Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Starting issues on the 4th

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    Starting issues on the 4th

    We have been having some issues starting the boat after sitting for a while. The last time, I know it was the battery because the stereo shut off and I switched to the other one and it started.

    It always starts right away when we get to the lake but when we park and listen to music, it always has trouble starting but not like yesterday. I have two batteries and charged them both on a low amp overnight and made sure they were ready to go.

    While we were sitting yesterday everything seemed to be working, I would start it every so often to make sure we were good and I only had it on 1 battery, but when we took off to leave, it was running at a really low rmp and stopped. Then it took a good 10 mins of turning it over every few minutes and it finnaly went.

    Any ideas??

    2006 24V 180hrs, I've always filled up in town with gas
    Tags: None
    #2
    If it was purely a battery issue, it either wouldn't have started at all, or it would have run fine once you got it started.

    Could be an alternator issue, or I think more likely an isolater issue.

    If you have one battery that is not being charged by the alternator, it would make sense that everything works great when you trickle charge them both overnight at home, then run the stereo all day on one battery.
    Then when you flip to both batteries to go home, your fully charged battery is being drained by the dead one. That is exactly what the isolater is supposed to be preventing, so that's my guess. If you run your stereo off of only one battery all day, make sure you are using the deep cycle one, and reserve the high CCA battery for getting you home.

    If you find yourself in the same situation, or you can replicate it in the garage by running the battery down like you do on the lake, try switching from only one battery to only the other when you start the boat. If that seems to fix the problem, it would point to the isolater.

    Comment

      #3
      I believe both the batteries say cranking on them, I could be wrong but would that change anything?

      Comment

        #4
        They both would have a cold cranking amps rating on them. However, there should be one battery that also says "deep cycle" and probably has a lower Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) number than the other.

        The deep cycle battery is designed to take many charge and drain cycles without losing its ability to hold a charge, but it will not be as able to put out the high amps that are needed when starting the engine. The other battery is not as capable of standing up to constant drain and charge cycles, but puts out big amps when needed.

        If everything is functioning properly, you shouldn't have any problems, even with 2 "starting" batteries.

        Unless a previous owner changed out a battery and didn't know what he was doing, one battery will definitely be a deep cycle.

        On your battery selector you should have off - 1 only - all/both - 2 only.
        I believe battery 1 is normally the starting battery and 2 is the deep cycle, although it could be the other way around.

        If you are going to float all day and want to run the stereo, the goal would be to run it off the deep cycle. More importantly, the bilge pump will be wired to run off of the deep cycle.

        I would try using the other battery next time you're out. (if you had it set to battery 1 only last time, set it to battery 2 only next time)
        If you were running everything off of your starter battery, it could explain why you had a hard time starting, but would not explain why it ran at low rpms and died.

        After the "10 minutes of turning it over every few minutes", did it start and run like normal?

        Comment

          #5
          It took 10 min to turn over, once it started, it was running fine.

          Comment

            #6
            If the charge was too low to start the boat the first time, trying to start it multiple times over a 10 minute period would just drain the battery further, and you would not be able to start at all. So my conclusion is this:
            When you had it set to run off of only one battery during the day, you selected the starting battery and it was drained by running the stereo, or some other factor (maybe you have a short somewhere) to the point where it could not start the boat. When you switched back to both batteries, the deep cycle charged the starter battery back up over those 10 minutes.

            If your isolator was functioning correctly, it would have kept that from happening. Also, your starter battery should be charging up when you were starting the boat up to check it every so often. If your isolator is bad, it may not be putting a charge on that starter battery when the boat is running.

            I would test the isolator by running the boat and reading the charge going into each of your batteries. Also test the batteries by selecting one 1 and seeing what your dash gauge says, then select only the other and check the gauge again.

            Comment

              #7
              Sounds good, thanks a lot for the feedback! I'll see what I come up with

              Comment

                #8
                Good luck, and when you do find out what the problem and solution really is, please post it up so that we all know what to do when it's our turn.

                Comment

                Previous template Next
                Working...
                X