Evinrude Rectifier Issue

[River Gals]

I have a 1986 15 hp Evinrude outboard on a small fishing boat. A couple of years ago I set up a plug for a battery tender. The boat only gets used a couple of times a year. Everyting has been fine.

This year I followed my usual procedure. Put charger on battery. Give it until tender light turns green. Start motor. Leave tender on. Next day I went fishing.

Put the boat in, hit the electric start. Clunk sound, then nothing. Used the rope pull all day and boat ran fine.

When I got back home and started inspecting, I found that the red wire on the rectfier was totally fried, to the point of seperation.

OK, I will order a new rectifier.

My concern is why this might have happen and could something else have been damaged? I will admit to leaving the battery tender on while starting the boat with the electric starter. I am not sure why this would be an issue though.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.
Julie

 

[F_R]

Re: Evinrude Rectifier Issue

I have a 1986 15 hp Evinrude outboard on a small fishing boat. A couple of years ago I set up a plug for a battery tender. The boat only gets used a couple of times a year. Everyting has been fine.

This year I followed my usual procedure. Put charger on battery. Give it until tender light turns green. Start motor. Leave tender on. Next day I went fishing.

Put the boat in, hit the electric start. Clunk sound, then nothing. Used the rope pull all day and boat ran fine.

When I got back home and started inspecting, I found that the red wire on the rectfier was totally fried, to the point of seperation.

OK, I will order a new rectifier.

My concern is why this might have happen and could something else have been damaged? I will admit to leaving the battery tender on while starting the boat with the electric starter. I am not sure why this would be an issue though.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.
Julie

Have you ever run the motor with the battery disconnected or connected backward? Either will blow the diodes in the rectifier. There are 4 or 6 diodes in there. If you are lucky enough to blow two of the right ones, you will have a short circuit to ground and that will burn up the wire. The rectifier is not fused.

 

[Vic.S]

Re: Evinrude Rectifier Issue

Have you ever run the motor with the battery disconnected or connected backward?

Is is perfectly safe to run with the battery disconnected, although you'd have to rope start it to do so, but what can blow the diodes in the rectifier is the voltage surge caused by disconnecting the battery while the engine is actually running.


Connecting the battery with the polarity reversed is instant death to a rectifier.