Charging?

[snookhooked]

I have a Mercury 650 thunderbolt. my question is, that I'm not sure if its charging? I'm thinking its not but anyway, when I put a meter on the post it shows 12.45 volts. either that a real small amount going back in or that's a sign it isn't producing a charge to recharge it to maintain a battery to stay fully charge. everything is under the flywheel which I have never done and hopefully don't have to go there but my question is, does that show it charging or am I going to have to do what I really don't want to do? this is a 1973 motor so those parts are becoming almost impossible to find. thanks. sorry forgot to say that what it saying while the motor is at idle. 12.45 volts. sorry about that.

 

[Laddies]

Re: Charging?

At idle your engine, not sure of the year but won't put out much as most are 6 to 9 amp depending on the year and that is rated at WOT. It you have a ohm meter we can give you the test for the system but we need to know which engine it is.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Charging?

Snook, It sounds like the motor is not charging. The real test is to put the voltmeter on the battery, start the motor, note the voltage at idle and rev the motor a bit and see if the voltage increases.

That motor has a simple stator-rectifier charging system. You likely have the rectifier mouned in the lower cowling. You can pick up a 25A full wave (Bridge) rectifier at Radio Shack for less than $5. Make sure to ground the -DC terminal to the motor block, and connect the two AC terminals to the yellow stator wires. The red wire is +12V to the battery.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Charging?

You won't see much voltage increase until the RPMs approach 2000 RPM. Like mentioned, that's a pretty small (amp wise) charging circuit.

 

[snookhooked]

Re: Charging?

I didnt rev the motor but will try that when I take it out again. the reason I think it wasn't charging is mostly due to that fact I had it out several times and then it wasn't enough juice to turn the motor over enough to start. I just thought by asking it would be helpful to have a second opinion from someone who has better knowledge than me. when I find out, I will let you know. Thanks for the info.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Charging?

I didnt rev the motor but will try that when I take it out again. the reason I think it wasn't charging is mostly due to that fact I had it out several times and then it wasn't enough juice to turn the motor over enough to start. I just thought by asking it would be helpful to have a second opinion from someone who has better knowledge than me. when I find out, I will let you know. Thanks for the info.

Always verify that the battery is in 'good' condition, before throwing parts at the engine.

A new battery will have 12.6 volts...but what really starts your engine, is the cranking amps. I run into batteries everyday, that have over 12 volts...but when load tested, fall far below the rated CCA's for that particular battery. Have a battery dealer test your battery...and go from there!

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Charging?

Always verify that the battery is in 'good' condition, before throwing parts at the engine.

A new battery will have 12.6 volts...but what really starts your engine, is the cranking amps. I run into batteries everyday, that have over 12 volts...but when load tested, fall far below the rated CCA's for that particular battery. Have a battery dealer test your battery...and go from there!

Very good advice even if its a new battery.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Charging?

Also use a type 24 starting battery,as a deep cycle or dual purpose take a higher imput than than engine can put out. Dont get me wrong ,they will work but take forevery to charge back with this system. Its only about 1 1/2 amp at idle ,3-4 at 2000rpm, 9 at 5600 rpm.

 

[snookhooked]

Re: Charging?

The battery I have in it is new. its a Ever start battery with 720 cca. deep cell 12 volt. its a 65 hp mercury motor(650). it turns it over with no problems but this motor is a 73 model so its old. it doing fine but after running the motor and using it a few times to troll with a Minn kota 27 lb thrust, it was reaaly close to just being dead so that's why I was question the charge but also I forgot to mention which I feel would aslo help on info. I only run the motor maybe 15 to twenty minutes full out or idle around at times as well, so that may be issue to why it hasn't really had the real chance to do a full charge. does that make any sense to you? I have a another question, I found this on EBay Mercruiser Trim / Tilt Pump Nice Late Model. now my motor has the cylinder on it but its missing everything else to make it would. I'm thinking that by getting that and some hydrolic lines, I should have a functional tilt and trim. would you think this pump here would work with my engine? it is the pump and reservoir deal. just curious. Thanks so much for all of your help om here. I couldn't find the new post for this question.

 

[sschefer]

Re: Charging?

