Battery Charging issue

Boat gets 12 amps on Gauge and when I disconnect the battery the boat quits running. Is it the alternator?

Delco externally regulated alternator

I have a Perkins 4-108 in my sailboat. I wanted to upgrade the alternator from a Delco (12si, I think) to an externally regulated unit of about 100 amps. I obtained a Balmar ARS-4 multi-stage regulator and I was all set to replace the delco with that, and a Leece-Neville alternator(2" delco mount). But I ran into problems: the L-N had a different pulley mounting distance and also (according to the alternator shop), would not work properly with my tach. So the shop recommended that they build me a new Delco 100 amp with a dummy reg. so that the external Balmar would work. INSTEAD, they rebuilt my old Delco (with an expensive 100 amp stator) and sent me on my way.

I was not pleased (the old delco was to be my spare) but I installed it any way. But it's performance sucks. It does not show any inclination to start charging until about 1,400 engine rpms (works out to about 2,900 alternator rpms). If I reduce rpms, the voltage falls off quickly to battery voltage. I went through the system (full field test etc.) and I think the problem is the alternator. So I went back to the shop and asked them to re-test it. I watch and notice that their "test bench" (home-made junk) spins about 4,000 rpm. No wonder they got 100 amps! But they claim they did what I asked (BULL) and so I have to be satisfied with the result.

My question(s) are;
Has anyone else been able to successfully regulate a Delco 12si externally? Or do all delco 12si refuse to charge below 2,600-2,900 alternator rpms?

boat will not start

I bought a 1973 thompson with a 350 corvette engine, i bought it in the middle of winter, did not try it bought as is, when i tried it the other day it grunted a couple of times small grunts, i put new batteries and it will now do nothing, not even a grunt or a click. i jump the solenoid with a scdrewdriver and it make s a whirling sound and that is all i get, is it i hooked batteies wrong? when i had the plugs out , i sprayed blaster in the cylinders to make sure it was not locked up , can you give me a clue where to start without spending a small fortuen, thanks greg

Alternator

by Jared
( Elliott)

I have a 1996 larson 194....volvo 5.8....I am updating my stereo, will be running a 1000 watt system. It still has the factory alternator in it . Should I upgrade the
Alternator and if yes to what amp

Boat will not start. burnt fingers......

by Derek
(Fl Keys, Fl)

hello, i was just trying to take my boat out and it would not start. I had been having the problem a lot sense I had gotten the boat. It wants to crank but not start. I have to keep cranking it for a long time. After it starts it will run for ever and even start back up with no problems. This time it would not start at all and I saw that the battery was smoking. Then I "dumb" put my fingers on the battery top and burnt the crap out of my finger.....now im typing with one hand. What should I do? I also saw yesterday that some white stuff was leaking out of the Mercury 125. Im lost..... thanks for the help. Also, I had the throdle in nutral and pushed up, and I pumped the fuel ball also. I have a 18.5 2001 Wahoo with a 2002 mercurey 125 (4 stroke). Thanks for any help!

battery won't stay charged???

by Roy
(Fayetteville, North Carolina)

I have a 1993 Pro Craft bass boat and the battery will not stay charged while it is sitting. How do I go about truouble shooting it and find out why?

ANSWER

The battery is probably sulfated and requires renewal. If you want to keep it charged while s itting then you need a charger on it every week or constant trickle charger.

Dead Boat Batteries

I live inland, my boat is 6 hours away, on the hard now. 85 Pearson 34 with minimal (by today's standards)electrical requirements. Boatyard says batteries are toast.
#1 Starter - Diehard #27582 - Group 29hm 675 CCA
#2 House - RAE #E-5 Group 27m, 27m-13, 120AH, 220 min

New to previous owner Spring 2004. Stored indoors & maintained by yard where I bought the boat over winter 04-05. Spring 05, they said the RAE was toast & got me a new one on warranty. They worked fine all summer. Watched them closely all summer on the battery monitor. I probably ran the RAE down a little too far once, maybe twice, but for the most part good voltage etc. and charged back up fine. Any idea whassup?

