VOLTMETER PEGGED

[Bart Sr.]

Hi guys...I was going to take the boat out for the first time yesterday so I got the battery off the shelf in the basement and hooked it up.Got nothing but clicks.Hooked up the charger on quick start and waited 15 minutes as per unit instructions and still nothing.Hooked up the jumper cables and got it running but after running for 15 minutes at 1200 RPMs there was only enough power to trim a few times and start a few times.So I hooked the charger on trickle and tried after work today.It started fine and ran fine but the VOLTMETER IS PEGGED at 18.<br /><br />Anyway I must be suffering from CRS because I'm wondering about the battery cable connections.Mainly the two smaller ones.One red and one black.I connected red to positive and black to ground.Is this correct???????<br />Could this cause the meter to be pegged????????<br /><br />Thanks in advance>>Bart Sr.

 

[Ben Konopacky]

Re: VOLTMETER PEGGED

bart ; the hook up was correct RED + BLACK - ..<br />sometimes a loose connection will peg a guage.check the output with a meter to varify the DC voltage...if you did reverse the leads you could have caused a rectifier to blow. we all get crs at times...good luck

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: VOLTMETER PEGGED

Guys....I know I'm from Canada but what is "CRS"?

 

[farginicehole]

Re: VOLTMETER PEGGED

Can't remember ****.

 

[Boatin Bob]

Re: VOLTMETER PEGGED

OK...I knew that's what it was...I just couldn't remember

 

[xltier]

Re: VOLTMETER PEGGED

if yur charging 18 volts than ur alternator or voltage regulator is malfuctioning.ur overcharging.some alternators have the regulator built in.u should charge approx.14 volts.hth

 

[cp]

Re: VOLTMETER PEGGED

Get a voltmeter or multimeter that's known to be working good and go measure across the actual battery posts, then measure across the cable connectors on the battery posts. You should get exactly the same voltage. If the measured voltages are not the same, you've got a poor connection to the battery.<br /><br />That'd explain why you couldn't get any juice out of it to start, and why the charger (connected to the terminals, not directly to the posts, right?) couldn't put any juice into the battery. But when you jumper (to the terminals, right?) you could start the engine.<br /><br />Does your motor have an alternator? Poor contact between the cable connectors and the battery posts also explains why the motor couldn't charge the battery while you were running, and maybe the alternator regulator sensed the low battery voltage and pumped up the alternator's output to 18 volts to try to overcome the high resistance contact in order to charge the battery.<br /><br />If there's no difference in voltage between battery posts versus between battery terminals, then use the multimeter to verify if you've indeed got 18 volts on the system, in which case your regulator may be fried.<br /><br />Just my 2¢. Good luck. Let us know what you find.