battery and hooked it up and everything seems to be working except the horn. I did not put the boat in the water or start it since this was spring cleaning day and will be back next week. I put it back on the trickle charger before I left.

Any ideas what happen? normally the charger does its job and I have to enter my code to turn on the dash.

[mmwjr]

No clue since you haven’t told us what boat brand or model you have. Some boats have a switch that turns on the helm lights. When storing I disconnect the negative cable from the battery as there can be several things such as radio memory directly wired to the battery.

[RobW8184]

I own a 2004 2100 sd. it was not the helm lights but the LEDs function indicator lights. I leave the battery connected on the trickle charger.

Got some feedback from a friend, he seems to think the battery went bad and shorted which caused the charger to light up the dash controls. Then reset with the new battery installation.

[mmwjr]

Not sure what these LEDs are can you post a picture? Your friends thought doesn’t make sense to me because if the battery shorted the charger would be across that short and is designed to fold back its output in this case. LEDs will not light under reverse polarity as they are diodes so something must have been on that provided power to them. IMO I would disconnect the battery when in storage, yo7 can still hook up the trickle charger to it.

[shrew]

Originally Posted by RobW8184

I own a 2004 2100 sd. it was not the helm lights but the LEDs function indicator lights. I leave the battery connected on the trickle charger.

Got some feedback from a friend, he seems to think the battery went bad and shorted which caused the charger to light up the dash controls. Then reset with the new battery installation.

Your friend is misguided and I would not seek him out for 12VDC advise.

1) A battery going dead isn't going to 'short out'. In what way is the circuit shorted?

2) A bad battery, even one is which the plates fused together, wouldn't start sending a charge to the panel.

The lights on the dash pull power from the circuit they're attached too. I'd look at whether some DIY person accidentally backfed the dash panel.