Battery Charging Problems

by Fritz

I have a Powertap 55amp power supply and a Smart Charge Manager charging a pair of Lifeline 8D batteries (510 amp hours ttl) in a single bank. I use a Honda 2000 watt inverter generator to run the charger. It is a boat installation and during the summer there are two other charging sources, a 60 hp outboard and 240 watts of solar panels. Neither the outboard or the solar panels contribute much now but we are living on the boat in Alaska.

I am trying to decide if my batteries are bad or the charging system is defective. I know it is probably the batteries. The charger goes through the regular phases, brings the batteries up to 14.7 volts, bulk charge, absorption, float so seems to be working normally. After charging I tested my batteries individually with a 100 amp load type battery tester. They both tested very good. The charger is set at the Concord AGM setting.

After the charger goes into float I shut down the generator and after the batteries set for a couple hours the open circuit voltage is only 12.5. Lifeline says a fully charged battery should be 12.8 volts. A typical scenario then is after around 180 amp hours removed from the bank the batteries are down to around 11.8 volts open circuit voltage. I have a Xantrex Link 10 meter.

I would appreciate any advice or information/insight you might have

Battery Problem

by Samstress
(Worcester, Ma)

I have a Boston Whaler Jet Series 351 Ford engine. I had a problem with starting my boat. While running, the old battery started a fire. Replaced with a new marine battery, this was would not keep a charge. Replaced with another battery. Boat started up great. Took the boat out to lake today, started up fine, ran for 1/2 hour. Came into dock and tried to start the boat up again. The boat would not turn over. Came home and put the charge to it. No juice left. I am charging it right now, my mechanic suggested to check the voltage. I will do this. He then said if it does not read 14 voltage, it could be my alternator?

Any Suggestions?
Thanks,
The Samstress

Tachometer and Battery Charging

I have a 1986 Evinrude 60HP Outboard motor, and I notice that the tachometer Gauge is not registering and seems to be stuck on ZERO, the battery charge gauge shows battery is not charging. All other gauges are working and engine starts and runs Okay. Last time I noticed it was working. Need to know the cause and how to fix the problem.

dead batteries

How do I open the engine hatch on a baja boat with dead batteries?

only charging at low rpm

by douglas
(pleasant garden, n.c.)

hi, have a 1997 bayliner with 5.7 mercruiser thats only charging at low rpms. just replaced the second mando alternator in one year with the same results.cleaned every wire i could find and changed battery ends to those used on autos that crimp on cable. battery was replaced less than a year ago and starter alittle earlier.could battery go bad that fast and cause a discharge when tacking up or have i missed something? i feel ive replaced a good alternator since this ones acting the same .belt seems tight.also, was considering an 8D CAT battery and woundered if it would be ok to use with this 105 amp mando alternator. thanks for any insight, Douglas in North Carolina

Boat Charging Problem

by Stevie

OK then John Payne - I've paid the £35 and bought the "Bible", but I still can't find an explanation to my charging system!!

I have recently aquired a US-built Mainship 390 trawler yacht with a CAT 3126 350HP main engine with a 55 amp 12v alternator, with a pair of large D8 deep cycle 12v batteries, with shore powered Sentry smart charger system. There is a panel meter reading the voltage of both batteries and the engine volt meter also. All read the same, so I have eliminated dodgy gauges.

The alternator has also just been replaced with a new CAT exchange alternator - and yes I should probably have requested an 80 amp unit instead of a 55 amp!
On start-up, the voltage when the fuel valve solenoid is opened drops from 12v or so to read only 11 or 11.5 volts. No problem starting, and the voltage sits there at maybe 11 volts. After maybe 5 minutes, it starts to climb towards 12 volts and then flicks back down to 11 volts and then back up to 12 volts. After maybe 10 minutes flicking up and down, it finally climbs up to 13 volts and finally after maybe 15 minutes, when the engine is warm, it gets up to just under 14 volts and then stays there quite happily looking after bow thruster needs, radar, GPS, plotters etc with no problem.

No electrical book tells me if this is OK or I have a problem. Any ideas as to where I should look? I would have expected it to go straight to 14 volts or so and maybe drift back a little.

