Greetings from New Zealand. I got back to the ramp the other day after a great day's fishing and smoke started pouring from my wiring. Turns out my battery charging wires shorted about 3 feet from the motor. There was some excitement as unbeknown to me that circuit had no fuse and and it was not wired through the battery isolator switch (now remedied). There was no sign of melting in the last three feet of wiring to the motor but the rest of it was melted all the way to the battery, amazing how quick this happened, in the time it took me to find a spanner and unhook the battery leads. Anyhow after fixing everything up over the weekend I put a meter on the battery and got 12.4V, after starting the motor and checking again I only got 12.4V even with some revs up. I then un hooked the battery went to the motor and put the meter across the earth and the terminal for the battery charger and got 13.7V. Hmm then I went to the battery unhooked the cables started the motor (pull start) and put the meter accross the battery leads (not attached to the battery) 13.7V. I rehooked the battery up started the motor checked with the meter at the battery and back to 12.4V. It looks like the charging circuit is doing something when unloaded but as soon as I hook the battery up to it then fails to increase the voltage. I was not able to really rev the motor out but was able to take it up to above fast idle when doing the testing.
Can anyone dioagnose my fault? Thanks in advance
Can anyone dioagnose my fault? Thanks in advance
