Charging issue?

[jchris8]

Hey there.

I just picked up this boat that has a 1990 Evinrude 150 on the back of it. I replaced the batteries and have a few 4 hour trips on them. I forgot to turn the batteries off after I put it in the driveway and drained the batteries. After charging, I started the engine and put my volt meter to battery #2 (most accessible) and it bounced between 27.5 and 28.5. My batteries are wired in parallel so this is really throwing me off. Is the regulator/rectifier in need of replacement? Wouldn't the batteries be fried after running them that much with that much charge?

Electrical really isn't my strongest area so any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!
Joe

 

[alldodge]

Seeing numbers that high means the regulator is fired. Your actually seeing AC volts and not DC.

Need to post this in the Evinrude section to get the outboard guys involved

 

[iggyw1]

Seeing numbers that high means the regulator is fired. Your actually seeing AC volts and not DC.

Need to post this in the Evinrude section to get the outboard guys involved

Isn't this already in the Evinrude section? I thought that I was reading the Evinrude section when I came across this post.

 

[alldodge]

Yes it was posted after this one. Appears the OP took my advise.

 

[webbd]

One other thing to check... Turn off the motor and test the voltage on the batteries without any charging from the motor. If it reads 25V or 26V and your batteries are indeed connected in parralel vs. in series, then you might have your voltmeter on the wrong setting. That would be better than a blown regulator.

- DW

 

[boobie]

What did you ever find out ??

 

[jchris8]

Well, it was late and I may have a had a couple cocktails in me, so I decided to check everything out again another day. I did in fact have my meter on the wrong setting. However, my battery #2, after being charged, had enough juice to start the engine once but after that couldn't even keep the nav lights on with my radio on at the same time. So I'll return the battery and be on my way...

I'll file this one into the growing file of bonehead moves...

 

[appleo]

Imo Some general info:
1 parallel means plus terminals are tied together, negative terminals are tied together
2 charging voltage typically 14-16 volts dc
3 good idea to charge any new batteries overnight
4. if you have two starting batteries in parallel good idea to have a dual bank charger not try to charge both batteries simultaneously same one bank charger

Q:

why did the two batteries drain while setting in your driveway?