Battery Wiring

[dreddy]

My apologies for posting something that has probably been covered often, but my connection time/method is limited. We are trying to salvage a boating vacation. My boat partner is on the lake and both batteries of our 2004 24v are being drained or not charging. He is a previous Tige owner (06 22v) and had a similar situation that was corrected by a re-wiring of the dual battery system. He said there was an issue with the factory wiring that required a simple swap to get it working correctly. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I know this may be shot in the dark, but if anyone can remember something similar, I may be able to get the info to him so he can stay on the lake (LAKE POWELL!)

Thanks in advance if you can help.

[chpthril]

I do not recall any incorrect wiring issues with those boats, but I doubt it would still be a problem on a 10 year boat. A bad switch, battery(s) or failed cable end or failed alternator could easily cause one or both batteries to go dead or not receive a charge. If there is a problem, then rewiring the battery/switch is only circumventing the root problem and not fixing it. Without diagnosing the problem, its impossible to say what it may be exactly what needs to be done or how.

A volt meter is going to be the best and shortest method to find a hopefully fix the problem. Sorry, I know its not a lot of help right now, but if he can get a hold of a meter, testing is easy and may find the problem.

[dreddy]

Normally, I would completely agree this wouldn't be a problem with a 10 year old boat but we bought it with 30 hours on it. We have already been experiencing a few of the normal new boat issues along with some dry-rot issues. Plastic and rubber stuff just doesn't last forever. That being said, the engine itself is in great condition and practically new.

I was able to get some more info from them this afternoon and now think this may be a simple alternator problem. Putting a freshly charged battery in place allows everything to work, it just doesn't charge and is depleted fairly quickly. They tried doing this in either battery position with the same results. Fortunately they were there with another boat with a dual battery system and were swapping charged batteries in and out to keep the fun going for a while and it was enough to get them off the lake this afternoon.

From what I have read (correct me if I'm wrong), it also seems that Tige didn't install this system at the factory? Someone on the forum indicated that they didn't produce a factory dual battery system until 2006 and then it wasn't on a 1-2-combine Perko switch with a hard-wired charger that ours has, but a battery 1, 2 or off switch. It was probably installed at the dealer and so it won't necessarily conform to a known diagram. Looks like we will drawing out our own after some poking around with a meter. They didn't have one in the tool bag for the trip.

At any rate, we will get the problem sorted out in the driveway rather than on a remote beach in the middle of the lake and try to head back down to finish the fun on Monday.

Thanks.

[dreddy]

It was only a loose connection on the alternator. The nut was about 1/2" from tight, but was under a rubber boot so it was never looked at on the lake. Looks like the battery issue is fixed, but we will have a shake-down run locally before we head out just to be safe. There is also a prop vibration so a new prop is on the way. It will actually be the right one for our boat anyway and we will get the wobbler fixed as a spare.

I don't think that nut was tight from the factory the way it looked. There just aren't enough hours on this thing for all of these items to have been shaken out. Needless to say, I will have a larger tool-box on board for the next few outings.

Sorry again for revisiting something that turned out to be an easy fix. I'm just glad it was easy.