So last Wednesday, I forgot to turn off my perko switch. Thursday morning my nephew washed by boat for me and flipped the nav lights on, they were on since Thursday morning until Friday afternoon when I dropped it in the water.
Turned the key "click click click"
Jump started my boat and voltage gauge was only showing 11 volts.
I ran it for a good hour, voltage gauge was up near 12 and shut it down.
It started right up again and I figured that's all it needed. Later that evening I was running it again and this time I was playing my stereo too, motor just died on me, voltage gauge was zero, dashboard was beeping, etc.
Saturday morning I bought a new battery, thinking I screwed up playing my stereo on a dead battery and that I was drawing more current than my alt can produce.
Surfed all day Saturday, kept the stereo and a cool casual level, success!
Sunday, kept the stereo low, surfing again voltage gauge drops to 11volts so I head back to anchor to investigate. Shut down boat, unload everything and decide to start it up so I can pump out the fatsacs. Turn key "click click click" again.
I assume my alternator is "going" out. Jump started it again and checked the voltage on the alt 10.9 volts. shut it down, look closer at alt and see the orange wire burned a little and loose on the alt. I pulled it off, cleaned it up and tightened it back down. Jump started it again, put it in neutral and ran it up to 1200RPM for about 15 minutes, voltage gauge read 13 volts and slowly climbed.
Now my questions:
1. Do alternator "go" bad intermittently? or do they finally quit and go bad period?
2. When I was reading only 10.9volts on the alt, would dead batteries drag down voltage out of the alternator?
3. Should I look into rebuilding my alternator to a 90 amp alt, or get an Isolator? What is the purpose of a "140 amp" isolator as opposed to a 100 amp alternator?
Turned the key "click click click"
Jump started my boat and voltage gauge was only showing 11 volts.
I ran it for a good hour, voltage gauge was up near 12 and shut it down.
It started right up again and I figured that's all it needed. Later that evening I was running it again and this time I was playing my stereo too, motor just died on me, voltage gauge was zero, dashboard was beeping, etc.
Saturday morning I bought a new battery, thinking I screwed up playing my stereo on a dead battery and that I was drawing more current than my alt can produce.
Surfed all day Saturday, kept the stereo and a cool casual level, success!
Sunday, kept the stereo low, surfing again voltage gauge drops to 11volts so I head back to anchor to investigate. Shut down boat, unload everything and decide to start it up so I can pump out the fatsacs. Turn key "click click click" again.
I assume my alternator is "going" out. Jump started it again and checked the voltage on the alt 10.9 volts. shut it down, look closer at alt and see the orange wire burned a little and loose on the alt. I pulled it off, cleaned it up and tightened it back down. Jump started it again, put it in neutral and ran it up to 1200RPM for about 15 minutes, voltage gauge read 13 volts and slowly climbed.
Now my questions:
1. Do alternator "go" bad intermittently? or do they finally quit and go bad period?
2. When I was reading only 10.9volts on the alt, would dead batteries drag down voltage out of the alternator?
3. Should I look into rebuilding my alternator to a 90 amp alt, or get an Isolator? What is the purpose of a "140 amp" isolator as opposed to a 100 amp alternator?
and Perko to my setup. Also upgarded that whimsy 12 maybe 10 gauge wire coming off the alternator.
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