Marine Battery problem

A/C won't hold a charge on my 1999 Larson 254 Cabrio. Alarm keeps going off



If battery wont hold charge then its probably sulfated and needs replacing

Boat Battery Problems

by Alex
(Florida)

My 41 Gulfstar sailboat has a battery setup I think needs changing. House bank is 4 -6v gels series/parallel for 12v output, the starting is 2 12v deep cycles, only one hooked up. Alternator output (150amp) is directed thru battery selector switch. I was thinking of: Truecharge 20+ charger, smart regulator, and wiring the batteries as follows: the 6volts into 2 banks on a selector switch(house), and the 2 12volts on another selector switch(starter). Alternator output thru the house switch, and using 2 Xantrex echo charge units from house to starter banks. Battery charger output ( there are two outputs) directly to each house bank. Does this make sense or is there a better way????

Boat Starting problem

My boat starts but is does not stay running like the starter is sticking.

changing alternator belt

by Paul
(Wi)

Hello, my boat is an 83 Renken. 2.5 L Omc I/O. The trim is preset & is a mechanical jackscrew type. The alternator belt broke & I was told that the engine needed to be pulled in order to change it. I scoffed at that answer but it seems on this model boat with this particular mechanical trim it seems to be true. I loosened the motor mounts on the port side of the boat & was able to get a new belt started but realized that wasn't going to work. I think I need to remove the front mounts on both sides & then lift the Trim assembly up. I could then put the belt in place. I already have a scissor jack under the motor where the alternator attaches. I was thinking a few pieces of wood under other side which would be the pan, & removing the starboard front motor mounts as well. Then removing the front screws holding the trim mechanism & getting the belt under that piece. My concern is the motor moving & messing up the connection with the lower unit. Or moving & not being able to screw everything back together again. I figure the shop will want more than I have to spend so that is out. Does anyone have a better way to accomplish what I want to do. Thanks IN Advance.
Paul

charging problem

i have a 1988 mercury outboard 115 hp inline 6, i am having trouble with the charging system what can i do to fix the problem elmer

Boat Motor hard starting when cold

by BB
(Alabama)

OMC Cobra 4.2L Very difficult starting when cold. Once the engine is warm starts immediately. I'ved replaced points, plugs, dist cap and plug wires. Choke appears to be working.

burning up voltage regulators

have replaced both voltage regulators and stator on 96 merc. 150 efi. All was good for three outings,now one of the new regulators is already burned out again. It was the one the tach. is hooked to,but it worked fine until the voltage reg went out. Any ideas on other things to check out would be a big help. Battery reads 12.5 volts and ran acc. and cranked over motor fine. The electric choke on my key switch is not working,and fuel guage not working either. Not sure if a "short" in these could burn up regs,or if it would just take out a fuse. Thanks for any help!

Alternators

by Tony Hicks
(U.K.)

Will my 14 horespower Lister SR2 engine service a 90 amp alternator ?

Boat alternator problems

by Edward

I have an I/O Volvo Penta 4.3 l gasoline engine and I have for more than a year a problem that the diode of my alternator goes bad. Each time when the mechanic changes the diode on the alternator it comes back and everything looks fine. After a week or two sitting on my drive way with the battery switch in the off position, I try to start the boat again and it fails. No power is coming from the alternator to the fuel pump and the engine doesn't start.

This is my fourth alternator and it will not solve the problem if I replace it again. There is somewhere in the system an electrical problem which causes the diode to go bad. The mechanic is now proposing to change the whole electrical wiring system??? Can somebody advice me what to do? Are we overlooking something. This problem has started in May last year and haven't been out fishing since that time.

crazy boat battery problem

by dj
(okc)

sunday I took the boat to the lake boat ran fine for about hour and half. we stopped and at lunch on the lake started boat up and got ready to take off and the engine stopped like it had ran out of gas. I tried to start it would crank but not start. Had another fellow boater stop and give me a jump and didnot start. So when I got home figured I needed a new fuel pump. Tonight I deciced to buy a new battery to check and see if that was possibly the problem. Started right up does this make any sense to any one?

