98ish Evinrude 50 - high voltage reading on dash but not battery

[mturner125]

All,
A couple weeks back I noticed that the voltage meter on my dash had moved up to the 15-17 range, sometimes approaching 18v, with the motor running. After topping off the battery water, I headed back out on the boat this morning. Battery voltage was right at 12.7 after topping off the water. Everything worked as it should today but the meter still measured very high. Voltage at the battery stayed in the 14.5-14.75 range while running. I also noted that I was getting a reading of about 12.7 on the terminals at the voltage meter while running, which I thought was a bit odd.

Any ideas? I was surprised that the voltage on the terminals on the back of the voltage meter showed 12.7 while the meter was reading 16+. Does this point to a bad meter or maybe a bad voltage regulator?
Thanks in advance

 

[dingbat]

They both can’t be right.

Easy enough to figure out which with a voltmeter

 

[oldboat1]

sounds offhand like a bad or dying regulator. Might be able to troubleshoot here: https://www.cdielectronics.com/support/

 

[mturner125]

sounds offhand like a bad or dying regulator. Might be able to troubleshoot here: https://www.cdielectronics.com/support/

Thanks for the link. Seems like a coin flip on bad regulator or bad OMC voltage meter. I’m stumped on why the multimeter is showing 14.7 at the battery and 12.7 on the rear terminals/connections for the dash voltage meter (using multimeter) while the OMC voltage meter on the dash shows 16+.

 

[dingbat]

I’m stumped on why the multimeter is showing 14.7 at the battery and 12.7 on the rear terminals/connections for the dash voltage meter (using multimeter) while the OMC voltage meter on the dash shows 16+.

Obviously the OMC meter is wrong and needs replaced.

The 14.7 at the battery is not real. It’s a surface charge from the charge circuit.

Turn the motor off. Then turn on your navigation lights for a couple of minutes to remove the surface charge. Then measure both points again.

Both should be the same. If not, you have a bad connection somwwhere

 

[dwco5051]

They both can’t be right.

Easy enough to figure out which with a voltmeter

That is why in the olden days ships carried three clocks for navigation purposes. If two agreed with each other they assumed the other one was wrong.