mthieme
Captain
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2007
- Messages
- 3,270
My Searay developed an electrical issue Friday. I first lost the depth sounder, then the stereo, then the GPS. The GPS plugs into a cigarette lighter and has a green LED to indicate power. I noticed it is blinking on and off relatively slowly and rythmatically. Of course you have to hold the on button down for a couple seconds to get the thing fired up. Without a steady stream of juice - it ain't haappenin'. Same thing with the fish finder minus the power indicator. The radio has the same symptom. I can see the LED rythmatically power on and off. I thought it might be a charging system issue until I noticed it also does it with the key turned off and obviously w/o the motor running. So I'm assuming we're down to just the batteries It's a 1969 Searay repowered with an 1989 OMC 4.3. I've added a second battery with a Perco switch that stays on both batteries. I've switched it to one battery with change. To my knowledge there is no battery isolator. Prior to this occurrance, I did notice the ammeter indicating a charge, but an idle at the dock the gauge was amidships which might only indicate the regulator was doing it's job. Again, I need to get out the test light and meter(s) and nose around. I do know that I need to replace the starter solenoid as it is only sending 5 volts to the coil when cranking - makes starting a little tricky - when you let off the key, it goes up to 12 volts. I replaced the ignition last season with a Pertronix CDI thus eliminating the points and condenser. This unit has two wires attached to either side of the coil unlike points. Coincidently, the starting issue started at the time. I doubt this has anything to do with the pulsing problem, but it is an electrical issue and a coil does pulse
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If anyone has experienced the electrical pulsing issue and can steer me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate my troubleshooting time being shortened. thanks.
.If anyone has experienced the electrical pulsing issue and can steer me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate my troubleshooting time being shortened. thanks.