Charging systems on sail bout

by Mike
(Springfield il )

what is the charging output on a 8 hp johnson sea king sail master

Batteries not charging

by Brian
(East TN USA )

Motor is Mercury 2012 150 hp on Tritoon. Batteries are dead and won't charge also smelling electrical burnt smell . Could this be Alternator or ....... ? Thanks for your help raceman21@hotmail.com

Battery Problems

My starter battery won't hold a charge. It's fairly new (only about 2 yrs) I thought it was my deep cycle battery so I changed that, then I changd the fuses from my charger to my batteries. Got enough charge to turn the motor over and start with no problem. Drove it around the lake hoping my alternator would charge it back up. Once I stopped it had no more charge. Luckily I was able to pull start it. Can you help?

ANSWER
Starter battery is probably sulfated and will require replacement. If any starter type battery ends up deeply discharged it doesnt last long after that. You do need to check the charging as many fail due to under charging and never being fully charged

alternator pulley getting hot

by Terry
(Panama City Beach, FL)

I have a 2003 Sea Ray 240 Sundeck with Mercuriser 5.0.

The alternator pulley has started getting so hot that it is causing the belt to smoke.
The pulley gets so hot it will burn your finger.
Tried loosening the belt same thing.
checked and the pulley is spinning freely.

any suggestions?

alternator belt replacement on a 3.0 1010cid 135 hp on my 18 ft 2002 larson

I believe i have to take off right motor mount to replace alternater drive belt, do i need a jack under motor if i just take right side mount only???? or is there a trick ???

Bad batteries or electrical shortage

by Gene
(Tuscaloosa, Alabama)

I have a 1999 ProCraft Fish/ski with a 125hp outboard Mercury that I have had for about a year. It has two deep cycle marine batteries and marine battery for starting (I must qualify this by saying I know very little about these systems as this is my first experience with this type boat. I had old ski boat for many years with no "bells and whistles!) Anyway, I know one of the deep cycle batteries need replaced, the other and starting battery are good according to guys at part store (they checked it a few weeks back). I have on board charging system (10amp Dual Pro Charger??) and I charged all batteries before going out. Today as I was going down the river, I noticed the RPM gauge going crazy and also the gas gauge. I stopped and shut it off. At first nothing when I tried to crank it and the tilt would not work. I checked connections on all batteries and they looked good (I had just taken the boat out two days earlier with no problems or any past issues with this). I tried the tilt for the motor and it worked and then the boat cranked. I headed back to the landing and the gauges continued to be erratic and tilt would not work again while moving. Luckily when I got back to landing the tilt worked so I could get it loaded on the trailer. Nothing when I got home but put it on charger for cranking battery and, for the moment, tilt is working and motor turned over fine. I am not the most mechanically inclined person in the world, but can do some basic stuff. Sorry for the long post and I realize it is very difficult to diagnose online, but any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I was wondering if this is a short/fuse issue or, because of the potential battery concerns I just need to replace those?? Thanks in advance for your help!!


ANSWER I would suggest you check not only the positive circuit connections but also the negative ones, often the negatives come together in one place and if any are loose then you get multiple circuit problems.

Battery won't stay charged and motor runs rough at higher RPM

by Dustin Taylor
(Post Falls Idaho)

2005 Triton 190 FS with 2005 Mercury Optimax 200 HP- After a few starts the battery no longer has enough cranking amps to turn the motor over I found after determining the following issues: A new battery was installed. I ran the boat a majority of the day, it ran fine. Towards the end of the day I got a beep indication from the driver's console and the motor began to sputter at higher RPM's. Upon return to the dock I turn the boat off and it would no longer start. I charged the battery up and it turned right over and runs fine at idle. As soon as I ramp up the RPM's in neutral it begins to run rough. When I back the RPM back down to idle it runs great. I am leaning towards the alternator because the battery is not receiving a charge and when the demand is increased on the motor it runs roughly and the warning beep occurs. If anyone has input on this I would greatly appreciate it.

battery

by Chris
(Grafton, ohio)

I have a 1984 four winns sundowner with a OMC 5.7 cobra. What size battery is needed to start this thing?