You have two questions going at once. I think I know the answer to your battery problem. You should be using a separate Deep Cycle battery for your trolling motor and a Marine Starting battery to start the engine. In small boats with small motors and pull starts we can run a single battery but you should not. My little Nissan 18 puts out 6 amps at WOT and won't come close to charging a deep cycle fully but it will bring it back enough to get me by. I use an onboard charger that I plug into A/C current. It's a worthwhile investment since it charges the battery correctly and will maintain it when it's not used for long periods of time. Get a Perko Battery switch and you can charge one or the other or both.

As for the lift, my guess is that what you already have is just a assist cylinder much like the lift assists on hatches of SUV's but larger. I'm not sure if you can combo that up with a T/T system and make it work. I think you could remove the assist cylinder and use the complete T/T set and get a working system.

 

[snookhooked]

motor questions

motor questions

Thanks for the advise on the battery. going to look into that, sounds like that would be what I need. sorry about two questions. I'm still new at this and couldn't find the new post and thought since it was with the same motor it wouldn't hurt to ask. I'm not sure about the asst part. it has a fitting on it threaded for a hose, so I thought it may be part of the t/t. this is my first boat project so there is a lot of questions for me to ask. it looked like they took it off. the best way I can explain it is the bracket has cylinders on both sides and I know for sure that the one has threaded end on cylinder for fluid so I took this as it could be part of a t/t. this is a 1973 650 thnderbolt mercury motor. 3 cycle motor. if you can leave me a email I could take pictures of it and atleast you would have better idea of what I am looking at. the control has a t/t button on it, so at one time or antoher it had to have it but I just dont know if what I found would work together seeing this is my first motor that would have this. sorry, I wished I knew atleast more to help with my question. Thanks for your time.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Charging?

The battery I have in it is new. its a Ever start battery with 720 cca. deep cell 12 volt.

It's 'new' to you...but WalMart DOESN"T rotate their batteries, so the one that you grabbed, might have been sitting in the rack for quite a while!

Look for the 'born on' sticker somewhere on the casing...it will tell you the date that your battery was shipped. It is usually a round sticker, with a letter and a number...such as "L/08".

It could be that your battery just needs a decent, low amp (2 amp is great), slow charge...using an automatic shut-off charger.

After that, it is easy to measure the charging output of your engine (while running)...and, then, do what sschefer suggests.

 

[snookhooked]

Re: Charging?

it was 06/08 and that about the time I bought it. Im going to try and take the boat out this comming weekend and I will put my tester on it and see it it shows charging during running. I think that should tell me if it goes up during full throttle. I know testing the charging system on a trucks shows voltage charge when you give it throttle so it should be about the same here. Thanks

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Charging?

Snook, The original power trim n tilt on that motor was a 2 hydraulic cylinders mounted in brackets, one on each side of the transom bracket. Four hydraulic lines ran to the PTT pump and resovoir which was mounted inside the boat.

 

[snookhooked]

Re: Charging?

Chris,
That sounds like what on that motor. it has two one on each side. this motor has all it original merc parts and looked the last time it was serviced was by a merc dealer. what I am thinking is either the cylinder may have been back or maybe the pump but this motor wasn't on any boat when I got it so its a possibility that it may have never removed with the motor. so many If. lol but at least you gave me some helpful information. Thanks again.

 

[backyard mechanic]

Re: Charging?

Snookhooked- It was mentioned before but it needs to be re-mentioned. Volt meters are great in some instances but for determining charge you need to read amps. Generally speaking, if your outboard runs the alternator is putting out. Now I must quickly add that has to do with the ignition system you have. The later models use the alternator as a modern magneto (if you will) lets face it, a magnet passing over a field creates juice. The trigger distributes the power to the coil. In either case the trick is the field needs to be "excited" with 12 volts and that is where the "alternator" (verses generator) comes into play.
You mention no year, but thunderbolt 650 tells me you have an older (about 1970) Merc. They had a side distributor if I recall. An ohms reading will be helpful in knowing about the alternator on that. Hope this helps.

 

[snookhooked]

Re: Charging?

the info helps a lot. your right, its a 1973 year of merc thunderbolt.Thanks